Saturday 11th January 2020 | Austin Ainsworth
Wakefield AFC’s first game of the new decade saw them travel to St. George’s Park to face an in-form High Green Villa in the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Senior League. Both sides, as with many of us, would have had new hopes, aspirations and resolutions for the new year. Wakefield – who started the game fourth in the league – would likely have been looking for a return to their early season form and a goal to mark the new year, after drawing a blank in their previous four matches. High Green, ninth in the league at the start of play, would have simply been looking for a repeat of their last game against Wakefield only three matches ago – a 1-0 win.
The result in that previous game went largely against the run of play, with Wakefield failing to capitalise on their dominance and then conceding against High Green’s first meaningful attack. History repeated itself in this game, as Wakefield made a good start but fell 1-0 down to High Green’s first shot on goal. On a poor pitch, Wakefield never really got back in to the game – save for some good chances either side of half time – and High Green’s victory was consolidated in the dying stages after defensive errors led to the away side conceding a poor second goal and then a needless penalty that allowed High Green to make it 3-0.
Manager Chris Turner, having watched a glut of new players play well in reserve games and the past week’s training, gave debuts to four players. Three of those were in an unfamiliar back four; Monaye Mitchell at right-back, Sobomate Harry at centre-back and Shohaib Nazir at left-back. Midfielder Cedric Kouakou joined Harry in the centre of defence, while Ryan Eades played in goal. The final debut went to Mustapha Coker at the base of a three man midfield. His partners there were Kyron Richards and captain Manny Katundu. Amos Kabeya, making his first start, initially played on the left of a front three, with Deji Alabi the other winger. Nathan Weekes was the striker between the two wingmen, who interchanged frequently in what was a 4-3-3 formation.
Despite the two teams’ contrasting form – High Green on a five game winning streak with 12 goals in their last two, and Wakefield winless and goalless in four – the away side started the better of the two and had good early chances to take the lead. Deji Alabi, looking for his fifth goal after a run of 10 games without scoring, should have had it in the fifth minute when he headed over from an excellent corner kick. He had another good opportunity 10 minutes later with an ingenious back-heel from a well worked cross, but the home goalkeeper made a good save.
Unusually for Wakefield, they struggled to get on the ball or string any patterns of play together on a difficult surface. With the midfield largely bypassed, the ball went forward quickly to the industrious front three as they continued to threaten in the opening stages. They didn’t make it count though, and in the 24th minute poor defending allowed High Green to score with their first shot. Nazir was caught sleeping at a throw-in, and the High Green winger got in behind with a neat one-two. He then squared the ball to the waiting striker, whose shot was able to beat Eades despite the goalkeeper getting a hand to it.
Moments later High Green nearly doubled their lead after more slack defending, but Eades made a good save when one-on-one with the striker. The game then took the same form as before, with Wakefield showing intent but never really looking like scoring from a series of half-chances. That looked set to change in the 39th minute when Katundu received the ball on the edge of the box. The captain – Wakefield’s last scorer of a goal in any game – struck a beautiful, curling, right-foot shot that appeared destined for the top right corner. Unfortunately for Wakefield, but not the beaten High Green goalkeeper, the crossbar prevented the sides going in level at the break.
Wakefield, after missing the pre-match warmup due to travel issues, finally looked as though they had arrived at the start of the second half. Weekes, whose solitary goal for the club came in Wakefield’s first ever game at the start of August, had good chances in the first and 10th minute to equalise. The first was an audacious overhead kick that was well saved by the goalkeeper, and the second was a skied shot after excellent play from midfield. In between those chances, Kabeya should have scored when he first sliced wide and then later hit the ball over an open goal following dazzling wing-play from Alabi.
Strangely, Wakefield’s momentum vanished after that blistering 10 minute period, and High Green got back in to the game. They did the basics better than Wakefield, none more so than utilising the strong wind that was now behind them. Realising that Eades was struggling to strike his goal-kicks against the wind, their striker pulled off from Harry in defence to wait for his chance. And when one such goal kick fell short of Wakefield’s first man in the 82nd minute, that unmarked striker pounced on a rebound to go clean through on goal. Eades, way off his line, could only watch as a well-hit shot glided in to the net.
Three minutes later Wakefield gifted the hosts a third, as Harry dwelled on the ball in defence before under-hitting a pass to Eades. Struggling to reach the ball, the goalkeeper felled the charging attacker who was awarded a penalty which was subsequently dispatched in to the bottom left corner of the net. With the game gone, Wakefield did still have the opportunity to avoid going five games without a goal with the last kick of the match. The crossbar again had other ideas, as Katundu’s excellently struck free-kick rattled the woodwork to consign Wakefield to another goalless defeat.
Chris Turner said after the match; “It was a bad day all round and we didn’t handle the conditions well. We train on excellent surfaces but you have to adapt to [different] playing surfaces; we just never got going. All credit to our opponents on the day – they took their chances where we failed to do so.”
The poor result will leave Turner with more questions than answers, not least where the first goal is going to come from. He will be buoyed by an excellent performance from Richards in midfield, who added strength and solidity to the side. Conversely, he will look to quickly form a team from the host of promising new recruits who at times looked like a bad blind date – lacking in chemistry and understanding between each other.
Wakefield – who dropped to fifth in the league as High Green rose to seventh – will hope for a turnaround in their next game, a difficult trip to Grimethorpe LLUK FC. That takes place at 14:00 on Saturday 18th January 2020 at the Love Life Sports Ground.
Half Time: 1-0
Full Time: 3-0
Starting XI:
Ryan Eades, Monaye Mitchell, Sobomate Harry, Cedric Kouakou, Shohaib Nazir, Mustapha Coker, Kyron Richards, Manny Katundu (C), Deji Alabi, Nathan Weekes, Amos Kabeya
Goals:
24m, High Green
82m, High Green
85m, High Green (Penalty)
Subs Used:
71m, Danny Kabeya for Amos Kabeya
71m, Alagi-Baharu Jabbi for Nathan Weekes
Cards:
Cedric Kouakou (Yellow)
Sobomate Harry (Yellow)
Stats:
Wakefield AFC
First Half
Shots on Target: 3
Shots off Target: 4
Second Half
Shots on Target: 2
Shots off Target: 5
High Green Villa
First Half
Shots on Target: 2
Shots off Target: 0
Second Half
Shots on Target: 4
Shots off Target: 1