Wednesday 10th November 2021 / Saturday 13th November 2021
Last week provided Wakefield AFC with a great opportunity to make up some ground in the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Senior league; as a double header of home fixtures saw them first welcome North Gawber Colliery to The Millennium Stadium for a Wednesday evening kick-off, before league titans Swinton Athletic FC were the visitors on Saturday for the match everyone had been waiting for.
Wakefield, fresh off the back of a record 15-0 win in the cup in their previous match, made a perfect start to their return to league action with four unanswered goals against a well-beaten North Gawber side in the first of the two big league games.
The first half in that match was a slow-burner, with Billy Mole the scorer of the half’s only goal as Adam Lockwood’s men took their time to work up to the dizzying standards of their previous match. After a host of missed chances from the home side, the increasingly penned-in North Gawber defence were punished when Mason Rubie – benefiting from a tactical switch of wings with Red Bates – cut in from the left and saw his shot saved by the away goalkeeper, who could only parry the ball in to Mole’s path for an easy tap-in.
North Gawber became frustrated at the metronomic control of the impressive home midfield of Morgan Butcher and Daniel Youel; their response an increasing array of cynical fouls, that eventually saw the away no. 11 sin-binned for dissent after a long overdue yellow card.
Wakefield were unable to capitalise on their brief 10-man advantage at the start of the second half, with North Gawber briefly showing signs of a response. That response was empathically quashed not long after Jake Morrison came on from the bench to continue his return from injury. The striker showed strength and awareness as he received the ball down the left channel, holding off the defender as he turned in on goal. He could have shot but smartly crossed the ball to the back post to provide Mole with his second tap-in of the evening.
The third goal was more comedic than crafted, as Josh Lockwood – making his first league start – scored his first goal of the season as he bundled in off his back from a dangerous, in-swinging Red Bates corner. Morrison then put the icing on the cake as substitutes Mohammed Abou and Owen Kirman combined to provide the striker with a well-deserved goal. Abou was the star as he went on a dazzling run from the right, before working the ball to Kirman who was able to cross for Morrison at the back post in the last minute to make it 4-0.
As Wakefield were completing their emphatic win, news would have filtered through of a shock, 5-0 loss for Swinton away at Stocksbridge Park Steels Reserves – their first defeat since the 2018-19 season and only the third match since that time that they have failed to win. Whether Wakefield would have been buoyed by that news come Saturday’s kick-off, or concerned that a wounded animal in Swinton were unlikely to allow lightening to strike twice appeared to be an irrelevance as Wakefield were dominant in a mightily impressive first half performance.
Jake Morrison was the only change to the Wakefield side from midweek, as he came in for Jordan Turner in attack. It was Morrison – with his 10th goal in seven matches in all competitions – that provided lift-off to a rapturous 243-strong home crowd when he nodded Wakefield in front in the 17th minute. He was able to rise above the away goalkeeper to bravely head in from a Red Bates cross, after the terrier like Morgan Butcher had initially snatched the ball from a Swinton defender on the 18 yard line.
The goal was nothing less than Wakefield deserved from a composed and controlled first half in which the away team struggled to get out of their own half and were second to every ball. It could have been more with the last kick when Morrison, perhaps expecting the Swinton defender to clear, didn’t quite make a clean connection with another piercing Bates cross and saw his shot sneak just wide of an empty net.
Swinton were always likely to respond, and they did so in the second half as they displayed all of their experience, organisation and character to largely dominate possession as Wakefield tired. Nonetheless, Wakefield still had great chances to provide themselves with some much-needed elbow room earlier on, the best of a number of chances seeing a wicked Bates volley at the back post fly past the face of goal and just wide. Frustratingly, Billy Mole was also denied what appeared to be a certain penalty in the 67th minute when the referee failed to blow for a push in his back in the box – this after a number of seemingly softer similar fouls given against the home side that had provided Swinton with dangerous moments, the most notable when George Bason expertly tipped a free-kick on to his bar.
The fear amongst a tense home crowd would have been that Wakefield needed that elusive second goal, and that rang true nine minutes from time when Swinton pounced to equalise. Wakefield were understandably struggling to match the tenacity and intensity of the first half, and that provided space for the Swinton midfield to capitalise. The equaliser started from a Wakefield goal-kick that went unchallenged in the air. The Swinton defender’s headed clearance served to play Swinton forward Curtis Wilkinson in behind down the left. He cut in and with a deadly strike left Bason no chance.
It was such a simple goal to crush Wakefield’s hopes of a memorable win, and the misery was repeated in the last minute when Swinton again capitalised on a weak Wakefield clearance in to an increasingly stretched midfield area. Enzo Guarini subsequently received the ball 20 yards out and his smart, chested first touch – deemed not to be a hand by the referee despite roars to the contrary from players and fans alike – instantly played himself in on goal. He won the race to the ball and with a similarly clinical finish to the first Swinton goal, his low, powerful shot beat Bason with ease.
Wakefield arguably deserved more from the game, with large portions of the match providing evidence that a team still in their infancy are more than capable of matching, and even surpassing, a side of Swinton’s largely unrivalled dominance. Ultimately, Swinton were able to find a way to win through sheer force of will and the result sees them extend their lead at the top of the table, whilst Wakefield remain in their mid-table position of eighth albeit with games in hand on many of the sides around them.
Wakefield will now look to take the many positives from the week’s fixtures in to their next league game, which is away to Jubilee Sports at The Jubilee Sports Ground, Sheffield on Saturday 20th November 2021: kick-off 14:00PM.
Austin Ainsworth
North Gawber Colliery Stats
Half Time: 1-0
Full Time: 4-0
Attendance: 204
Starting XI:
George Bason – Luke Blackburn, James Morris (C), Josh Lockwood, Cory Woodward – Mason Rubie, Daniel Youel, Morgan Butcher, Red Bates – Billy Mole, Jordan Turner
Goals:
24m, Billy Mole
71m, Billy Mole
75m, Josh Lockwood
89m, Jake Morrison
Assists:
71m, Jake Morrison
75m, Red Bates
89m, Owen Kirman
Subs Used:
65m, Jake Morrison for Mason Rubie
75m, Owen Kirman for Jordan Turner
79m, Mohammed Abou for Red Bates
85m, Jock Curran for Morgan Butcher
86m, Cain Tailford for Billy Mole
Cards:
Jake Morrison – Yellow
Stats:
Wakefield AFC
First Half
Shots on Target: 4
Shots off Target: 9
Second Half
Shots on Target: 8
Shot off Target: 7
North Gawber Colliery
First Half
Shots on Target: 1
Shots off Target: 1
Second Half
Shots on Target: 1
Shots off Target: 0
Swinton Athletic FC Stats
Half Time: 1-0
Full Time: 1-2
Attendance: 243
Starting XI:
George Bason – Luke Blackburn, James Morris (C), Josh Lockwood, Cory Woodward – Mason Rubie, Daniel Youel, Morgan Butcher, Red Bates – Billy Mole, Jake Morrison
Goals:
17m, Jake Morrison
81m, Curtis Wilkinson (Swinton Athletic FC)
90m, Enzo Guarini (Swinton Athletic FC)
Assists:
17m, Red Bates
Subs Used:
86m, Mohammed Abou for Mason Rubie
90m, Owen Kirman for Red Bates
Cards:
Swinton Athletic FC – Yellow x 3
Stats:
Wakefield AFC
First Half
Shots on Target: 3
Shots off Target: 3
Second Half
Shots on Target: 1
Shot off Target: 6
Swinton Athletic FC
First Half
Shots on Target: 0
Shots off Target: 1
Second Half
Shots on Target: 5
Shots off Target: 1