Freezing conditions and an over fussy refereeing performance from Steve Ganson did not help, but Castleford failed to fire in the first half and were second best to a much sharper Giants team, who deservedly led 18-0 up at the break.
Tigers' improvement to draw the second half with two tries apiece was more encouraging, but coach Matterson knows they will have to play a much better all-round game when the season proper opens at Leeds Rhinos next Friday.
He said: "They showed they were a bit better than us in ruck speed and certainly they were more disciplined than us. We need to get one of the referees down here to help, we haven't had one yet. I know we've had a couple of rule changes, but some of the decisions out there were strange and I'd like to get to the bottom of it.
"We've got to look at our discipline because we gave away too many penalties and they capitalised on all the ball they had.
"I thought we started really well, but they got a foothold in the game and we didn't have the ball for about ten minutes.
"I was pleased with the way we hung in there and scored the last try, but there's still a lot of work to do before the Leeds game. I thought our halves were a little bit lateral and needed to be more direct.
"We did improve in the second half and it made the score look a lot better, although I'm not really interested in the scoreline.
"We had a lot of sets in their half, but we didn't really put a dent in them."
Castleford were trailing from the fifth minute when Giants scrum-half Luke Robinson intercepted a Rangi Chase pass intended for Steve Snitch and raced 70 metres to score a try converted by Brett Hodgson.
A second try soon followed as hooker Shaun Lunt dived over from acting half back and Hodgson's goal made it 12-0.
Tigers failed to get much of a foothold until the half hour mark when they forced a drop-out after Chase put in a grubber kick that was palmed away to safety by Leroy Cudjoe.
The visitors emphasised their superiority with a third try on 34 minutes when Lee Gilmour raced onto a smart pass by Robinson to go over. Hodgson's conversion made it 18-0 at the break.
Castleford looked much livelier in the second half as they went straight onto the attack and worked several opportunities, mostly down their left.
Michael Wainwright was unlucky to put a foot in touch in his attempt to squeeze over in the corner, Michael Shenton was then tackled just short and when the ball was moved across to the other flank substitute winger Jordan Thompson was also denied by a tackle on the line.
The pressure finally brought reward on 48 minutes when Wainwright this time did get over the line from Shenton's pass and Joe Westerman kicked a touchline conversion.
Another goal-line drop-out was forced and Shenton was tackled in touch three metres out, but from their first attack of the half the Giants scored again when Robinson combined with Martin Aspinwall to send Paul Whatuira galloping over.
Josh Griffin added a further score, following up Graham Horne's grubber kick to the corner, and it was 28-6.
Tigers kept going and managed the final try of the evening when Chase's looping pass drew Jermaine McGilvary out of the Giants defensive line and Shenton took advantage to race in for an unconverted try.