Wakefield Athletic meet with mixed fortunes in Landlords Trophy ties

Preparations for the game were thrown into disarray with the 6.30am withdrawal of goalkeeper Will Rushforth who was too busy locking up some of Leeds' ne'er do-wells.

But luckily for Athletic, Lee "Jaaskelainen" Mulligan was on hand to step in between the posts.

The game started with Dale employing what proved to be their only tactic, which would have made 1980s Wimbledon and any Tony Pulis team happy – the long ball game.

Athletic sought to get the ball down and play and yet again Dom Taylor proved to be one of the danger men when he forced a great save from the Dale keeper in the very first attack.

With Dale struggling to contain Taylor, he got his rewards for a typical dogged run when he managed to latch onto a through ball just before the on-coming keeper and poke home with a Dale defender failing to get to the ball before it crossed the line.

Dale, however, were spurred on by this setback and through a succession of set pieces in and around the Athletic box, they used their clear physical advantage to pose some problems when, shortly after hitting the bar with a header, their number nine scored with a towering header to level the scores at 1-1.

Athletic had the advantage of playing down a steep slope in the second half and Jacob Marsh latched onto a fine through ball from Tom Ryan, Although the ball proved hard to control, a quick shimmy that a Britney Spears backing dancer would have been proud of completely bamboozled the on-rushing Dale defender and allowed Marsh to slot the ball into the back of the net with his weaker foot.

At this stage of the match, Dale looked like they were on the ropes and ready for the taking and Athletic would have put the game to bed earlier were it not for some poor finishing and dubious offside decisions.

However, Dale got back on level terms when an unfortunate glanced header from Craig Holdsworth fell kindly for the home right winger at the far post to bundle home and make it 2-2.

From that moment on, it was one way traffic, though. Dale looked to hang on but just could not contain the energetic Athletic side.

A fantastic through ball from Captain Dalton Holford saw Jack Parlett beat the offside trap and slot home with confidence to put Athletic ahead for the third time in the match.

Dale did have a good opportunity to level again, but Mulligan flung himself low to his right to tip a header onto the post. Although the referee blew for offside but it was a fine save nonetheless.

Athletic were soon back on top and Parlett rounded off a fine performance with his second of the game when left with a simple tap-in after being set up by Taylor.

With Dale now on the ropes, Athletic were opening them up with ease and some composed passing from young Taylor Moseley teed up David Mitchell for a simple finish to put the result beyond doubt

Taylor then completed the scoring as he got the second goal his performance deserved when picking up a sumptuous diagonal ball from Holdsworth.

The On Track Coffee man of the match award was shared by Taylor, Parlett and Joe Scargill.

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Wakefield Athletic’s first team went down 3-1 to a robust Junk Old Boys side that proved to be organised and compact in their Landlords Trophy tie played at The Stafflex Arena in Kirkburton.

Athletic started well with striker Danny Young forcing a point-blank save from the hosts’ goalkeeper before the normally reliable Young went on to miss a golden opportunity.

The home side soon mastered the midfield battle and took control of the game with their rearguard standing firm to repel any of the visitors’ threats.

An error in the heart of midfield saw Junk cash in with a through ball finding Jack Davis who slotted his chance home in the 15th minute.

Athletic had a good opportunity to equalise but midfielder Lasana Touray’s curling effort went just wide.

On the stroke of half-time, Athletic fell 2-0 behind when a blocked effort ricocheted off into the path of home striker Joe Senior who finished in style from close range.

Athletic goalkeeper Logan Owen-Williams produced two outstanding saves to keep his side in the game before Wakefield pulled a goal back in the 61st minute when a flowing move involving Rayhaan Pervaiz, Lasana Touray and Hammad Ali ended with the latter crossing for Young to score with a header.

The game opened up with Athletic going close to finding the equaliser through Young, Abubakary Touray and Banta Darbou. However, against the run of play, with seven minutes remaining, Junk nudged into a 3-1 lead through Jake Surry.

The Howdens man of the match award was shared by Owen-Williams, Ali and Mohammed Usman.

Manager Jonny Wootton was disappointed with his side's performance as Wakefield Athletic B fell to a heavy 9-1 home defeat against unbeaten Frickley Colliery in a Wakefield Sunday Championship One game.

For the fourth time in five games, Athletic relinquished an early lead before going on to suffer a defeat – this one more painful as it was self-imposed trodden with errors galore.

The Wakefield side made a confident start and took the lead in the seventh minute when a free-kick from the left by stand-in captain Will Marshall was won in the air by Jacob Laskowski and attacking midfielder Matthew Wootton anticipated well to notch his fifth goal of the season with a neat left-foot chip over the visiting goalkeeper.

Frickley equalised in the 10th minute through Jason Mills and the visitors showed their prowess with a glut of goals to surge into a commanding 6-1 half-time lead, punishing errors and also with some masterful clinical finishes.

The second period saw the Frickley side score twice in the opening seven minutes – again cashing in on errors.

Athletic fought on gallantly to the end but were no match for the potential title contenders.

Remaining goal scorers for Frickley Collery were Callum Wakefield (four) - previously on Chesterfield FC's books, Ollie Hall (three) and Jon Downing.

The Wates man of the match for Athletic B was shared by Josh Noon, Wootton and Marshall.