Saturday 10th October 2020 – Austin Ainsworth
An impressive contingent of away fans made the journey to the Eco Power Environmental Stadium, as Wakefield AFC faced off against Stocksbridge Park Steels FC Reserves for their first away game in the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Senior League.
Wakefield – starting the day ninth in the league – travelled off the back of an outstanding 4-0 win against Oughtibridge W.M.S.C. in their previous game; whilst sixth placed Stocksbridge were looking to bounce back from an away loss to Hepworth United F.C.
Stocksbridge may have been encouraged by the two sides’ only previous fixture – a 3-0 away win last year. However, on this occasion they – as many others will do this year – came up against a very different Wakefield side, ultimately providing no match for Adam Lockwood’s developing Wakefield team who ran out 4-1 victors following a dominant second half display.
Lockwood made only one enforced change to his line-up – goalkeeper Hemir Lopez in for the injured Crescenzio Arvanitis. That meant a familiar back three of captain Greg Hunter, Patrick Hoyle and Gervas Chipasha supported by Jake Dickinson and Jed Wilkinson as the wing-backs. Tom Raithby and Jack Burton continued in central midfield, with Bryce Orsini behind the two strikers Dan Palmer and Samuel Amissah.
Despite the end result, it wasn’t all plain sailing for Wakefield, who endured a tough first half against a physical Stocksbridge side. Burton did have a good chance in the third minute – hitting his shot over the bar from a free-kick – but aside from that the away team were lucky not to concede after good chances for Stocksbridge in the opening stages.
The first fell to a Stocksbridge striker at the back post, after Wakefield failed to clear. With the vociferous away support momentarily stunned in to silence as an open net beckoned for the home player, he somehow hit his shot back across goal and struck the post, allowing Wakefield to clear. The danger kept coming as Stocksbridge countered at will with pace and penetration, and Lopez was forced in to a fine save at the onrushing striker’s feet after another good chance in minute 10.
The 15th minute saw Hunter lucky to escape a card, after he brought down a Stocksbridge attacker just outside the penalty area to quell another dangerous run. There was to be no let-off though, as the resultant free-kick was a fine, curling effort in to the Wakefield net that left Lopez no chance and Wakefield with a mountain to climb at 1-0 down.
Wakefield did respond, and in the following minutes started to dominate possession higher up the pitch; looking to overcome both their poor start and the frequent, niggling fouls that were going unpunished by the referee. Amissah did have a good opportunity to equalise in the 19th minute when he latched on to a probing through ball, however could only hit his shot straight at the goalkeeper.
Chances were at a premium leading up to half-time, with Wakefield looking to dominate possession but struggling to find a way through; and Stocksbridge continuing to threaten on the counter. Amissah should have had a penalty in the 39th minute when he again went through on goal but was cleared out by the defender however, in what was one of many strange decisions, the referee didn’t blow.
The referee had no choice five minutes later when his linesman made the decision for him, following another good run from Amissah who was cynically pulled back in the penalty area when clean-through on goal. Wilkinson stepped up to take the penalty, and with a one-step run-up slotted his shot in to the side netting to level the scores at 1-1 going in to the interval.
Wakefield were a different beast in the second half and, having perhaps been lucky to go in level at half-time, left no debate with a dominant performance that saw them blow the home side away. The impressive Wilkinson had the best chances to start; first spotting the goalkeeper off his line when he attempted an audacious lob from distance that was just tipped over; and then when he cut in from his position on the left to hit a shot straight at the keeper. The chances kept coming as the outstanding Burton dominated in midfield and Orsini – visibly improving in confidence as the half wore on – started to find the space to turn and play Palmer and Amissah in on goal. The aforementioned strikers each had good chances to put their side in the lead up to the 60 minute mark, but the home goalkeeper made a number of good saves.
Palmer, who had been excellent throughout the game as the target man, made way for substitute Dean Makunike in the 61st minute. It initially seemed a strange decision, with Palmer one of the better performers, but proved inspired as Amissah was freed up by the extra pace of Makunike to finally find the goals that Wakefield’s performance deserved. His first came after a devastating counter-attack in the 64th minute, when he controlled an excellent long pass back to Orsini for a quick-fire one-two that saw him calmly slot the ball in to the corner of the net when one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Minutes later Orsini again turned the game with an outstanding ball through the eye of the needle to Amissah, who controlled it beautifully before calmly finishing through the legs of the home ‘keeper to take his tally to three goals for the season. Orsini wasn’t finished there, as he grabbed a hat-trick of assists in the 74th minute when he crafted another opportunity, this time playing Wilkinson in-behind the tiring Stocksbridge defence. Wilkinson, with a lot to do from the left, cut in to beat two players before toe-poking his shot in to the roof of the net to make it 4-1.
Amid a whopping 10 shots on target from Wakefield in the second half, there was still time for more action as substitute Tom Davies shared a yellow card with an opposition player when tempers flared in the closing stages following one of many stern challenges. Makunike also had two good chances to break his duck when his smart runs combined with pin-point passes from midfield; however the busy Stocksbridge goalkeeper preserved the scoreline. He also made a good save to deny man-of-the-match contender Wilkinson a hat-trick in the 93rd minute, saving when the industrious wing-back again made a good run at goal.
Wakefield – with four goals the least that they deserved – were clapped off the pitch by the numerous away fans who were left salivating not just with a fine attacking performance but a performance that saw Wakefield impressively rise to the physical challenge in the second half. Amidst a fine team display, there were a number of outstanding individual contributions; from braces apiece for Wilkinson and Amissah, to the guile and creativity shown by Orsini, who Stocksbridge were unable to touch in the second half.
Adam Lockwood was impressed, saying: “We were all disappointed in the first half performance and a few things were said at half time that we had to improve and be better on a few things. It’s a tough place, they are a good side and made us work really hard; that’s one thing in football you’ve got to do – work hard. You have to adapt [to the physicality], it’s part of football. I thought it was a good game of football and that’s what we all come for on a Saturday afternoon to enjoy. We’re a very new group and everybody is learning about each other. You are going to have times where you are disappointed in things but we have to keep pushing forward and that’s what we’ll do. The fans are great, as a Wakefield born lad to be part of this club means a lot. We’re putting a lot of work in to hopefully make it successful and something our community can be proud of. It’s really appreciated that people are coming to back us… hopefully they are enjoying it and the word spreads. We need it to grow, we’re a very small club, we are trying to do things the right way and we want people to be a part of that and come on the journey with us… long may it continue.”
The result sees Wakefield rise to fifth in the league, whilst Stocksbridge drop to ninth. Wakefield AFC will return to The Millennium Stadium on 17/10/2020 when they face what will be a stern challenge against Wombwell Main F.C: kick-off, 15:00PM.
The Stats
Half Time: 1-1
Full Time: 1-4
Starting XI:
Hemir Lopez – Jake Dickinson, Gervas Chipasha, Patrick Hoyle, Greg Hunter (Captain), Jed Wilkinson – Tom Raithby, Jack Burton – Bryce Orsini – Samuel Amissah, Dan Palmer
Goals:
15m, Stocksbridge
41m, Jed Wilkinson (Penalty)
64m, Samuel Amissah
69m, Samuel Amissah
74m, Jed Wilkinson
Assists
64m, Bryce Orsini
69m, Bryce Orsini
74m, Bryce Orsini
Subs Used:
61m, Dean Makunike for Dan Palmer
65m, Mason Rubie for Jake Dickinson
74m, Tom Davies for Tom Raithby
Cards:
Tom Davies (Yellow)
Stats:
Wakefield AFC
First Half
Shots on Target: 2
Shots off Target: 2
Second Half
Shots on Target: 10
Shots off Target: 6
Stocksbridge Park Steels FC Reserves
First Half
Shots on Target: 2
Shots off Target: 2
Second Half
Shots on Target: 0
Shots off Target: 2