Friday 12th December 2025 | Austin Ainsworth
Wakefield AFC have settled in nicely at The Hunters Stadium, with 8 goals scored in three games unbeaten – the last an outstanding 4-2 victory over runaway NCEL Division One Leaders Dearne & District.
Two more home games followed this past week, the first a challenging midweek fixture against Maltby Main – who came into the game off the back of four successive victories – and then a Friday night clash against South Leeds, who inflicted a chastening defeat over Wakefield earlier on in the season.
That result was the penultimate game in Steve Bodle and Lee Needham’s managerial reign, and no doubt set the ball rolling for the decision to relieve them of their duties. Things have looked up since that depressing start to the season, with Jason Blunt presiding over 13 wins from 18 league games – with just two defeats in that time – to see Wakefield starting the last week fourth in the league.
Blunt restored the returning Bolton Makwedza to the starting line-up on Tuesday evening, whilst Eliel Anku continued his return from injury up-front in what was a now very familiar, and increasingly consistent, 3-5-2 formation.
Maltby made a good start and were the dominant looking team in the very early stages, without ever threatening the Wakefield goal. The Falcons, with their footballing style so suited to the pristine, artificial surface at Pontefract, struggled to show that until a goal in the 18th minute settled them down.
It was a good move too as a period of good possession saw a ball clipped over to Anku on the right. He held the ball up expertly to then lay it off for Ethan Kachosa – making his third start in a row at right wing-back – who delivered a wonderful cross towards the back post. Akeel Francis, looking to climb his way back up the Wakefield goalscoring charts after injury curtailed his lightning start to the season, was on hand and unmarked to head home his 12th goal of the season.
From then on Wakefield were in the ascendancy, spraying the ball about neatly and seeing a number of close chances go amis – the best just before halftime when Callum Nicell’s driving, off-the-ball run was found by Francis after a slick attacking move, however the midfielder’s low, driven shot was well saved by ex-Wakefield striker Shay Evans-Booth in the Maltby goal.
The second period again saw Maltby make a good start, though Wakefield did have the ball in the back of the net again themselves in the 58th minute when the excellent Anku thought he had doubled his side’s lead. In what looked a contentious call however, he was flagged offside.
That almost immediately preceded the hammer blow of Maltby levelling affairs when an in-swinging corner was greatly assisted by the vicious West Yorkshire wind to travel all the way to the inside of the far post, with a surrounded Drew Bremer in the Wakefield goal unable to get up for the ball.
In what would eventually become a game marred by the contribution of the officials, Wakefield had another dubious offside call befall them when Billy Mole was instrumental in a move through midfield that saw him play Tom Hinton in on goal. The midfielder, whose run from behind looked well onside, finished well but saw his effort somehow ruled out for offside.
He wasn’t to be denied however, as minutes later he restored Wakefield’s lead when he completed a brilliant move between Francis and Anku, which saw the former whip a good ball in from the left. Hinton had been trying the sublime all night, at times to manager Blunt’s frustration who was begging for his team to simplify; he’d have had no complaints here however, when Hinton twisted his body to jump and execute an audacious scissor-kick for his 16th goal of the season.
In a busy period midway through the second half, the game descended into chaos when Maltby thought they’d found another equaliser. After a clear foul on Francis wasn’t given, the away side progressed down the right, before their winger cut in a drilled a shot into the far corner of Bremer’s net. The ball clearly hit the back of the net but bounced back out of the inner structure of the net-supports, with the linesman and referee seemingly oblivious to what everyone else had seen as the game continued without the award of the goal.
Maltby were incandescent with rage and lost their heads, seeing three players sent off or sin-binned in the final ten minutes. Wakefield too were affected by the chaos and complaints that followed, as their focus dwindled to allow Maltby – at one point with eight men – multiple attempts on goal; Bremer making a fine save to keep his side ahead.
Wakefield did eventually make sure of the points through a second Hinton goal on the counter-attack, Francis playing a wonderful diagonal ball over for him to dink inside on the edge of the box and curl a low shot past the ‘keeper with his left foot.
His was an important goal too, as Maltby did indeed eventually bag a second in the dying moments of stoppage time, when their captain, Adam Watson, returned from his sin-bin to head a free-kick home amidst some slack Wakefield defending.
The goal did little to appease Maltby and was ultimately insignificant as far as the result was concerned, with Wakefield – bearing in mind they two had two “goals” ruled out – taking a just-about deserved three points.
That moved The Falcons nicely into Friday night when South Leeds came visiting. Blunt made just two changes to his side, as Owen Thomas made way for Matthew Swift in defence, whilst Jerome Greaves made his first start in place of Anku up-front.
On another windy night in Pontefract, where the conditions led to two very different halves, Wakefield literally had the wind in their sails in the first half and all but had the points in the bag by half-time.
The goals were shared around too, as a dominant Wakefield saw their attackers struggle in front of goal – with several good one-on-one opportunities fluffed – only for the defence to step up when it mattered.
First came Swift in the ninth minute when he went to ground in the South Leeds box to poke Hinton’s half-cleared corner into goal from two yards out, with the goal his first for Wakefield after five games.
Not long after there was another debut goal for a relative newcomer, with Kachosa doubling Wakefield’s lead in sublime style. The ball was initially moved from right-to-left, through the imperious Mole in midfield, before Kachosa stepped inside from the left-wing onto his right foot, where he swung a cross-cum-shot towards the back post. Both Greaves and Francis threatened to get on the end of it, and that perhaps distracted the goalkeeper, as the ball curled all the way to the inside of the back post.
Wakefield continued to dominate and pepper the South Leeds goal, but it was again one of their defenders that extended The Falcons’ lead, this time captain Chris Salt – with his second goal of the season – from another perfect Hinton corner, which he drifted on to from deep to finish from close range. That, and Swift’s earlier effort, will have been music to Blunt’s ears, who just two days prior had been left frustrated at Wakefield’s apparent difficulty in scoring from set-pieces.
The only blips in an imperious first half were the controversial booking of Makwedza for diving, after he appeared to have been fouled in the South Leeds box, and a nasty looking injury for goalscorer Salt who had to be replaced by Lance Friedrich.
As stated, the wind seemed to play its part in the match, with Wakefield somewhat on the back foot in the second period and subjected to a barrage of South Leeds efforts. Their finishing – lucky for Wakefield – was wayward, and when they did find the target Bremer was in fine form to make a number of crucial saves.
South Leeds did pull one back in the 64th minute though when, after a tackle not dissimilar to the one Makwedza went to ground for when he was harshly booked, they were awarded a penalty which Mark Ferguson converted with a finish low to Bremer’s right.
That perhaps renewed Wakefield’s purpose, who upped the ante again and found a fourth goal. Nicell, excellent in his two games this week, finished a good passing move with a simple pass through midfield to release Friedrich. The substitute, on at right wing-back, drove toward goal and struck a bullet shot, low across goal and beyond the reach of the South Leeds goalkeeper.
There was still time for more incident, as Makwedza was given his marching orders 10 minutes from time following the award of a harsh second yellow card, this time for what looked a good tackle on a South Leeds attacker who was going nowhere in midfield. Wakefield then had another penalty to defend, again for a similar challenge to those that saw the previous award, and non-award, of the penalties for South Leeds and Wakefield respectively.
This time Bremer read it right, as he somehow got himself down quick enough to get a strong hand low to his left and keep out the attempt. The closest anyone else came to scoring again after that was with almost the last kick of the game, when Hinton played an awesome pass from right to left for Francis to dart into the box, open his body and get a right-footed shot off at goal. Francis could only find the ‘keeper with his effort and, as with his team, had to settled for just the 4-1 scoreline and three points.
And it was another three points that briefly moved Wakefield to third in the league, before dropping back to fourth after those around them played their matches later in the weekend. However, the standard of Wakefield’s recent performances and subsequent results leaves the table as somewhat of an irrelevance, with Wakefield’s only focus to keep winning each game, one at a time.
The next opportunity to do that comes on Saturday away to Louth Town; kick-off 15:00PM on 20/12/2025.
South Leeds Match Stats
Half Time: 3-0
Full Time: 4-1
Attendance: 210
Wakefield AFC Starting XI:
Drew Bremer – Matthew Swift, Chris Salt (C), Mo Conteh – Bolton Makwedza, Callum Nicell, Billy Mole, Ethan Kachosa – Tom Hinton – Jerome Greaves, Akeel Francis
Wakefield AFC Subs Used:
35m, Lance Friedrich for Chris Salt
76m, Jordao Costa for Jerome Greaves
84m, Shamaul Bertie for Billy Mole
Possession:
Wakefield AFC 55% – 45% South Leeds
Passes Completed:
Wakefield AFC 322 – 252 Glasshoughton Welfare
Goals:
9m, Matthew Swift
14m, Ethan Kashosa
22m, Chris Salt
65m, Mark Ferguson (Pen)
75m, Lance Friedrich
Wakefield AFC Assists:
14m, Billy Mole
22m, Tom Hinton
75m, Callum Nicell
Wakefield AFC Cards:
Bolton Makwedza (Yellow x2 / Red)
Attempts
Wakefield AFC
First Half
Shots on Target: 4
Shots off Target: 4
Second Half
Shots on Target: 2
Shot off Target: 1
South Leeds
First Half
Shots on Target: 1
Shots off Target: 1
Second Half
Shots on Target: 6
Shots off Target: 8
Maltby Main Match Stats
Half Time: 1-0
Full Time: 3-2
Attendance: 191
Wakefield AFC Starting XI:
Drew Bremer – Bolton Makwedza, Chris Salt (C), Mo Conteh – Ethan Kachosa, Callum Nicell, Billy Mole, Owen Thomas – Tom Hinton – Eliel Anku, Akeel Francis
Wakefield AFC Subs Used:
46m, Matthew Swift for Bolton Makwedza
82m, Jerome Greaves for Eliel Anku
90m, Lance Friedrich for Ethan Kachosa
90m, Jordao Costa for Tom Hinton
Goals:
18m, Akeel Francis
60m, Mackenzie Warne
70m, Tom Hinton
89m, Tom Hinton
90m+8, Adam Watson
Wakefield AFC Assists:
18m, Ethan Kachosa
70m, Akeel Francis
89m, Akeel Francis
Possession:
Wakefield AFC 61% – 39% Maltby Main
Passes Completed:
Wakefield AFC 293 – 124 Maltby Main
Attempts
Wakefield AFC
First Half
Shots on Target: 2
Shots off Target: 9
Second Half
Shots on Target: 2
Shot off Target: 5
Maltby Main
First Half
Shots on Target: 0
Shots off Target: 3
Second Half
Shots on Target: 1
Shots off Target: 4