Wakefield Athletic lose out in eight-goal thriller with Wellington Westgate

The intentions of the Wellington outfit were clear from the outset as they utilised the pace of their two dynamic wingers as their main target and started quickly.

The lively attack saw them create a couple of one-on-one chances, but great goalkeeping from stand-in Jack Rothery kept them out.

Westgate did take the lead, however, when on-rushing midfielder Graham McLachian found the back of the net.

An immediate response from the hosts nearly saw themselves level as Kane Whitaker tried an audacious effort from his own half only to hit the crossbar with the goalkeeper scrambling back to his net.

The hosts did equalise when striker Danny Young provided his customary finish after great selfless work from Hammad Ali in forcing a mistake.

The uplifted Athletic side rippled the visitors’ net again with Banta Darboe scoring an opportunist goal from close range following good team play with flowing one and two touch football with Raymond Cheng, Hammad Ali and the goal scorer himself.

But the home side were forced into a reshuffle with the loss of key players Kane Whitaker and Liam Norbury, which impacted their game plan.

Similar to the first half, Wellington started the second in lively fashion and two quickfire goals from Kyle Walker nudged them into a 3-2 lead following some electric wing play from Lawal Lawal.

A response from Wakefield was needed. However, a dominant display from the Westgate side scuppered any efforts and they forced the hosts into a defensive mode for a sustained period.

Another two goals just after the hour mark saw Wellington extend their lead to 2-5 as in similar fashion both wingers cut the ball back into the box to be finished by oncoming midfielders Dareece Siddique and Ben Strott.

The never-say-die home side were rewarded with a third goal as a searching ball from Ali from deep in own half found a cushioned touch from Josh Jones to fire into Lasana Touray and he produced a finessed finish into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.

Athletic were unlucky not to be score again as Leam Killey saw his header go just wide and Touray also went close after a great solo run past three defenders.

But managed the remainder of the game to seal a victory in their title pursuit.

The Howdens man of the match award for Wakefield Athletic was shared by Hammad Ali, Lasana Touray and Mohammed Usman.

Wakefield Athletic A had their biggest challenge of the season so far with an away trip to a Mad Ox who had yet to be defeated in Premiership Two and went down 4-1.

The game started evenly but the opening goal came against the run of play when the hosts’ Elisha Mutonono struck with a well placed side footed strike to goalkeeper Will Rushforth's far post after the referee had chosen to ignore an apparent handball from his teammate.

This spurred Athletic on and Dom Taylor, who was a constant threat down the left side, could have won his side a penalty when the Mad Ox keeper rushed out and clipped his legs but he decided to be honest and stayed on his feet. He then could not find a teammate in the box with his cross.

However, soon after Taylor struck a fierce shot from 25 yards out that the Ox keeper could not keep out to deservedly level the game

Ox responded with Kieron Ceesay posing a threat down the right wing and full-back Luke Evans made a clumsy challenge to bring him down for a penalty. Luckily for Athletic, Will Rushforth is well known for his penalty saving ability and he kept out Ceesay's poor spot kick.

The visitors’ Taylor was then fouled in the box to bring about an Athletic penalty. But captain Dalton Holford saw his effort well saved and was left kicking himself further when he missed the rebound with the goal at his mercy.

Ox had the ability to bring on some fresh legs from their full substitutes bench for the second half and Ceesay continued to be proving difficult to deal with.

Taylor teed up Rich Normington, who had worked tirelessly as a lone striker, but his effort hit the post and he also got injured in the process.

To make matters worse within 30 seconds of hitting the post, a well worked goal finished off by Ceesay made the scoreline 2-1.

This deflated the Athletic side who should have been at least two goals to the good.

As Athletic pushed for an equaliser, it inevitably opened up gaps for the fresh legs of the Mad Ox substitutes to take advantage of and Tom Priest forced a mistake from the Athletic back line. Although Rushforth saved his first effort the rebound fell fortuitously back to him and he put it away.

It was always going to be an uphill struggle from then on and a combination of some poor decisions in the final third, some erratic finishing and some good goal-line scramble defending from Ox managed to keep the scoreline in their favour.

Mutonono rounded off the scoring in the final minutes with a headed goal that came as a result of some tired defending from the Athletic back line.

Although Mad Ox took the three points, the scoreline flattered them and Athletic were more than a match for them.

The On Track Coffee man of the match award for Wakefield Athletic A was shared by Dom Taylor, Danny Carter and Tom Ryan.

For the fourth week in succession, Athletic B took an early lead, only to fall to another agonising defeat – this time 3-2 at the hands of Great Preston who hauled themselves level twice before striking a late winner in a Championship One fixture.

The hosts made a bright start and posted early warning when an astute Matthew Wootton pass wide on the left flank found the charging run of Harrison Carney who ghosted past a covering defender before his fierce effort hit the post.

Ryan Cooper, playing in a new holding midfield role, opened the scoring after 25 minutes with a left foot shot from just outside the box through a forest of legs.

The home side saw the ball cross the line moments later in a period of a sustained spell of pressure, only for the referee to rule it out.

Athletic suffered a jolt when flying winger Harrison Carney, turned an ankle and had to be substituted.

A brief rally from the youthful Great Preston side forced a double reactive save from home goalkeeper Ali Jamegeh.

The second half was a much closer affair with Great Preston hitting the equaliser through Jack Boyer.

The goal of the game came from Athletic's Jacob Laskowski, when he acrobatically volleyed over the Great Preston keeper from 25 yards out following a pass from James Boryn.

But Harry Bradley punished the home side and a mix-up in communication saw Preston hit the winning goal through Bradley with a tap-in following a save from home keeper Ali Jamegeh.

A good hour’s play from the steadily improving Athletic side once again failed to reap any reward of their hard work.

The Wates man of the match award was shared by Ryan Cooper, Matty Wootton and George Crawshaw.