Substitutes and Sin-Bins Seal Victory For Wakefield
Saturday 9th November 2019
Wakefield AFC welcomed second-from-bottom Burngreave F.C. to the Dorothy Hyman Stadium, hoping to return to winning ways in the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Senior League after a disappointing run of two consecutive home losses.
With September’s 7-2 away cup-win against this side fresh in Wakefield’s memory, the home fans in attendance would have been forgiven for thinking the three points were a formality. It wasn’t so, as it took an eye catching second half debut from Alex Fowler and a man-of-the-match substitute performance from Noah Hamelberg to claim a 3-2 comeback win, after Burngreave had two men sin-binned in the dying stages having led 1-0 and 2-1 at points in the match.
Manager Chris Turner stuck to his favoured 4-3-3 formation but made several changes to the side beaten by Wombwell in the cup. Quinaceo Hunt played in goal, behind a back four of Chris Sholu, Marvin Emmanuel, Yemi Ayodele and Michael Ash, who was making only his third start of the season in place of the suspended Jean Merour. Manny Katundu and Mohammed Hamid shared the two advanced midfield positions, with Jamie Hardwick returning to the base of the midfield after missing the last game through illness. The line-up was completed with Deji Alabi and Redon Gashi playing either side of top-scorer Rayjon Moore.
Wakefield started well, passing the ball about with ease on the 4G pitch, and had good chances to take the lead early on. Moore showed good strength to go clean through on goal in the sixth minute but screwed his shot wide; whilst Gashi, looking for his second goal in three games, failed to capitalise on a defence splitting through ball when he was only able to hit a tame shot at the opposition keeper from six yards out in the 11th minute.
The early momentum was halted in the 13th minute by an injury to Hamid, who was eventually replaced by Hamelberg after a lengthy delay. That saw a shift of positions, with Hamelberg the deepest of the three midfielders in what was a new role for him. Perhaps effected by the delay, Wakefield lost their way and began to make sloppy mistakes in defence. They failed to clear the ball in the 19th minute in what was an almost comical goal-mouth scramble that saw Burngreave have two shots blocked and a third hit the post, leaving the hosts lucky not to fall behind.
They weren’t so lucky a couple of minutes later, when the away side took the
lead after yet more poor defending. The opposition attacker was too easily
allowed to run on to a free ball, leaving him one-on-one with Hunt. The
Bermudan goalkeeper had no chance as a well placed shot sailed past him in to
the corner of the net.
Wakefield did regain some control of the game, with Hamelberg enjoying his central position as he sprayed the ball about the pitch. However, perhaps too keen to get the equaliser, they were guilty of over-playing and over-complicating at times; and missed several good opportunities to equalise. The best saw Alabi, looking for his first goal since these two sides last met five games ago, heading over the bar after excellent work from Katundu. Katundu himself then had a good chance to score but his shot was blocked. The chance came after Moore failed to get his shot away having rounded the goalkeeper for what appeared to be a certain goal.
Frustration grew, and Wakefield began to interchange positions and formations as a result with varying degrees of success. Alabi moved to the left in order to exploit a Burngreave substitute, on at right-back, but it was actually Michael Ash who got the better of the defender in the 41st minute. After a testing first half defensively, he broke forward down the left to deliver a pin-point cross on to the waiting head of Gashi at the back post, who was able to send the sides in level at half time.
Wakefield came out hoping to take the lead in the second half, and could have done so through Alabi in the 51st minute who stretched to reach a through ball, slicing the ball wide of the post. The away side, who only have three points in the league, shocked the hosts for a second time in the match however when they re-took the lead with a swift counter attack. Their constantly dangerous number 9 was left in acres of space to strike a cut-back cross in to the back of Hunt’s net, leaving Wakefield with another mountain to climb at 2-1 down.
Climb it they did, but not without making the home fans wait. Initially, Wakefield were unable to get back in to the game when they had shots from distance blocked and Alabi headed over when he should have scored. As in the first half, Wakefield didn’t always choose the simple option and often took too many touches. Captain Katundu, always looking to lead his team on with what are fast-becoming his signature soundbites, recognised this and at one point rather comically yelled “SIMPLIFY” at his team-mates.
His instructions were heeded by debutant Alex Fowler, on for the injured Ash in the 63rd minute. The change saw him take up a defensive midfield position as Hardwick moved to right-back. Fowler instantly started barking instructions at his team-mates and set the tone with some welcome biting tackles. When he received the ball, he quickly played accurate passes to team-mates in attacking positions. One of which could have been the equaliser in the 74th minute when he struck a perfectly weighted through ball to Katundu, who couldn’t quite reach it for what would have been a tap-in.
With the pressure increasing, Wakefield were helped by circumstance and good fortune in the last ten minutes. First, the away goalkeeper was booked for time wasting before a Burngreave player was then booked and sin-binned for arguing with the decision. Wakefield capitalised with an excellently worked indirect free-kick, that saw Hamelberg cap an excellent performance with a cultured, curling finish in to the corner of the net after Katundu’s smart lay-off.
Burngreave then had a second player sin-binned for dissent moments later, leaving Wakefield licking their lips at facing the closing stages against nine men with the scores level at 2-2. Their good fortune continued though in the 89th minute, as at the other end Hunt had the home fans in agony with a sliced kick that looked destined for the back of his own net. The visitor’s were then denied a good shout at a penalty as Hunt bundled over an attacker trying to recover the ball.
Wakefield overcame their nerves however in the last minute when Katundu bagged the winner and his seventh goal of the season. The captain, deserving of his goal after a dominant performance, took matters in to his own hands when he tricked the defender with a smart dummy before firing an edge-of-the-box rocket in to the back of the net. His goal was enough for Wakefield to see out the game at 3-2.
Manager Chris Turner humbly stated after the match: “Total respect to the Burngreave officials and players. A number of decisions went against them that lost them the game but their sportsmanship at the end of the game was second to none. In defeat they came out winners for me.”
Despite the good fortune in what at times was a sloppy display, Turner and Wakefield will welcome the win that sees them sit third in the league, level on 21 points with Penistone Church Reserves. Next up is a chance to avenge the cup loss to Wombwell F.C. when the two sides meet at Wombwell on 16/11/2019, kick-off at 14:00.
Austin Ainsworth
Half Time:1-1
Full Time: 3-2
Attendance: 40
Goals
22m, Burngreave
41m, Redon Gashi
53m, Burngreave
79m, Noah Hamelberg
90m, Manny Katundu
Starting XI:
Quinacio Hunt, Chris Sholu, Yemi Ayodele, Marvin Emmanuel, Michael Ash, Jamie Hardwick, Manny Katundu (Captain), Mohammed Hamid, Deji Alabi, Redon Gashi, Rayjon Moore
Subs Used:
16m, Noah Hamelberg (MOTM) for Mohammed Hamid
63, Alex Fowler for Michael Ash
Cards:
None for Wakefield
Stats:
Wakefield AFC
First Half
Shots on Target: 5
Shots off Target: 3
Second Half
Shots on Target: 5
Shots off Target: 8
Burngreave F.C.
First Half
Shots on Target: 4
Shots off Target: 4
Second Half
Shots on Target: 1
Shots off Target: 1