Saturday 31st October 2020
Attendance: 295
They say that revenge is a dish best served cold, but Wakefield’s was still piping hot when they had an immediate chance to avenge the previous week’s disappointing away loss to Hepworth United F.C, as they welcomed them to The Millennium Stadium in the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Senior League.
There was to be no repeat of that disappointing finish in the previous match, as Adam Lockwood’s men held on to a first half Dean Makunike goal to seal a sweet, if not scrappy, victory. Lockwood played a decisive part; making five changes to what had previously been a largely unchanged side, whilst also switching his formation to a diamond shaped 4-4-2.
Jack Budge, Louis Andre and Mason Rubie all came in to the new look defence in front of the unchanged Hemir Lopez in goal. Tom Davies made his first start, adding steal to the base of the diamond; whilst Bryce Orsini added the sparkle to it as he continued in his no. 10 role. In between them, Jed Wilkinson moved in to midfield alongside captain for the day Jack Burton. Dan Palmer kept his place up front but had a new partner in Dean Makunike, who was also making his first start of the season.
Hepworth, fresh off the back of their late heroics in the previous game, made the better start and saw a good early chance from a free-kick miss the target; before Lopez was forced in to back-to-back saves at the strikers feet when the away side twice went in behind the Wakefield defence approaching the 15 minute mark.
In a game of few chances, it was Wakefield who took theirs in the 23rd minute though, as Makunike celebrated his first start by also breaking his duck with a well-taken first goal of the season. Left-back Budge made it happen, playing an excellent ball over the top that Makunike chased well, before touching around the goalkeeper and finishing from a tight angle to put Wakefield ahead slightly against the run of play.
Aside from another good bit of goalkeeping by Lopez to cut out a dangerous cross at the Hepworth striker’s feet, Wakefield were buoyed by lead and controlled the rest of the first period. Davies played his part with a dominant performance patrolling the key area in front of his defence. His work freed up those in front of him to go and attack; and all three of Wilkinson, Burton and Orsini had dangerous moments leading up to half time. Wilkinson and Orsini first combined when the former played a beautiful ball in to the latter, who impressively touched the ball around the goalkeeper but was caught between shooting and crossing as the chance came to nothing. Orsini, always a menace to the Hepworth defence, was at it again moments later as he beat a man to lay the ball on for Burton, who had made a good run to the near post, but was denied three goals in as many games when his header was well saved.
The second half – more memorable for what occurred off the ball rather than on it – was a similarly tight affair and neither side had any real chances of note. Perhaps it was that frustration that boiled over in the 64th minute when the Hepworth no. 9 was rightly given a straight red card for a cynical kick out at Rubie who, not for the first time, had left the player for dead as he went on one of his many lung-busting runs.
Wakefield’s best, and only real, chance came moments later when Orsini nearly added to his solitary goal for the season after good work from the always industrious Palmer down the right. The striker had worked the ball well to cut it back from the right, but Orsini could only hit his first-time shot wide of the post.
The game returned to scrappiness after that, as Davies and the Hepworth captain were both lucky not to see red. Davies put in a wild challenge and, as he awaited his fate from the referee, the Hepworth captain came charging in with what appeared to be a retaliatory elbow to floor the Wakefield midfielder. Ultimately, each only saw yellow for the incident and the game continued 11 v 10.
Although it was a tense final 10 minutes, Wakefield, marshalled by the excellent centre-back pairing of Hoyle and Andre – the latter of which was re-staking his claim to the side with his first start in the league, after being almost ever-present in pre-season – held on at the back to avoid any late halloween frights and seal the three points.
Commenting after the game, Lockwood stated: “It was a good challenge, I knew it would be. The conditions were difficult but I thought we played them well. I’m obviously delighted to get the clean sheet and some more points. Every match is different week in, week out. Last week was a different challenge to today. We changed things, with a little bit of a different approach; some might say it worked, and some might say it didn’t but we’ve got the victory. It was an OK performance but I think we’ve got more in the tank. It’s encouraging, and other players in the squad got minutes under their belt which is very important. I’ve said right from day one that it would be a squad game and it certainly will be throughout the season. It’s been a big learning curve for myself, the players and us as a squad. We’re really really new relative to a lot of our opponents and that does make a difference. We have to look at ways as to how we can improve that as quickly as possible. We’ve got a great set of lads throughout the squad – some great characters – and, like I said, it’s very important that we use the whole squad throughout the season and everybody is on board. Today has been a great example of that and I’m proud of them all.”
The three points means that the two sides switch positions in the league, with Wakefield moving up to third and Hepworth falling to fifth. It also means Wakefield can now head in to a period of uncertainty – an impending lockdown meaning further games are unlikely for the foreseeable future – on the back of a positive result and with a league position they will hope to keep, and even surpass, once the league does eventually resume.
Austin Ainsworth
Half Time: 1-0
Full Time: 1-0
Starting XI:
Hemir Lopez – Mason Rubie, Patrick Hoyle, Louis Andre, Jack Budge – Tom Davies – Jack Burton (C), Jed Wilkinson – Bryce Orsini – Dean Makunike, Dan Palmer
Goals:
23m, Dean Makunike
Assists
23m, Jack Budge
Subs Used:
71m, Samuel Amissah for Dean Makunike
83m, Tom Raithby for Bryce Orsini
Cards:
Louis Andre (Yellow)
Tom Davies (Yellow)
Stats:
Wakefield AFC
First Half
Shots on Target: 2
Shots off Target: 3
Second Half
Shots on Target: 2
Shots off Target: 3
Hepworth United F.C.
First Half
Shots on Target: 2
Shots off Target: 2
Second Half
Shots on Target: 1
Shots off Target: 3