Bradford Town FC 3-1 Wellington AFC | Match Report

The Blues defeated Wellington AFC at Trowbridge Road on Saturday afternoon, with a convincing 3-1 scoreline. 

The visitors made the trip up to Wiltshire with their last match being a 2-2 draw with Buckland Athletic at home in the league just under three weeks ago, as we welcomed our Wellington AFC looking to bounce back from our mid-week defeat against Swindon Town in the Wiltshire Premier Shield.

We wasted no time getting started, with a close range finish from Josiah McKayle coming after a reaction stop to deny Harvey Woods rebounded out to the head of Jensen Wakefield who nodded the ball across to our number nine in the box. The Blues continued to create momentum, and a foul on Woods saw us win a free kick in the 21st minute. Ashton Shanley’s delivery was driven into the penalty area and a good claim by Jack McAndrews denied us the chance to pull further ahead. 

Wellington then drew level in the 39th minute, after a low cross ricocheted off of Jacob Mead’s standing leg into the path of Alfie Slough, whose effort was driven past Tom Creed from close range. We responded quickly as Jensen Wakefield took advantage of a slip from a Wellington defender, racing away and calmly slotting the ball past McAndrews from a one-on-one opportunity. As we approached the end of the added minutes, Leo Gallazi went close, but was denied by McAndrews’ outstretched leg. This saw us end the half with a 2-1 lead.

Creed was once again tested early in the second half when he made a diving save to his right to palm away a well-hit free kick. The momentum continued in our favour after, nearly adding to our lead in the 60th minute when McKayle’s goal-bound attempt was deflected onto the crossbar following a block from a defender. The resulting corner saw Ashton Shanley’s delivery avoid everyone and nestle into the back of the net, but was ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper in the eyes of the referee.

We made a change in the 66th minute which saw Charlie Warren enter the action in place of Ashton Shanley. A well-worked attack from our visitors saw Wellington nearly score an equaliser in the 67th minute, but some close range heroics from Tom Creed ensured that we remained in the lead as he palmed the effort behind.

The 75th minute saw another substitution as Josiah McKayle was replaced by Darren McAlistair. We continued to keep the momentum in our favour late into the second half, which saw Leo Gallazi nearly find himself on the scoresheet, however Wellington’s goalkeeper was once again able to deny him. The Wellington defence was then on hand to deny a promising attack, as Owen Allison’s headed effort was cleared off the line, before a follow-up shot was saved at close range.

The final minutes of the match saw us make two more changes, with Kye Teague coming on for Leo Gallazi in the 86th minute, and Kegan Smart replacing Harvey Woods in the 90th.

The substitutes made a vital late impact, with Kye Tegaue and Darren McAlistair linking up to see the latter find the back of the net in the 4th minute of stoppage time, securing all three points for the Blues.

We now find ourselves 12th in the Western League Premier Division, two points behind 11th placed Ivybridge, who we welcome to Trowbridge Road on Saturday 13th of December.