Scorer: Moore
Starting XI: Eades / Sholu, Emmanuel, Ayodele, Enkh / Kuyima, Kouakou, Hardwick, Hamelberg / Owusu, Wilson-Weekes
Subs Used: Moore, Merour, Dongo
The pre-season build-up continued on Saturday with a home friendly against North West Counties League side Bacup Borough. Just two days after one of the hottest summer days on record, the temperature had dropped to around a third of the previous thirty-six degrees in just forty-eight hours and the heavens had opened with a downpour. In the hours before the match the rain was do hard and constant that descendants on Noah were instictively looking for wood and pairing up animals.
Now football is often described as a game of two halves (both figureatively and literally) and this pre-season friendly proved to be just that. In the first half you could see that the Wakefield players were unfamiliar playing together compared to the opposition. Bacup made a good job of pressing the player on the ball which made for a half full of rushed passes back to the opposition and numerous unforced errors. The centre-back pairing of Marvin Emmanuel and Adeymi Ayodele appeared solid but Bacup were having success down their left flank against Wakefield’s right side pairing of Christopher Sholu and Pride Kuyima.
It was on the opposite flank though where the opening goal originated. A clearance header went straight to Bacup who immediately played their right midfielder down the wing. It stretched the Wakefield defence across to that side and when the cross came in it was left to Sholu to prevent their striker scoring with Ryan Eades exposed in goal. Unfortunately the Bacup striker got to the ball first ahead of Sholu but given the quality of the cross it would have been difficult for the right-back to clear without putting the ball into his own net anyway.
Bacup had been working hard and pressing the ball throughout the first half so that as half-time approached there were more late tackles and mistakes coming from tired legs. The away side went in with a deserved 1-0 lead at half-time although there were good calls for a penalty with ten minutes to go when Michael Owusu tumbled in the box but the appeal was waved away by the referee.
Wakefield were a changed side in the second half as Jean Merour replaced Sholu at right back to tighten the defence. Chris Turner’s half-time team talk appeared to have done wonders too as the team were now keeping possession far more, creating time on the ball which was lacking in the first half. The second half was a performance where you could see the individual skill that the players have and they had the chance to show their athletic superiority as some of the away side tired. The Wakefield superiority was not rewarded with goals however as the final ball was still lacking in quality.
It was largely against the run of play therefore when Bacup Borough doubled their lead on around seventy minutes as their forward curled a shot past Eades into the top right corner. The extended lead didn’t last for long though as the home side bounced straight back. A powerful shot from a free kick was saved by the opposition keeper but not held. The ball bounced loose and substitute Rayjon Moore was there to prod the ball into the net before anyone else could react.
The goal restored the energy in the Wakefield lads and in the last ten minutes it looked like they could equalise or even go on and win. The extra time on the ball was now starting to show as the Bacup players weren’t closing down the ball as much as they were in the first half and were hitting more stray passes as the match progressed. Wakefield had two great chances to score but didn’t. First Owusu found himself through on goal one-on-one with the keeper and probably had too much time to decide what to do before taking his shot. In the end he was caught in three minds and ended up placing the ball wide of the right-hand post. He slumped to the ground in disappointment but showed enough strength and pace in the game to show he will be a handful for anyone this season. There was another fantastic shot towards the end which the opposition keeper turner over the bar with the save of the match.
It was a real sucker-punch therefore when a counter attack for the away side allowed their forward to spot Eades off his line and chip him from outside the box. That wasn’t long before the final whistle and the match ended 3-1 to Bacup Borough.
Despite the scoreline there were a lot of positives for Wakefield. You can still tell that this is a newly formed team and the chemistry still needs some time to build up. The players certainly showed individually that they have what it takes to be a real force to be reckoned with and now the coaching staff just need to continue to work on them gelling together. The movement and skill is there in abundance and once they communicate better then I believe we will see the real Wakefield team.
The stand-out performance for me was that of left-back (at least to start with) Jack Enkh. His game reminded me of the old German full-backs like Andreas Brehme or Christian Ziege – tough tackling and then raiding in attack. Later in the match he moved onto the left wing and even came inside from time to time to get involved in play. Where we are talking styles, Owusu reminded me of a centre-forward like Les Ferdinand (I know I’m showing my age with these names) who had the height and strength to trouble any defence as well as an eye for goal.
I caught up with Chris Turner after the game and he told me “After the fine performance on Thursday night at Bromsgrove, I rested a few players for this game. I feel it is important all players get their opportunities in pre-season to show what they can do. Unfortunately in the first half I thought we were below standard, but after half-time much better and apart from two world class saves I felt we could have got something from the game”
I’m sure over the course of the season we will get to know all the lads and see them develop together as a team. There are a couple of away friendlies on the cards before the season proper kicks off on 17th August 2019 away to Hepworth United FC before the first home game the following Wednesday 21st August 2019 hosting Dodworth Miners Welfare Senior 1st Team.
Si Boyle