HALIFAX kept the heat on leaders Salford at the summit of National League One, coming back from an apparently impossible position to draw 26-26 with big spending Widnes at the Shay.
Steve McCormack's full timers led 24-6 with half an hour to go and 26-12 with eight minutes remaining before new hooker Mark Gleeson set up Ben Black and then scored himself to help pull the game out of the fire.
The two points keep Fax a point behind the Reds, who came up with their own fightback to draw 30-30 at Featherstone, and four clear of Celtic Crusaders, who lost to Whitehaven on Saturday night.
"They always come back, don't they?," said Calland, who singled out blockbusting prop Frank Watene for a destructive late spell.
"It was a bit of a nailbiter in the end, and if it had gone on longer we'd have won, we had all the momentum.
"Gleeson went really well for us when it mattered and it was the best game Frank has had a for a while too.
"With the forwards we had out he knew he needed to stand up for us and he certainly did that.
"There were some good results for us elsewhere this weekend and it would have been nice to take full advantage.
"We haven't really done that, but we've still given ourselves some breathing space over Celtic."
Calland was missing a handful of front line players through injury, but with none of them due back any time soon, he warned his side they would need to up the ante in the next few weeks.
""It's not been the best week's preparation with the injuries," said Calland.
"But it's been a bit flat as well, which disappointed me.
"I told them that we cannot train flat and expect to come out and turn in a great performance.
"We've got a lot of relatively new players in there though and these things take time. Rome wasn't built in a day."
A big talking point in both camps after the game was the performance of Castleford official Dave Merrick, who courted controversy from start to finish.
Calland was giving the benefit of the doubt after the final whistle - with one notable exception.
"I'd rather watch the DVD before I say anything," he said.
"I am Halifax coach and I feel we have been badly done to sometimes.
"But when you look at the tape you sometimes see that the referee has come up with the right call.
"What I would say is that the Steve Tyrer goal kick just before half time was very debatable.
"I've looked at that again and it's swerved away at the last moment."
The full article contains 474 words and appears in Evening Courier newspaper.
