MATCH REPORT: Swinton Athletic 3 – 0 Wakefield AFC

Goals:
Sam Green (Swinton)
Enzo Guarani (Swinton)
Curtis Wilkinson (Swinton)

Wakefield Starting XI:
Ryan Eades, Jean Merour, Kyron Richards, Marvin Emmanuel, Jack EnkhNoah Hamelberg, Manny Katundu (capt), Jamie Hardwick, Lennard Okalo, Redon Gashi, Rayjon Moore

Subs Used:
Chris Sholu for Noah Hamelberg
Nathan Weekes for Rayjon Moore

Bookings: Marvin Emmanuel

In mid-week, Wakefield AFC travelled to Mexborough to take on Swinton Athletic and unfortunately came away with a 3-0 defeat. There were a number of first team regulars missing from the side but the team were still disappointed with the scoreline. Eades came back into goal to replace Quinaceo Hunt who is away on international duty with Bermuda. Emmanuel continues to deputise for Adeyemi at centre back and Deji Alabi was a non-starter after his injury picked up on Saturday. Match-winner against Penistone, Hamelberg, replaced him on the right.The first goal for Swinton came when their centre forward got between our centre backs and headed the ball into the ground which then found the top corner of the net. If the first goal was down to vision and heading then the second was down to another recurrent issue in communication. Our goalkeeper and centre-back were caught leaving the ball for each other and the home striker was able to beat the pair to score.The goal that killed us off came when Emmanuel fouled a Swinton player on the edge of the box and was booked for the offence. The Swinton player curled the free kick over the wall and above Eades but the young keeper let the ball slip through his hands and into the net.Wakefield played well in spells but never got going with any conviction and failed to show the fighting spirit which has brought us back into the last three games from a losing position to collect five points. Without that fighting spirit we would have zero points as we’ve been behind in the first half in every game so far. We really need to start better, keep it tighter at the back and cause the opposition problems before they have time to settle on the ball. There were a few good performers and the fans I spoke to said that Jack Enkh played very well.