An hours trip up the M1 to Wakefield with snow forecast and an initial temperature of 2.5 degrees brought me to the Be Well Stadium home to Wakefield Trinity Rugby league club and this season Wakefield FC. The car park is in front of the club, looked after by attendants and is free, with some of it still being prepared for tarmacking. You walk to the entrance that is above some steps which is to use a word, ‘Posh’, with a Christmas tree twinkling in a corner.
Unfortunately I’m informed that the program has not arrived from the printers so I walk through a door into a large room with round tables and a bar and snack bar, one side of which is all glass that looks out on the pitch and stadium from height. The stadium looks amazing and is nearly finished, the major revamp being mainly resourced by the community. One side is a magnificent all seater covered stand that could hold 2600 people that is nearly ready, one end is a block of hospitality units of which the entrance room is in, one end is a large standing covered terrace of which the centre core is completed but the wing still have some crumbling areas, and a majorly open terraced area down the other side. I will have to come back when I can sit in the stand although the crowd of 348, which was good for the level of football, was lost in the facilities.
Unfortunately Wakefield Trinity were relegated from Super League last season and will hope to bounce back. They have just been bought out in October this year with assurances as to new money available for the club and team building. There are 350000 people in the area of Wakefield which should be supporting a football team at a higher level and over the years different groups have tried to achieve this. Today’s club looks to have started a new journey that is bearing progress, a promotion to the Northern Counties East league two years ago has led to consolidation at the new level and they now sit top of their league although others have games in hand. I’d like to think that progress will be made but there are many teams jostling for the same success.
It would be wrong of me to look at the history of previous Wakefield teams that have been littered with failed aspirations in this large Yorkshire town. The Wakefield in font of me were only formed in 2019 by a group of local businessmen but a controlling interest was bought out in 2021 by VO2 Capital, a Connecticut based company. VO2 Capital have also taken control of Wakefield Trinity Ladies F.C. to create a women’s team, Wakefield F.C. After winning promotion to the Northern Counties East League Division One they are now trying to go higher.
There have been teams in Shirebrook for over 100 years with the current club dating back to 1985 when it was formed as Shirebrook Colliery. It changed its name to Town in 1991 when the colliery closed and has played in the Northern Counties East Leagues for nearly 20 years but recently has found it hard to progress further with a limited amount of resources. This season has seen a resurgence.
Wakefield AFC 2 Shirebrook Town FC 2
Tuesday 28th November 2023;Â 19.45 kick off.
Northern Counties East League Division 1
The Be Well Stadium, Doncaster Road, Wakefield, WF1 5EY
1st v 4th
Wakefield, White shirts with red and dark blue thin vertical stripe down front and navy blue shorts.
Shirebrook, Black and white vertical stripes shirts with black shorts.
The game was off to a competitive start with the visitors showing no desire to defend. After just 16 minutes Shirebrook took the lead When a neat back heel allowed Kieren Watson to run through and slide the ball under the goalkeeper.
Wakefield replied only 2 minutes later when some neat one touch football was rewarded as Mason Rubie fired the ball across the goal into the left side of the net.
Wakefield now took charge, however 10 minutes later they were behind again when a headed clearance fell to Lewis Murr who rifled it into the goal from outside the goalkeepers area.
Wakefield played out the rest of the first half with a lot of tip tap football across the back against Shirebrook’s more direct approach.
Wakefield came out for the second half with a more positive attitude and made it all square on 55 minutes when an Oliver Green shot was deflected over the despairing keeper.
Wakefield took control of the last 35 minutes but couldn’t find a winner as Shirebrook seemed to run out of steam. Shirebrook did cause the home side problems with their number 11 the stand out player for me with good pace and skill.
Whether a draw was a good result for both teams will only be known in a few months. I would predict that both of these teams will be in the mix for promotion at the end of the season. I hope so.
Great to see chips on the menu, but what a disappointment, they were warm to cold, soggy and bland. In such great surroundings I expected better, a score of 48.
payonthegate 