Saturday 11th April 2026 | Austin Ainsworth
The NCEL Division One regular season drew to a close for Wakefield AFC on Saturday, with an away trip to seventh placed Route One Rovers.
The Falcons went into the weekend still in second place, safe in the knowledge their place in the play-offs had long-since been secured, but still with much to play for. For a long time Wakefield had seemed a certainty to finish second in the league, but Worsbrough’s impressive run of results and games in hand meant Wakefield went into the game at Route One needing to win and then hoping for an unlikely slip-up from Worsbrough in one of their two remaining games. That wasn’t all though, as Wakefield could still drop to fourth in the league, with Harrogate Railway also lurking just beneath them.
Manager Jason Blunt made two changes to the side victorious over Ilkley, bringing Bolton Makwedza back in at right-back, and handing a first start to Ify Ofoegbu – on the right of a 4-4-2 – in place of Basile Zottos.
Route One, famed for their deadly attacking duo of Zak Khan and Reece Thompson – with nearly 100 goals between them this season – and for their attractive, possession-based style, started the game brightly and had Wakefield penned in their own half.
That brought a flurry of chances for the home side, with Wakefield struggling to clear as three Route One shots were blocked from close range. Blunt, as always, was animated on the sidelines as he urged his side on; encouraging them into a ferocious press.
Wakefield soon worked things out, perhaps recalling how they dismantled this side 4-1 in the reverse fixture. History repeated itself as The Falcons upped their aggression and went man-for-man when Route One attempted to play out from the back.
That brought mistakes from the home side, who soon started to turnover possession in dangerous areas. Wakefield nearly took the lead from one such instance, and eventually did so in the 26th minute when a quick counter-attack saw Eliel Anku display good hold-up play to ride a tackle and square the ball for Ofoegbu, who came rushing in from the right. The winger then bagged his first goal since returning to the club with a thunderous, swiped finish high into the top corner.
Barely a minute later Wakefield had Route One flapping at the back again and won a free-kick just to the left of the penalty box. Tom Hinton played it short for Akeel Francis to whip a low, curling effort towards goal. The ball diverted into goal to make it 2-0 to the away side, with Anku leading the celebrations, though it seemed a Route One player got the final, fatal touch.
Wakefield goalkeeper Drew Bremer kept his side’s advantage to two goals with a fine save when 1-v-1, in a rare moment of danger for Route One who, by now, were second best to a rampant Wakefield. That moment proved a blip for Wakefield, who soon increased their advantage with another goal stemming from their excellent pressure of the Route One defence.
The ball was given away and played forward to Anku, who impressively chested the ball down into the path for the arriving Hinton. The midfielder – Wakefield’s top-scorer – subsequently increased his tally for the season to 25 with an excellent, low finish beyond the reach of the ‘keeper.
Wakefield’s outstanding first half still had time to get better when Anku, adding to his two assists, capped a good performance with a goal of his own in the 42nd minute. Captain Chis Salt strode out of defence to clear a ball to the right channel, whereupon the Route One defender got his attempted header all wrong to play the ball into the path of Francis. Wakefield’s striker drove into the box and the crossed for his unmarked partner, whose first-time finish ensured Wakefield went into the break with a four goal lead.
As has so often been the case this season, the second half was an entirely different affair; Wakefield having all but sealed the points with four first half goals, perhaps being guilty of easing off too much.
To Route One’s credit, they learnt from their first-half mistakes and were quicker and more direct in the second period. That, allied to Wakefield’s drop-off in intensity, allowed Route One to regain some semblance of control in the game.
The home side missed a sitter almost straight from kick-off, and then minutes later pulled a goal back when Wakefield stood off too much on the edge of their own box, allowing Anees Younis to fire in a wicked strike from the edge of the box.
That goal renewed some sense of jeopardy for Wakefield and gave hope to Route One, who continued to pepper Wakefield’s box throughout the half, seeing a multitude of shots blocked and one rattle Wakefield’s crossbar.
Hinton did have a chance to gift Wakefield a fifth goal, but he could only hit straight at the goalkeeper from close range on a rare occasion where Wakefield were allowed to continue an attack without the linesman flagging for offside – his flag drawing widespread attention from spectators and coaches alike throughout the half due to some bizarre, blatantly wrong decisions.
Bremer prevented a nervy final 10 minutes when he pulled off an acrobatic, stretching save from close range, before the Wakefield mood was lifted with the long-awaited, welcome return of Callum Nicell to midfield after a long injury lay-off. In harrowing scenes, the mood soon dropped again when, with literally his first bit of action, he fell to the ground with a recurrence of his injury and had to be substituted off.
Notwithstanding that moment, Wakefield’s fans will have left Bradford happy in the knowledge that third place had been secured and with that home advantage in the play-off semi-final. As it stands, Wakefield remain second in the league but will now await the result of Worsbrough’s final game away to Appleby Frodingham in midweek to find out their final league place. More importantly, as was most probably the aim just a few weeks ago, Wakefield will go into the play-offs off the back of three successive wins with form and confidence restored.
Wakefield’s semi-final will now take place at The Hunters Stadium on Saturday 18th April; kick-off 15:00PM against either Harrogate Railway Athletic or Leeds UFCA.
Match Stats
Half Time: 0-4
Full Time: 1-4
Attendance: 137
Wakefield AFC Starting XI:
Drew Bremer – Bolton Makwedza, Chris Salt (C), Mo Conteh, Owen Thomas – Ify Ofoegbu, Tom Hinton, Max Rayner, Ethan Kachosa – Eliel Anku, Akeel Francis
Wakefield AFC Subs Used:
58m, Basile Zottos for Ify Ofoegbu
73m, Oli Robinson for Akeel Francis
83m, Callum Nicell for Tom Hinton
85m, Samuel Pashley for Callum Nicell
Goals:
26m, Ify Ofoegbu
28m, Musa Dukuray Corrah (OG)
39m, Tom Hinton
42m, Eliel Anku
48m, Anees Younis
Wakefield AFC Assists:
26m, Eliel Anku
28m, Akeel Francis
39m, Eliel Anku
42m, Akeel Francis
Attempts
Wakefield AFC
First Half
Shots on Target: 6
Shots off Target: 4
Second Half
Shots on Target: 3
Shot off Target: 2
Route One Rovers
First Half
Shots on Target: 1
Shots off Target: 3
Second Half
Shots on Target: 2
Shots off Target: 5