Wakefield Bid Farewell To The Millennium Stadium

Saturday 1st April 2023 | Austin Ainsworth

Wakefield AFC graced The Millennium Stadium pitch for the final time on Saturday ahead of their much anticipated move to Wakefield Trinity’s revamped Belle Vue next season, with Rossington Main the visitors for Wakey’s penultimate game of the regular season.

After a good win in midweek away to play-off chasing Horbury Town – Mason Rubie the difference with the solitary goal of the match – Saturday’s game acted as a dress rehearsal for the looming play-off semi-finals, with Main almost certain to finish third, above Wakefield who had already secured fourth in the league.

The fact that the game had almost no bearing on the league didn’t seem to affect either side’s approach to what proved to be a real humdinger of a game; both sides playing strong line-ups in a heavily contested match. Billy Mole returned from suspension to start behind Jake Morrison, Wakefield’s go-to goalscoring duo of last season starting together for the first time since August after an injury-hit campaign. New signing Romario Vieira made his second successive start, this time on the left of a front three, with the rest of the side unchanged from the victory over Horbury.

It was a frenetic start to the game as both sides had good chances to score in the opening 10 minutes; Gladding making himself big to make a fine one-on-one save, before Mole saw a first-time shot from a tight angle go narrowly wide of the Rossington post.

The opening goal came minutes later as Robbie Miller picked out a great pass from the back, up to Vieira who was tightly marked with his back to goal. An incredible first touch saw him spin the Rossington defender, before he clipped the ball through to Morrison who ran off his marker’s shoulder to break the offside trap. The striker’s eyes opened up as the ball bounced in front of him; seeing the ‘keeper off his line, Morrison executed a perfectly weighted chip that seemed to take an age to cross the line.

The visitors responded well, using their physicality in the box to see close range shots cleared off the line and skied over the bar in the following minutes. That pressure did pay off in the 23rd minute when Main eventually capitalised on their set-piece prowess. In a day of refereeing decisions that were questionable and frustrating in equal measure, the official blew for a free-kick 40 yards out for an innocuous hand-ball, after the ball was fired at what appeared to be Jock Curran’s stomach from all of two feet. To compound Wakefield’s exasperation, there was then a hint of a foul in the box when Rossington’s man-mountain of a centre-back climbed all over Haydn Ward to nod the ball down for an easy tap-in from Matthew Wilson.

Wakefield started to see some dominance of their own after that, keeping plenty of possession in Rossington’s half, albeit never truly threatening the goal. With that in mind, it felt like a real blow when Rossington took the lead shortly before half-time. It was a poor goal to concede, Rossington’s winger advancing too easily down the right to cross to the near post. Gladding made a great save before Miller somehow kept the rebound off the line, however Manasse Kianga was then left a simple tap in to score.

With a deflated half-time team talk seconds away, Morrison appeared to have changed the mood when he fired in at the far post from a  Wakefield corner in the 45th minute. The referee delayed the celebrations when he blew his whistle to award a penalty for handball just as Morrison shot. No doubt the striker would have rather kept his goal, but fortunately he kept his head to side-foot the penalty to the ‘keepers right to ensure Wakefield went in level at the break after his 12th goal of the season.

Manager Gabe Mozzini made changes at half-time, with Aaron Pilkington and Owen Kirman coming on to offer defensive bite and penetration out wide respectively. The game, as it had done to the that point, remained evenly balanced, until top-scorer Mole bagged his 18th goal of another prolific season from midfield just after the hour mark. He benefited from a visionary, first-time Danny Youel pass from deep, before beating the defender shoulder-to-shoulder to race in on goal. The no. 10 delayed his shot, before smartly using his marker as a shield to pass the ball just inside of the right post to give Wakefield the lead.

Perhaps with the play-offs in mind, both sides made several substitutions in the second half and it looked as though the game was heading towards a Wakefield victory that would have see them bow out at The Millennium Stadium in style. Rossington, evidently keen not to allow Wakefield any psychological edge ahead of the play-offs, had other ideas as they started to pepper the Wakefield goal in the dying minutes.

With Rossington having almost scored with an audacious overhead kick that went just over the bar, Gladding then denied the visitors with a good stretching save in the second minute of added time, before the rebound rattled the crossbar. It was clear Wakefield were living on the edge and that meant nerves were aplenty among the 408 spectators when Rossington were aware a corner-kick in the 93rd minute. Main took their opportunity, with a good delivery deflected to the back post for Reiss Harrison to tuck the ball home, denying Wakefield victory with almost the last kick of the game.

Despite that late disappointment for Wakefield, there were several positives to take from the game; key players got valuable minutes ahead of the play-offs, The Millennium Stadium witnessed a memorable match to close out Wakefield’s time there and, most importantly, Wakefield will head to Doncaster in two week’s time knowing they can more than match Rossington.

Before that is the final game of the season away to Parkgate, when Mozzini will have to weigh up whether to rest players or give his preferred play-off 11 a chance to gel; kick-off is at 15:00PM on Saturday 08/04/23.

Match Stats

Half Time: 2-2

Full Time: 3-3

Attendance: 408

MOTM: Billy Mole

Wakefield AFC Starting XI:

Callum Gladding – Haydn Ward, Robbie Miller, Cory Woodward, Mamadou Kone – Danny Youel (C), Jock Curran, Billy Mole – Mason Rubie, Jake Morrison, Romario Vieira

Wakefield AFC Subs Used:

46m, Aaron Pilkington for Mamadou Kone

46m, Owen Kirman for Mason Rubie

55m, Kaydan Henry for Haydn Ward

67m, Lewis Stephens for Robbie Miller

Goals:

14m, Jake Morrison

23m, Matthew Wilson (Rossington Main)

43m, Manasse Kianga (Rossington Main)

45+1, Jake Morrison (Pen)

62m, Billy Mole

90+3, Reiss Harrison (Rossington Main)

Wakefield AFC Assists:

14m, Romario Vieira

62m, Danny Youel

Wakefield AFC Cards:

Jake Morrison (Yellow)

Attempts:

Wakefield AFC

First Half

Shots on Target: 4

Shots off Target: 2

Second Half

Shots on Target: 1

Shot off Target: 2

Rossington Main

First Half

Shots on Target: 3
Shots off Target: 6

Second Half

Shots on Target: 2
Shots off Target: 5