Starting XI:
Ryan Eades
Jean Merour, Adeyemi Ayodele, Jack Enkh
Deji Alabi, Kyron Richards, Jamie Hardwick, Lewis Owiredu
Rayjon Moore
Manny Katundu
Subs Used:
45 mins – Nathan Weekes for Katundu
45 mins – Redon Gashi for Moore
60 mins – Chris Sholu for Merour
80 mins – Sean Dongo for Alabi
85 mins – Noah Hamelberg for Owiredu
Our penultimate pre-season friendly involved a seventy-mile round trip along Snake Pass to the lovely town of Glossop. Before set off, the heavens opened with a torrential downpour which reminded me of the Bacup Borough friendly but thankfully the skies cleared and when we arrived at the ground the match would be played on a fairly sunny summer evening in front of a crowd of 126.
As with all the pre-season opponents, Glossop play in a higher tier on the non-league ladder the Wakefield AFC first team will be playing at when the season kicks off proper on 17th August 2019. Before the kick-off therefore the team knew it would be another stern test to help them prepare for the first season. The size of the task was also increased with manager Chris Turner unable to attend and therefore team physio Darli Mikulas took charge of the team.
Now in the previous friendly against Bacup Borough the Wakefield lads had a slow start in the first half but came good in the second half. This time it was pretty much the other way around but there are plenty of factors to take into account when analysing the performance. The team is still a fresh group of young players who need time to gel and create the chemistry to work as a cohesive unit. It may sound a bit like football jargon but it’s totally true.
The opposition they were playing are a well established club dating back to 1886 and played in the original Football League First Division in 1899-1900. Now obviously they’ve dropped a few levels since then but my point is they have been not only a team for a long time but a club and a community fan-base too. These are all things that we need to create and build at Wakefield AFC.
There’s no denying that there were errors in both halves from the away side with stray passes to the opposition, missed tackles and long balls that were intercepted but in the first half the game was quite level. In fact it took a bit of good fortune for Glossop to go in with a goal advantage at half time as their first goal came courtesy of a Wakefield centre back sliding to block a cross at the near post and inadvertently putting it into his own net.
Alabi and Owiredu were causing problems for their defenders but the short length of the Glossop pitch meant that the didn’t have as much space to exploit their pace. The first golden chance of the game actually fell to Wakefield’s Richards after Glossop failed to clear the ball but he skied his shot over the bar. It was five minutes later when Glossop opened the scoring.
Wakefield seemed to struggle with only one striker up top with the absence of Mike Owusu through illness and Katundu was finding it hard to get time on the ball without the attention of a marker. He was replaced at half-time by Weekes but the team struggled to keep possession of the ball and work the ball into the box.
The score remained 1-0 for at least fifteen minutes in the second half but then three goals in the space of seven minutes wrapped up the game for Glossop. The pick of the bunch was actually their fifth goal which was a well taken top-corner shot from the edge of the area.
Given the factors that the team was from a higher league, we were without a manager in attendance and that three of their goals came in a short space of time it probably wasn’t as bad an evening as the scoreline makes out. The main thing is that as one fan pointed out on social media, it’s more time on the field against competitive opposition for our lads. It all helps them to learn to play with each other and develop their chemistry. The scoreline of a friendly counts for nothing so let’s see how we fare in our first set of league games.
The last pre-season friendly takes place Wednesday 14th August 2019 away to Dronfield.
The season starts on 17th August 2019 away to Hepworth United FC before the first home game the following Wednesday 21st August 2019 hosting Dodworth Miners Welfare Senior 1st Team.
Si Boyle