Wakefield & District Sunday Football League (Division Two)

Wakefield Athletic "A" ......................................... 6
The Wanderers .................................................. 1
 
Midfielder Sam Murphy hit a fine hat-trick in Wakefield Athletics' second strings hard-earned victory over resilient Wanderers in this Division Two game at WYCO.
 
Wakefield made a strong start and saw Dave Markwell head narrowly wide from a corner in the opening minute before Sam Murphy and Tom Pick both forced visiting keeper into good stops.
 
Kevin Guy opened the scoring in the 28th minute when he picked up a reverse pass from Chris Riley, beat one player before firing into the roof of the net for a well-deserved lead.
 
Wakefield soon made it 2-0 when a long punt from defender Matt Fenlon was not cleared and saw the persistence of Murphy force an error which ended with him rounding off the keeper for the first of his three goals.
 
The third goal came on the stroke of half-time when Guy and Riley linked-up well to pave an opening for Chris Riely who calmly slotted the ball across the goalkeeper and on target.  Wanderers replied instantly with a headed goal from Paul Armstrong which sneaked past the hands of stand-in keeper Matthew Killey for a 3-1 half-time score.
 
Wanderers made a strong start on the turn and only a point-blank save from keeper Matthew Killey in the 50th minute denied The Wanderers another goal back.
 
Wakefield introduced Oliver Bartholomew, Adam Deakin and Mike Moore into the frey to change the tide and the fresh legs and ideas did the trick.  Kevin Guy hit the outside of the post with a 25 yard pile driver, and then hit the inside of the post with a curling shot from inside the area before Mike Moore had a shot blocked on the line.
 
Two goals inside two minutes stemmed the visitors fighting spirit. Wakefield finally killed the game when Sam Murphy headed home Kevin Guy's corner.  Adam Deakin slotted home the fifth Wakefield goal after the Wanderers goalkeeper made good saves from Sam Murphy and Tom Pick.
 
The goal of the game saw Sam Murphy complete his hat-trick with a wonderful goal, turning sharply outside the box and curling a great shot into the top corner.
 
Sweeper Phil Garbett produced a perfomance of the highest quality for The Wanderers while the West Yorkshire Sports & Social Club man-of-the match award for Wakefield Athletic "A" was shared by Dave Markwell, Sam Murphy and Matt Fenlon.