Rossington Main 3-0 Wakefield

Rossington Main 3-0 Wakefield

Pre-Season Friendly

Tuesday 6th July 2021

This proved to be a comfortable win for Rossington Main as they overcame a sloppy start to brush aside Wakefield in the first fixture of the season at Oxford Street thanks to goals from Cameron Barnett, Tyla Bell and Josh Yeoman.

Both these teams will test themselves against Doncaster Rovers over the next few weeks and Wakefield, managed by former centre-back Adam Lockwood, dominated the first few minutes as Kian Johnson was called into action on no fewer than three occasions.

The young 'keeper made a low and instinctive reaction save at his near-post from the game's first chance before flinging himself across goal to make an equally-impressive stop at the other post only a minute later when a Wakefield player headed goalwards following a long throw.

Slowly but surely, Rossington began to establish a foothold with Leon Osborne looking bright in midfield along with Jordan Buckham on the right flank who found space on quite a few occasions and put one or two quality deliveries into the opposition penalty box.

Niall Doran almost opened the scoring on 11 minutes when he latched onto a through ball and rounded the 'keeper but with the angle tight, his ball across the goalmouth was scrambled away by a covering defender under pressure from the lurking Yeoman. 

Another Rozzo player who has looked hungry during pre-season so far is Cameron Barnett and, having had an earlier effort deflected wide, the ex-DRFC youngster was in the right place at the right time to open the scoring. In truth, the Wakefield 'keeper should have claimed a slightly deflected right-wing cross yet he somehow let the ball squirm beneath him which presented Barnett with the simplest of finishes from just a yard out - taking his pre-season tally to five goals.

In the immediate aftermath of having gone behind, Wakefield continued to look bright, tenacious and potentially problematic as they forced the hosts into some good defensive work. 

That was before the impressive Barnett almost made it 2-0 at the other end with a cleanly hit 20-yard attempt which had the 'keeper beaten only for the ball to crash back off the upright. Two minutes later, the hard-working Yeoman also attempted something somewhat out of the ordinary in the shape of a lob from the far edge of the area which resulted in the ball nestling on the roof of the net.

Those stays of execution were short-lived, however, because in Rozzo's next attack they doubled their lead courtesy of Tyla Bell. Barnett was the instigator - slipping the forward through with a delicate ball and the one-time Leeds United forward held off the challenge of a defender before making no mistake with an ice-cool finish for his first goal of the 2021/22 campaign.

Wakefield's biggest problem, which was actually the main difference between the teams, was their lack of quality finishing in the final third. Despite getting the ball into good positions on various occasions they couldn't take advantage of it and, having wasted a good chance a minute earlier when a striker blazed over, they were denied again as Sam Kitchen cleared off the line following a right-sided cross on 40 minutes.

With a two-goal cushion established, the second half proved to be more comfortable for Rozzo as their superior quality in different areas of the pitch was more evident.

Doran had forced a good near-post save from the 'keeper whilst Adam Watson had seen his headed effort cleared off the line from the resulting corner as the hosts started the half very strongly, and any hopes Wakefield may have harboured about a comeback were firmly dashed when the front pairing of Bell and Yeoman combined in a move which culminated with the latter arrowing a perfect shot past the 'keeper and into the far corner for 3-0.

As the remaining minutes ticked away it became apparent that Wakefield were a bit down and desolate as they struggled to replicate the intensity and positive aspects of their first half performance. Amidst a flurry of substitutions from both sides, they worked the ball into some promising areas (albeit on fewer occasions) but their finishing again proved costly as Johnson wasn't tested as much as he ought to have been; chances instead being put high, wide or into the side-netting.

The Oxford Street pitch was illuminated by the floodlights for the final quarter-of-an-hour which coincided with Rossington boss Ben Hunter making a cameo appearance but there was no further goalmouth action of any real note as the game ended in a comfortable win.

Overall, it's clear once again that Rozzo are assembling a decent squad with various players capable of providing a bit of quality when it's needed - whether it be in the box by scoring goals, or supplying others with the chances to convert. There are many good individual talents in the team, especially in an attacking sense, and it appears that they're gelling quite well. The clean-sheet will be a nice confidence boost ahead of what seems to be the perfect friendly at the perfect time against Doncaster Rovers on Saturday. 

Rovers are a team who should retain the ball extremely well, test the defensive shape and structure far more than anyone else up to now and exploit any weaknesses or silly, sloppy mistakes. The game will definitely require concentration levels to increase by a few notches and, in my opinion, it's what the team needs at this moment in time. If Rozzo can come through the challenge which awaits them successfully (that being in terms of either a good performance, respectable scoreline - or both!), it would hint at the seeds being sown for what might be a positive season in the Northern Counties East League (Division One).

Ultimately though, the proper acid test will occur on 31st July when Ollerton Town visit Oxford Street on the opening day of the new season followed by the rest of the fixtures which are likely to be announced at some point in the next week or so.

Despite the poor finishing which let them down, Wakefield deserve credit because they're far from a bad team and would certainly hold their own against quite a few others from Rozzo's division. They've got a good manager in Adam Lockwood who has been around the block, seen it, done it and knows the game inside out and they're only going to get better with more games and experience. If they can keep creating the number of openings which they did tonight then, inevitably, the goals will come as a consequence. They don't lock horns with Rovers for another fortnight so good luck to them in that game on what should be a good night for everyone involved in their club.

Next Up: Armthorpe Welfare vs Sutton Rovers (potentially) on Thursday, if not then it'll be Oxford Street on Saturday to see the next instalment of Rozzo's 2021/22 pre-season campaign.