Wakefield Athletic hit for six by Fryston in tough cup tie but A-team march on

Fryston were three up by half-time and went on to win 6-2.

After a tight opening it was the hosts who broke the deadlock in the 16th minute with a Jamie Robinson effort from the left found the target.

The Wakefield side regrouped but the home side, with a huge group of supporters present, doubled their lead 10 minutes later with a headed goal by Joe Campbell.

The defensive quartet of Liam Norbury, Lewis Fisher, Joe Dack and Jack Rothery were forced to work overtime to stem the sustained attacking play of the Fryston side and when the Wakefield defensive cover was breached, teenage goalkeeper Logan Owen-Williams was called upon to make some smart saves.

However, a set-piece goal from Liam Hirst saw the home side take a 3-0 half-time lead.

Any chance the visitors had of a comeback took a jolt six minutes on the turn with an opportunist goal by Jamie Simpson from the edge of the box.

A brief rally from Athletic saw them pull a goal back on the hour mark after good inter-play between Kane Whitaker and Hammad Ali ended with a teasing cross by Ali headed in by leading marksman Danny Young.

Wakefield could not affect the course of the game tactically with a bare substitute bench while the Fryston side utilised their bench successfully and reaped rewards with further goals from their subs Liam Cooper and Oliver Barton.

Athletic grabbed a late consolation goal through Ali's close-range effort following a clever assist by Young.

Fryston AFC now progress into a quarter-final tie against Navigation Tavern.

The Howdens man of the match was shared by Norbury, Whitaker and Owen-Williams.

A brace each from Ash Downing and Craig Holdsworth sandwiched between a goal by teenage striker Kaliub Robinson helped Wakefield Athletic A register a quarter-final berth in the Premiership Two League Cup following their 5-3 away win over Staincross FC.

Having not played a game since November due to the poor weather conditions, Athletic A were keen to make a good start to the New Year and continue where they left off from their last game.

In the opening exchanges, both teams shared possession with neither being able to find a decisive pass to unlock the defence until 10 minutes in when Athletic began to take a stronghold on the game.

Good chances were spurned by Athletic with Holdsworth pulling a shot wide with the hosts goalkeeper at his mercy before both Downing and Ted Dunning went close in a five-minute attacking spell following creative passes from Dalton Halford and Sean Lawson respectively.

A sustained spell of pressure saw the visitors draw first blood in the 16th minute when Downing latched onto a well won header from the industrious Jack Longley to coolly finish.

Downing soon doubled his tally from Longley’s perfectly weighted cross.

With Athletic well on top further opportunities were spurned by Dunning and Lawson with the latter agonisingly hitting the foot of the post with a well placed strike.

Staincross failed to break down the rearguard of Joe Scargill, Danny Carter, James Crabtree and Darren Smith as Athletic continued to dominate possession and it was not long before a long kick by goalkeeper Will Rushford found Longley who provided a well weighted ball to Holdsworth who beat his marker with good footwork to glide past the hapless Staincross keeper to make it 3-0.

A robust tackle on Downing resulted in him being withdrawn 10 minutes before half-time and his teenage replacement Kailub Robinson picked up where Downing left off by getting in on the goal scoring act.

A long punt by goalkeeper Rushford saw captain Halford produce an excellent piece of control before delivering a perfectly weighted slide rule pass to the path of Robinson who fired between the home keeper's legs to put Athletic 4-0 up at half-time.

With a strong lead, a couple of substitutions were made and Athletic took their foot off the gas in the second half with Staincross upping their tempo.

They pulled a goal back through James Ward Massey after some trickery on the ball.

Following some marshalling words by skipper Halford, Athletic upped their work rate and enjoyed the lions share of possession without being able to find the killer edge that was present in the first half.

Wayward shots from Luke Barraclough, Crabtree and Lawson only added to the visitors’ frustration.

But Holdsworth effectively put the game to bed when he beat two covering defenders on the edge of the 18-yard box and managed to squeeze a shot under the advancing Staincross keeper to make it 5-1.

The never-say-die attitude of the Staincross outfit forced a late rally and a fatigued Wakefield side conceded two late goals with Callum Fowler getting a brace. But they could not stop Wakefield Athletic A booking a quarter-final league cup tie against Alverthorpe Athletic.

The On The Track man of the match award was shared by Halford, Longley and Downing.

Lowly Wakefield Athletic B slipped to a last minute 3-2 defeat at home to second-placed in Championship One.

The game was a tight affair in the opening 20 minutes as both teams got used to the boggy conditions at the West Yorkshire Sports & Social Club venue.

Wakefield broke the deadlock when Aaron Dooley looped the ball over his head into the box and it evaded everyone to find its way into the net.

More chances to increase the lead followed, but efforts from Abdul Mohammedkair and Jacob Laskowski failed to find the target.

At the other end, the Westgate outfit levelled against the run of play as a mistake in the Wakefield defence allowed Greg Hunter to score.

Athletic continued to pressure the Westgate Common goal and with the last kick of the first half made it 2-1.

An Andrew Jackson corner was volleyed on target by Sean Hodson and his effort deflected in off Mohammedkair.

In the second half Josh Noon and Dooley failed to make good chances count and the hosts would rue those missed opportunities as Westgate again levelled when Hunter’s free-kick somehow found its way into the corner of the goal.

Wakefield lacked energy in the final 10 minutes and It would lead to them losing a point as they failed to get out to a cross quickly enough, allowing Hunter to complete his hat-trick and leave the home side rooted second from bottom .

The Waites man of the match award was shared by Hodson, Mohammedkair and Aiden Robinson.