Saturday 12th April 2025 | Austin Ainsworth
The NCEL Division One regular league season reached an exciting climax this past week, with three teams still in the reckoning for top spot and automatic promotion. At the start of the week, Wakefield sat second in the league – one place above Wombwell Town by way of goal difference – with both sides four points adrift of leaders Horbury Town, but both with a midweek opportunity to close the gap with games in hand.
After a turbulent couple of weeks for Wakefield, in which a few bad results had ceded control of the title-race over to Horbury, Wakefield headed in to Tuesday night’s home match against Maltby Main in better form, having won comfortably away to Athersley Recreation in their previous game.
Wakefield manager Steve Bodle stuck with the same 4-2-3-1 formation that was successful against Athersley, making just one change as Kiyani Morris replaced Anthony Dwyer as the central striker. That meant Jaydan Sandhu continued on the right of a three man attacking midfield, whilst Scott Loach also made his second start in succession in the Wakefield goal.
On two occasions in the last three weeks Wakefield have had a midweek game-in-hand, and with it an opportunity to apply pressure on Horbury. However, both times Wakefield fell to defeat. This third and final attempt to take the league to the last game of the season was never likely to be easy, against a strong Maltby side whose position – 10th in the league – is more a reflection of their inconsistency rather than their ability.
Sure enough, Maltby made a strong start and applied some early pressure on Wakefield with aggressive running and a snap to their tackle. Wakefield did settle and had some early chances to take the lead, first when a looping header from Sandhu went just over the bar and then when Curtis Morrison found Morris at the back post with a beautiful cross, only for Morris – with the goal at his mercy – to not quite get his header right, as his effort just missed the net.
The game may have played out differently had there been an early goal to settle the nerves, with Wakefield – as in the previous week – seeing more of the ball in advanced areas thanks to the fluid movement of their attacking players.
However, tragedy struck for the falcons midway through the half with the award of a penalty to Maltby; the decision highly controversial after the referee blew for an apparent infringement by captain Brad McGowan, who was tracking a Maltby attacker side-by-side into the Wakefield box. There appeared to be no contact from McGowan, only for Maltby’s man to fall to the ground, with the referee shocking the entire ground with his decision.
Just as in the reverse fixture earlier this season, Maltby’s Ashley Flynn – formerly of Wakefield AFC and with a storied NCEL history of goalscoring exploits – stepped up and dispatched his spot-kick confidently down the middle of the goal to put his side ahead.
The goal seemed to drain the confidence out of Wakefield, who rarely threatened an equaliser and struggled to test the Maltby ‘keeper. The closest they came was through Morrison, who struck the bar with a wicked, in-swinging corner-kick. Aside from that, two promising attacks were cut out when Kelan Swales and latterly Mo Gashi were bundled off the ball in the Maltby box – both incidents similar, if not worse, than the one Wakefield were punished for, however neither led to the award of a penalty.
With the destiny of the league title at stake, it was a big half-time for Wakefield, but it was Maltby who upped their game in the second period; winning their individual battles in the middle of the park and pressuring Wakefield into sloppy use of possession.
Flynn bagged his, and Maltby’s, second goal of the night not long after the re-start in clinical fashion. Wakefield were bullied in midfield and a loose ball eventually found it’s way to a Maltby player, who clipped a ball in behind the Wakefield defence. Flynn showed his striker’s instinct in spotting the defence stepping up, timing his run perfectly to latch on to the ball 30 yards from goal. He took one touch towards the box and then cut a shot back across goal, beyond the reach of Wakefield’s Loach.
That cushion allowed Maltby to sit and soak up any Wakefield pressure, with the home side finding it almost impossible to break the lines as their desperation increased. The Maltby ‘keeper was only tested once, when a 72nd minute Wakefield free-kick saw Morrison draw a fine, stretching save from the goalkeeper with his curling effort from 20 yards.
Wakefield did pull a goal back in the third minute of injury time after some good play between Gashi and Swales led to the latter whipping a cross in from the left. Centre-back Chris Salt was on hand at the back post to drive a header home, his fourth goal of the season, but it was too little, too late as Maltby saw the game out comfortably to inflict defeat on Wakefield for the second time this season.
The result dropped Wakefield to third in the league and out of contention for the top prize, with Wombwell leapfrogging Wakefield and taking Horbury to the last game of the season.
That meant Wakefield’s home game to Brigg Town on Saturday was of reduced importance, albeit still significant in terms of finishing the season strongly and heading into the play-offs in better form.
Bodle used the game as an opportunity to try out some new things, making just one change to his starting line-up – Dwyer back in for Morris – but altering the formation to an interesting, fluid system that saw Nathan Whitehead drop in to a back three. In front of them Scott Smith operated as a lone holding midfielder, with Sandhu moved more central alongside Gashi in attacking-midfield. Swales then played alongside Dwyer, with the two operating as split-strikers, whilst Morrison and Mlynarski provided the width from wing-back.
The resultant performance was promising and, despite the increasingly firm and bobbling Featherstone pitch, Wakefield passed the ball confidently and consistently got into good areas of the pitch. Smith patrolled the midfield as astutely as he has all season, Morrison was a constant, creative menace at left wing-back and Sandhu orchestrated proceedings behind the lively front two.
That almost led to a goal inside three minutes when Sandhu showed superb skill and vision to clip an outside-of-the-boot pass through for the run of Swales, who was denied his seventh goal of the season by a fantastic save.
However, just as in midweek, Wakefield soon found themselves behind when a momentary dip in intensity saw Brigg’s Ben Vazquez receive a throw-in on the edge of the Wakefield box, completely unmarked. He allowed the ball to bounce across him and then struck an outstanding, swerving volley that curled right out to the edge of Loach’s goal, leaving him no chance at a save.
Wakefield responded in better fashion this time though, and that Brigg goal from nowhere proved to be the only blip in a dominant display for Wakefield, with the rest of the game belonging to the home side.
Wakefield got back to peppering Brigg and Swales was denied an equaliser after the half-hour mark with a last-ditch, goal-line block. Further pressure saw sustained Wakefield attacks, and the eventual award of a penalty to the home side when McGowan was wrestled to the ground in the box as he tried to receive the ball.
Dwyer fought for the ball from Gashi, who seemed intent on giving it to Sandhu who was waiting on the spot. In the end, Dwyer was insistent and won the argument, only for his initial effort, low to the ‘keepers right, to be saved. He saved himself any embarrassment however in reacting quickly to the rebound, and finished from a tight angle through the diving goalkeeper for his second goal in two games.
The two sides went in level at the break, but it didn’t take long for Wakefield to take the lead in the second half when, not for the first time, Morrison scored direct from a corner-kick, whipping his effort in from the right beyond the reach of the goalkeeper and all the way to the far post, in what was his fifth goal of the season.
Wakefield were well worth the lead and could have had more in a controlled second half, Swales going close on several occasions before the best chance fell to Sandhu on the edge of the box. He, as he did throughout the match, led Wakefield’s press with intent, and forced Brigg into giving the ball back to the goalkeeper. He was nearly caught out by Dwyer but just got the ball clear, though only as far as Sandhu. With the ‘keeper off his line, Sandhu attempted a lob but saw his effort saved by the recovering goalkeeper.
It mattered not, as Wakefield kept Brigg at arm’s length and never looked at risk of conceding again, with the game eventually finishing 2-1 for Wakefield’s 91st point of the season; an almost identical return as last season of 2.2 points per game.
The big news of the day came elsewhere, with both Wombwell and Horbury winning their games, meaning Horbury won the title with 95 points from Wombwell on 94. Wakefield finish the regular season having beaten both of those two sides home and away, however the poor start to the season prior to Bodle’s arrival left them too much work to do. Ultimately, a third-placed finish is more than anyone associated with Wakefield could have hoped for when they sat in the bottom half of the table at the start of October.
The play-offs were the goal for Bodle upon his arrival and that has been achieved. It is only through the excellence of the last five months that Wakefield dared to dream of more, and that excellence must now be channelled into making a proper go of the play-offs after the disappointment of semi-final exits in the last two seasons. Third place means Wakefield will have home advantage as Dearne & District visit The Millennium Stadium on Saturday 19th April 2025, in what is sure to be a bumper crowd; kick-off: 15:00PM.
Brigg Town Match Stats
Half Time: 1-1
Full Time: 2-1
Attendance: 234
Wakefield AFC Starting XI:
Scott Loach – Nathan Whitehead, Chris Salt, Brad McGowan (C) – Igor Mlynarski, Scott Smith, Curtis Morrison – Jaydan Sandhu, Mo Gashi – Kelan Swales, Anthony Dwyer
Wakefield AFC Subs Used:
61m, Aaron Pilkington for Igor Mlynarski
69m, Josef Turner for Chris Salt
69m, Kiyani Morris for Kelan Swales
75m, Morgan James for Scott Smith
86m, Nana Nyarko for Jaydan Sandhu
Possession:
Wakefield AFC 49% – 51% Brigg Town
Passes Completed:
Wakefield AFC 55 – 71 Brigg Town
Goals:
11m, Ben Vasquez
37m, Anthony Dwyer
49m, Curtis Morrison
Attempts
Wakefield AFC
First Half
Shots on Target: 5
Shots off Target: 4
Second Half
Shots on Target: 5
Shot off Target: 4
Brigg Town
First Half
Shots on Target: 1
Shots off Target: 0
Second Half
Shots on Target: 0
Shots off Target: 1
Maltby Main Match Stats
Half Time: 0-1
Full Time: 1-2
Attendance: 250
Wakefield AFC Starting XI:
Scott Loach – Igor Mlynarski, Chris Salt, Brad McGowan (C), Curtis Morrison – Scott Smith, Nathan Whitehead – Jaydan Sandhu, Mo Gashi, Kelan Swales – Kiyani Morris
Wakefield AFC Subs Used:
57m, Aaron Pilkington for Nathan Whitehead
75m, Kieran Watson for Jaydan Sandhu
Possession:
Wakefield AFC 53% – 47% Maltby Main
Passes Completed:
Wakefield AFC 67 – 56 Maltby Main
Goals:
27m, Ashley Flynn (Pen)
53m, Ashley Flynn
90m+3, Chris Salt
Wakefield AFC Assists:
90m+3, Kelan Swales
Wakefield AFC Cards:
Jaydan Sandhu (Yellow)
Igor Mlynarski (Yellow)
Attempts
Wakefield AFC
First Half
Shots on Target: 1
Shots off Target: 6
Second Half
Shots on Target: 2
Shot off Target: 3
Maltby Main
First Half
Shots on Target: 1
Shots off Target: 2
Second Half
Shots on Target: 1
Shots off Target: 6