Friday 22nd August 2025 | Austin Ainsworth
Wakefield AFC have a made a depressingly disappointing – and familiar – start to the 2025-26 NCEL Division One Season; complete squad overhaul in the summer followed by confused, under-par performances on the pitch, with no win since the opening day and three losses in succession.
The similarities with last season have been striking and, just like last year, performances and results have led to a managerial change for The Falcons. Steve Bodle and Lee Needham leave the club having narrowly missed out on promotion last term, their impressive start with Wakefield and 23 game unbeaten run giving way to a mixed end to last season and a complete failure to get up to speed this year.
Just as history has repeated itself with early season misfortune on and off the pitch for Wakefield this campaign, the clear aim when making another managerial change would have been that history would also repeat itself with another “new-manager” bounce following the appointment of Jason Blunt as Wakefield boss.
That would be no easy task this time around, with Blunt’s first game in charge – after just one training session – coming away at league leaders Armthorpe Welfare on Friday night. Welfare, experiencing a complete turn-around in fortunes this season, went in to the game with a perfect record of four wins from four prior to kick-off.
Blunt, boosted by the arrival of defenders Bolton Makwedza and T’Nique Fishley – the latter rejoining Wakefield for his second spell with the club – moved The Falcons to the 3-4-1-2 formation many have been calling for. That meant captain Chris Salt now had the safety-net his aggressive, no-nonsense style calls for with the aforementioned new arrivals debuting either side of him to offer strength and pace at the back. Similarly, Owen Thomas and Igor Mlynarski continued at full-back, but were freed by the formation to operate further forward and provide Wakefield with much-needed width. Billy Mole returned to the side alongside Callum Nicell in a midfield two, whilst the front-three – all now in their natural, favoured positions – comprised of Tom Hinton as the “10”, behind a strike partnership of Akeel Francis and Ashley Flynn.
The away side made a flying start to the game, with a clear emphasis on a relentless, but intelligent, high-press; whilst the formation also appeared to provide immediate improvement in their use of the ball and retention of possession.
That start was backed up by Wakefield enjoying the best of the opening chances, with Francis twice going close, and Mole also firing a shot just wide of goal after excellent work from the Wakefield midfield to win the ball back and spring an attack.
Flynn, still looking for his third goal of the season after two in his first three games, went closest for Wakefield in the 21st minute though when the away side’s aggressive press on the edge of the Armthorpe box led to a turnover in possession. Some smart footwork from Francis saw him lay the ball off and play Francis in on goal, but his first-time shot came bouncing off the post, with his poor luck in front of goal continuing on from recent games.
Amongst the myriad of chances Wakefield had in the half, two penalty shouts also came and went for the away side with the referee unmoved. He was given no choice in the 38th minute however, when yet another excellent passage of Wakefield play eventually saw Flynn expertly hold the ball up and lay it off back into midfield, where Hinton clipped an inch-perfect, driving pass up for Francis to enter into a foot-race with his marker. He bore down on the box and pivoted back on to his left foot, at which point his legs were brought from under him right in view of the nearby referee.
Francis stepped up to take the penalty and fired a vicious shot into the top-left corner to give his side a deserved lead.
Wakefield have made a bad habit recently of wasting good starts to games and also shipping goals immediately after scoring. However, their focus remained and, come the end of the half, it was apparent that Armthorpe were rattled, with the home side’s obvious frustration boiling over into one of their men receiving a yellow card and 10 minute sin-bin for dissent.
Wakefield continued to play the game in the Armthorpe half after the break and further tested the Armthorpe goalkeeper, before Francis pounced again in the 62nd minute. It was a brilliant goal, showing the hallmarks of a deadly, goal-hungry striker at the top of his game. The goal was as simple as it was beautiful, with Thomas’ throw-in from the right directed straight at Francis just inside the Armthorpe penalty box. The striker took one, perfect touch with his back to goal as he spun around and swung his right foot through the ball to fire his shot across goal and beyond the reach of the goalkeeper.
With seven goals in as many games for Francis, a hat-trick would have been the icing on the cake for Wakefield’s current top-scorer. He had his chance too, when substitute Max Rhodes latched on to an Evans goal kick, smartly winning Wakefield’s second penalty of the game when he got his body between the ball and his man. The decision was contentious as it was, let-alone after the defender was also deemed to have been the last man and subsequently sent packing with a red card.
Perhaps over-thinking his golden opportunity, Francis opted against his usual focus on power, choosing instead to place a shot low, to the ‘keeper’s right. The Armthorpe goalkeeper telegraphed the striker and parried the ball away, keeping his team just in the game at 0-2.
Any chance of an unlikely comeback for the home side was soon put to bed when they were further reduced to nine men, with Michael Dunn initially given a yellow card and sin bin for his dealings with the referee, failing to heed that warning as he sarcastically clapped the referee who responded with a second yellow card for the Armthorpe no. 9.
That was midway through the half, with Wakefield’s control of the game already well and truly established. The Falcons continued to pepper the home goal and their performance was such that it was hard to believe the margin of victory was just the two goals.
Wakefield were the antithesis of the side seen in previous matches – cohesive, competitive and crisp in their use of the ball. They also completely nullified Armthorpe, who were limited to just two attempts at goal in the entire game; both speculative, long-range efforts late in the match.
That meant Wakefield completed their comprehensive defeat of the league-leaders without any fuss or nerves, claiming their first three points in four matches to move three places up the table to 13th. Promisingly for Wakefield the win appeared to be completely by design; a clear and coherent strategy implemented by Blunt, who relentlessly marshalled his side throughout the match in every detail of their performance. Above and beyond the result, the game also saw pretty much all of Wakefield’s pre-season arrivals give their best performances of the season, with the system and style obviously suiting the technical attributes of Wakefield’s squad.
It is of course just one game and Wakefield still have much work to do after recent results, but Blunt has immediately passed his first test in securing a positive start to his Wakefield managerial career. He will now look to back that up with back-to-back wins for the first time this season when second-bottom Nostell Miners Welfare visit The Millennium Stadium on Tuesday evening; kick-off 19:45PM on 26/08/2025.
Match Stats
Half Time: 0-1
Full Time: 0-2
Attendance: 356
Wakefield AFC Starting XI:
Owen Evans – Bolton Makwedza, Chris Salt (C), T’Nique Fishley – Igor Mlynarski, Callum Nicell, Billy Mole, Owen Thomas – Tom Hinton – Ash Flynn, Akeel Francis
Wakefield AFC Subs Used:
63m, Max Rhodes for Ash Flynn
82m, James Tetley for Igor Mlynarski
Possession:
Armthorpe Welfare 52% – 48% Wakefield AFC
Passes Completed:
Armthorpe Welfare 238 – 226 Wakefield AFC
Goals:
38m, Akeel Francis (Pen)
62m, Akeel Francis
Wakefield AFC Assists:
62m, Owen Thomas
Wakefield AFC Cards:
Akeel Francis (Yellow)
Attempts
Wakefield AFC
First Half
Shots on Target: 4
Shots off Target: 7
Second Half
Shots on Target: 3
Shot off Target: 6
Armthorpe Welfare
First Half
Shots on Target: 0
Shots off Target: 0
Second Half
Shots on Target: 2
Shots off Target: 0