Wakefield AFC ready for next test against Ilkley Town after keeping pressure on leaders with win at Worsbrough Bridge

They faced a tough trip to Worsbrough Bridge Athletic’s quirky ground and showed the value of a week’s build-up as they emerged with a 3-1 win to maintain the pressure on leaders Horbury Town, writes Austin Ainsworth.

It also stretched their unbeaten run and they stand five points behind the leaders with three games in hand ahead of a home game with Ilkley Town tonight (Tuesday).

The NCEL is an unpredictable beast in that one can be faced with all different manner of footballing styles and formations, not to mention the differing challenges of the variety of pitches and facilities in use at this level.

That is never more the case than when it comes time to visit Worsbrough Bridge’s wonderfully unique and quirky ground, with a heavily sloped pitch and a playing surface prone to flooding that the club work tirelessly to get ready for game-day.

However, unpredictable as the NCEL may be, there is one constant of late, and that is the performance levels and relentless consistency of Wakefield AFC.

The arrival of manager Steve Bodle has seen the club stretch to an unbeaten run of 23 league games, with 21 victories within that run catapulting them to second in the league and hot on the tail of the leaders.

Bodle had to make some enforced changes to his Wakefield side for this match, with Jaydan Sandhu, Callum Brooks and Shay Evans-Booth making their first starts for a while given the suspensions of Scott Smith and Kelan Swales and the departure of Romario Dunne following the end of his loan period with the club.

The tactics were also tweaked with Wakefield – uphill in the first half – operating in a compact, narrow system that often saw Brooks join Evans-Booth up front while, on the opposite side, Kiyani Morris dropped deep and tucked in to form a midfield four.

That was no doubt designed for Wakefield to overcome the inevitable barrage of long balls that would come flying down the hill and the away side did well to survive a challenging open period that saw several chances for Worsbrough, with keeper Owen Evans making a few routine saves and one smart intervention to prevent a striker getting a shot away.

Wakefield saw less of the ball than usual but looked potent on the counter-attack, particularly as they grew into the game midway through the half.

Just as that momentum started to shift towards the away side, they were gifted the chance of taking the lead with the award of a penalty following a foul on the electric Brooks, who raced in on goal from Igor Mlynarski’s excellent pass from deep, only to be hacked down from behind.

Morris stepped up and converted coolly, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way to give his side the advantage and score his 10th goal of the season – his third in his last four games.

It looked like Wakefield were heading to half-time having perfectly navigated the treacherous task of playing uphill, only for a late first half sucker punch that saw them concede for the first time in eight games.

They had initially done well to fend off a long throw-in from the right, before also clearing a second attempt at goal. That saw the ball go all the way back out to midfield, where a flighted, diagonal cross to the far post dropped perfectly for Worsbrough’s Keelan Grist to glance a header just inside the post and beyond the reach of Evans.

Despite the setback, in a positive sense, it was literally all downhill from there for Wakefield in the second half.

They opened up and stretched Worsbrough; Brooks and Morris were excellent on the wings, as were the full-backs Curtis Morrison and Mlynarski in driving Wakefield forward.

Evans-Booth’s all round hold-up play and runs in behind also helped to ensure the game was almost exclusively played in Worsbrough’s half.

It did not take long for Wakefield to restore their lead, with Evans-Booth slinging a long throw-in toward the box from the left wing that was cleared back to him. He then delivered a perfect, in-swinging cross for centre-back Chris Salt to steal a march on the static Worsbrough backline and power home a header from six yards for his third goal of the season.

With that being Evans-Booth’s sixth assist of the season, he also added his fifth goal of the season minutes later to make it an impressive 11 goal involvements in his 15 games so far.

Midfielder Mo Gashi sprung a ball over from deep, where Sandhu made a nuisance of himself chasing it down in-between the two centre-backs on the edge of the box. The defence got it all wrong with a poor attempt at heading the ball back to the goalkeeper, allowing Evans-Booth to see it bounce on the edge of the box before executing a wonderfully sliced, half-volley that faded back out to the opposite post, beyond the reach of the goalkeeper.

That was a well earned 3-1 to Wakefield and in the closing minutes it could have been more, with Brooks seeing a similar effort to Evans-Booth’s goal going wide.

Billy Mole – excellent in his evolution from an attacking midfielder to the deepest of the three in midfield on the day – was played in on goal following silky work from Brooks and Sandhu, only for him to miss the ball with his shot when it looked as though his 50th Wakefield goal might finally be on the cards.

Morris was also unfortunate not to earn another penalty for Wakefield in injury time, when his legs were taken from behind after he had battled well to wrest control of a long ball in the box.

Nevertheless, Wakefield saw out the game for a result that, given the nature of the challenge and the general pressure of Wakefield’s run-in, cannot be underestimated for its importance.

It means Wakefield remain second with their play-off spot confirmed. They coninue their bid to finish top for an automatic promotion spot in another testing game at home to fourth-placed Ilkley Town tonight then they go to Appleby Frodingham on Saturday and Dearne & District next Tuesday.