Saturday 27th July 2024 | Austin Ainsworth
After falling at the penultimate hurdle for the second time in two NCEL seasons, a new look Wakefield AFC returned to Division One action at the weekend away to newly-promoted Club Thorne Colliery.
As is usually the case in football, and especially with Wakefield AFC, a promising pre-season comprising of a series of strong performances against higher league opposition, plus several high-quality additions to the squad, all brewed up in a melting pot of excitement and optimism that this, at the third time of trying, would be the year Wakefield go on to secure promotion.
On paper things have seemed to fall in to place for the West Yorkshire side, with two teams promoted last year and both the Retford sides moving sideways out of the league. Could that pave the way for Wakefield to “run” the league, as had been their aim last year?
Football, especially in the ultra competitive battleground of non-league, is never that simple. And, with newly-promoted Thorne in mind, Wakefield have made somewhat of a habit over past seasons of starting slowly.
The away side seemed to have overcome that with a strong, if not earth-shattering first half. New signings Owen Evans, Keegan Townrow, Steve and Scott Smith, Morgan James and Kiyani Morris all started in a 4-3-3 formation; all of them showing glimpses of the vast quality and, more importantly, experience that they will bring.
Wakefield, on the front-foot throughout the half, but never quite reaching their full, fluid best, made the most of their limited opportunities on goal by taking an early lead. Despite all the new signings, it was the familiar faces of Callum Charlton and Ben Gelder who combined, with the former delivering a wonderful cross from deep for striker Gelder to meet on the penalty spot with a looping header to the near post.
Wakefield, looking to kick-on, were patient in their build up play but turned the screw with five minutes remaining in the half. In what was their best attacking move, Gelder and last-season’s player of the year Jaydan Sandhu dovetailed nicely on the right hand side for the latter to pass to Billy Mole in the box. He allowed the ball to roll across his body before getting his boot to it first; a clumsy tackle from a Thorne defender leading to the award of a penalty and the chance for Wakefield to double their lead.
Frustratingly for Wakefield that chance wasn’t taken, with Mole missing out on his 50th goal for the club when he blazed his shot over the bar. That meant Wakefield settled for just the one goal lead at half-time.
Club Thorne, with just one speculative shot off-target in the first half, showed improvement in the second, displaying a greater commitment and speed of play. Wakefield received a warning shot on 51 minutes when some loose play in midfield allowed Thorne to counter quickly. With the Wakefield defence stretched thin, their man was able to run through unchallenged, but his wicked shot clattered off the post.
Minutes later things took a serious turn for the worse for Wakefield, as they were again undone by a quick turnover of possession, their defensive line scrambled with a ball through the middle. Charlton chased after the attacker and couldn’t overcome the instinct to pull his man back. Rather than potentially just losing the lead had the striker scored, Charlton saw red, leaving Wakefield with a penalty to face and more than 30 minutes to play with 10 men. New ‘keeper Evans could do nothing to stop Joe Pugh’s equaliser from the spot, his fierce strike going in off the underside of the bar.
With so much time left on the clock, Wakefield tried to continue as they were. And, even with their numerical disadvantage, they still saw lots of the ball and had opportunities of their own. A raft of substitutions followed the sending-off, Sebastian Losa one of the players to enter the fray. He nearly gifted Wakefield the lead back in the 71st minute, as Townrow drifted a header back across goal from Sandhu’s set-piece. Losa met it well but his effort was agonisingly cleared off the line.
The game became end-to-end from then, a little too much so for Wakefield’s outnumbered players. With a little over 10 minutes to play, Wakefield’s attack was cut out and Thorne again countered to punish Wakefield’s high line. Adam Baskerville curved his run well to run in behind, still with a lot to do but punishing Wakefield with a vicious strike to the near post for his side to take the lead. Their were protestations of offside from Wakefield, but Wakefield’s full-back had played the goalscorer on and the goal was good.
An increasingly desperate Wakefield became more and more disjointed, and they were finished-off minutes later by Szymon Czubek’s close range finish at the back post, after a fantastic cross-field pass from midfield had allowed their winger to cross.
The game ended 3-1 and served as a reminder to Wakefield of how easily mistakes are punished at this level. In a season where the aim will be for Wakefield – a team who have beaten the league winners in each of the last two seasons – to be more ruthlessly consistent against the rest of the league, the start was far from ideal. However, it is just the start and there will be no rush to panic. All of Wakefield’s new signings showed promise and there will no doubt be infinite improvement as the side continue to gel.
They must try to do so quickly however, as the games will come thick and fast in a league of 22 teams. After the early running Wakefield find themselves in the unfamiliar position of 17th out of those 22 sides. They will hope to begin their rise up the table on Saturday 3rd August 2024 when they welcome another newly promoted side, Dearne and District, to Belle Vue; kick-off 15:00PM.
Match Stats
Half Time: 0-1
Full Time: 3-1
Attendance: 209
Wakefield AFC Starting XI:
Owen Evans – Steve Smith, Jack Durkin (C), Keegan Townrow, Callum Charlton – Billy Mole, Morgan James, Jaydan Sandhu – Scott Smith, Ben Gelder, Kiyani Morris
Wakefield AFC Subs Used:
60m, Jayden John for Ben Gelder
68m, Mason Rubie for Scott Smith
68m, Sebastian Losa for Kiyani Morris
70m, Nathan Hawkhead for Morgan James
84m, Kenan McKenzie-Grey for Billy Mole
Possession:
Club Thorne Colliery 29% – 71% Wakefield AFC
Passes Completed:
Club Thorne Colliery 90 – 250 Wakefield AFC
Goals:
14m, Ben Gelder
59m, Joe Pugh (Pen)
77m, Adam Baskerville
81m, Szymon Czubek
Wakefield AFC Assists:
14m, Callum Charlton
Attempts
Wakefield AFC
First Half
Shots on Target: 3
Shots off Target: 4
Second Half
Shots on Target: 2
Shot off Target: 7
Club Thorne Colliery
First Half
Shots on Target: 0
Shots off Target: 1
Second Half
Shots on Target: 4
Shots off Target: 2