Danny Young and Jack Rothery are Wakefield Athletic heroes in win over leaders Fryston AFC

Hero of the hour was striker Danny Young who hit a brace while Athletic were also indebted to stand-in goalkeeper Jack Rothery who pulled off a reactive save at the death to deny Fryston a share of the spoils.

A depleted home side suffered a blow an hour before kick-off with the withdrawal of goalkeeper Logan Owen-Williams with a viral illness and had to start with nine men due to two late arrivals.

Fryston's physicality, height advantage and direct long balls playing pattern saw the defensive rearguard of Hammad Ali, Joe Dack, Usman Mohammed and Danny Jones forced to adapt, but living dangerously in the early exchanges.

But they created the first chance as Danny Young’s header from 18-year-old Jake Shaw’s cross forced a good save from the visiting keeper who also denied Kane Whitaker with his outstretched leg.

At the other end, Jamie Simpson and Joe Campbell were unable to take opportunities and it was Athletic who broke the deadlock in the 29th minute when a free-kick by Whitaker was parried by the keeper and Young forced the ball over the line.

The lead was shortlived as the visitors equalised two minutes later when a corner from the right by Liam Hirst caused a scramble in the goalmouth with the match referee Peter Walker calling the ball over the line with Fryston crediting it to Sam Burton.

Fryston were only denied the lead when a Simpson free-kick was blocked by Rothery's legs before the latter played the ball straight to a teammate who surprisingly sent his gifted chance wide.

The second half was a tit for tat affair. Athletic lost key defender Joe Dack through a knee injury, which forced midfielder Liam Norbury withdrawn to play at the heart of defence and 17-year-old Mustapha Konetech moved from left-flank to play in the middle of the park.

On the hour mark, a long punt by Jack Rothery found Whitaker who charged 30 yards forward before his rasping effort beat the keeper only to crash against the top corner of the crossbar and post.

Minutes later, Young and Danny Jones combined swiftly wide and the latter sent in a teasing low cross across the Fryston goal only for Leam Killey to fail to connect at the far post.

Athletic deservedly regained their lead in the 69th minute when a long pass by Liam Norbury was won in the air by Danny Young, who brought the ball down and shook off his marker before delivering a venomous piledriver into the bottom corner of the net.

This goal sparked a fightback from the visitors, forcing the home side to defend in numbers. Fryston forced a series of corners and Athletic lived dangerously.

The hosts relied on isolated counter attacks to stem the sustained pressure and one such attack saw Liam Norbury win possession, surge forward 70 metres, lose the ball before winning it back at the expense of a corner.

Fryston kept going to the end, but a top class save from Rothery right at the death denied what looked a certain Joe Willock goal and virtually all his teammates engulfed him in celebration of securing the three points.

Howden's man of the match was shared by Hammad Ali, Norbury and Rothery.

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Wakefield Athletic A made the most of a home tie as they beat Carlton Athletic 3-2 in a Landlord's Trophy fixture.

Carlton, who arrived optimistic after their narrow victory in a hard fought league fixture between the two sides earlier in the campaign, struck first just before half-time when Wasiu Adeniran went through to outfox Athletic keeper Will Rushforth.

They posed a significant counter-attacking threat throughout the first half, owing to the talismanic duo Jack Silverwood and Adeniran. However, the former had to come off at half-time to get to work – halving the Carlton attacking threat and and the second half was much more comfortable for Athletic to venture forward without fear of an overload.

Athletic equalised quickly through substitute Jacob Marsh after a penalty box scramble.

The hosts then took the lead when Craig Holdsworth met a delicious Dom Taylor corner with an even more delicious header.

Athletic threatened a third but were unable to gain a two-goal cushion, despite good work from Jack Parlett and Rich Normington.

And Carlton levelled as Rushforth could not keep out Luke Owen’s speculative effort.

However, two minutes from time Dave Mitchell’s free-kick was met with a glancing header by Joe Scargill and captain Dalton Holford smashed the ball home.

The On Track Coffee man of the match went to Danny Mayes, Scargill and Taylor.

Wakefield Athletic B made it three wins on the bounce with a comprehensive 6-3 away victory over Flockton FC in a Championship One relegation battle.

Chris Crawshaw opened the scoring after being played through by Matty Wootton.

Crawshaw returned the favour on 20 minutes, with a perfectly weighted ball that led to Wootton placing into the right side of the goal.

Daniel Conway pulled a goal back only for Wootton to quickly play in Kieran Noon to make it 3-1.

Athletic were slow out of the blocks in the second half and Flockton made them pay with an Adam Parr goal.

Lively sub Abdul Mohammedkair came up with a cheeky back heel to set up top scorer Wootton for his 17th goal of the season.

Parr netted his second with 20 minutes left, but that was quickly cancelled out as winger Harrison Carney hammered the ball into the top corner.

The game was put to bed by way of a James Boryn spot kick after Josh Noon was brought down in the box.

The Waite man of the match award went to Crawshaw, Tom Buxton and Andrew Jackson.