Matt Stevenson
First Team
Whilst this could be viewed as a dead rubber, with Wycombe all but mathematically relegated and AFCB assured of a play-off place, but behind the scenes there will be many a decision going on behind the scenes. We don’t want to lose momentum following the Brentford defeat, but the fans don’t know who are carrying injuries, who are the reserves that need some pitch time, which will play into the chosen starting XI. Woodgate makes 6 changes from the last game, with Smith, Lerma, Billing, Danjuma, and Solanke dropping to the bench, and Cook not in the squad. Clearly the one game at a time approach has been abandoned. In come Stacey, Mepham, Pearson, Riquelme, Brooks and Surridge, leaving question marks around who will play in the 10 position, whoever it is, they won’t have the height, or defensive awareness of Billing. It’s good to see Riquelme get a start, but his absence is understandable given the long winning run. Wycombe are unchanged, and have won, drawn and lost in their last three games, the draw being away at Swansea, so aren’t the pushover their position might imply.
Indeed, the threat materialised in the first four minutes. Stanislas tried to play a flick in a dangerous position and the ball broke to Ikpeazu, who nutmegged Mepham, swayed back whilst Mepham gave him room and then picked out the top left corner with a great shot. On the plus side we have plenty of time to come back, and almost had an immediate equaliser, Stanislas fed Brooks and we didn’t have the camera angle to see if there was a foul on Brooks. We looked disjointed, and Ikpeazu got another shot away. The game was held up for an injury to Adeniran forcing an early substitution. The first 20 minutes were very disappointing, the first promising position was a free kick on the right from which Brooks shot and blazed over. We did have a gilt-edged chance just after, Brooks controlling a high ball well, his shot was blocked, with the ball popping up to Surridge who totally miscued it with the ball going perpendicular to the goal, when it looked as though the net would bulge.
Following a scramble Ikpeazu tried an opportunistic header that Begovic had to tip over. From the corner Surridge headed the ball off the line from a Stewart header. Onyedima fired in another medium range effort, and we have been very disappointing. It almost went 1-1 when Riquelme reacted fasted to a blocked Rico cross and smashed it across goal just in front of Surridge, who was hunting in a similar position for his goal against Norwich. Wycombe was forced into a second sub when Grimmer came off with what looked like a muscle injury. Brooks had a long range shot blocked, McCarthy fired into the side netting, before Mepham had a good chance with a free header in the centre that he glanced past the left post. At half-time, things weren’t good. If we do throw on our big guns then it defeats the objective of resting them, but losing fairly meekly to the bottom club cannot be good for confidence, in what is one of the worst 45 minutes we’ve had in a while.
There were no changes at halftime and Wycombe again started on the front foot, although Stanislas was free in space and not spotted, Riquelme had a nice run but it didn’t come to anything. The only bright spot has been Pearson, who looked like the result really mattered to him. Mepham had another chance in the 54th minute, but the ball reared up at him, and he headed over, the bounce making it much harder than his earlier effort. Carter-Vickers, blocking the ball with his face livened up the game and showed his commitment. We had another promising position but Stacey couldn’t Stanislas, another cross from Brooks looped up and Stanislas running in outjumped the defender but couldn’t get over the ball. Things were picking up but we were starting from a low base. Things were beginning to gel more, when it works, we look good but when it doesn’t it looks awful. Riquelme made a good break through the middle, weighted the ball greatly to put in Brooks, who went around the keeper, and a defender sliding it just got enough on it to flick it up and onto the crossbar. Stanislas fell down to the ground in the aftermath, and was immediately substituted as was Brooks. The plan of resting key men was maintained with Long and Anthony coming on. Currently, there appears to be a number of fringe players playing themselves out of the reckoning for a first team place. The game was stop-start and not helped by another with a clash of heads between Surridge and Knight. Frustratingly it descended into a scrappy game, with hardly any chances from either side. A collision between Anthony and Joshua saw the ex-England man needing attention, as did Riquelme after a strong challenge. In additional time, Jordan Zemura came on for Rico and almost picked up a booking straight away. But the game had long since petered out. We learnt that our second string isn’t really good enough, thankfully Barnsley lost, meaning that if we win next Saturday, we will avoid Brentford in the semi-finals, which would be good as they have just beaten us and Watford. If the ultimate goal was to protect key people, then this has been achieved, but this was a tough watch.
Indeed, the threat materialised in the first four minutes. Stanislas tried to play a flick in a dangerous position and the ball broke to Ikpeazu, who nutmegged Mepham, swayed back whilst Mepham gave him room and then picked out the top left corner with a great shot. On the plus side we have plenty of time to come back, and almost had an immediate equaliser, Stanislas fed Brooks and we didn’t have the camera angle to see if there was a foul on Brooks. We looked disjointed, and Ikpeazu got another shot away. The game was held up for an injury to Adeniran forcing an early substitution. The first 20 minutes were very disappointing, the first promising position was a free kick on the right from which Brooks shot and blazed over. We did have a gilt-edged chance just after, Brooks controlling a high ball well, his shot was blocked, with the ball popping up to Surridge who totally miscued it with the ball going perpendicular to the goal, when it looked as though the net would bulge.
Following a scramble Ikpeazu tried an opportunistic header that Begovic had to tip over. From the corner Surridge headed the ball off the line from a Stewart header. Onyedima fired in another medium range effort, and we have been very disappointing. It almost went 1-1 when Riquelme reacted fasted to a blocked Rico cross and smashed it across goal just in front of Surridge, who was hunting in a similar position for his goal against Norwich. Wycombe was forced into a second sub when Grimmer came off with what looked like a muscle injury. Brooks had a long range shot blocked, McCarthy fired into the side netting, before Mepham had a good chance with a free header in the centre that he glanced past the left post. At half-time, things weren’t good. If we do throw on our big guns then it defeats the objective of resting them, but losing fairly meekly to the bottom club cannot be good for confidence, in what is one of the worst 45 minutes we’ve had in a while.
There were no changes at halftime and Wycombe again started on the front foot, although Stanislas was free in space and not spotted, Riquelme had a nice run but it didn’t come to anything. The only bright spot has been Pearson, who looked like the result really mattered to him. Mepham had another chance in the 54th minute, but the ball reared up at him, and he headed over, the bounce making it much harder than his earlier effort. Carter-Vickers, blocking the ball with his face livened up the game and showed his commitment. We had another promising position but Stacey couldn’t Stanislas, another cross from Brooks looped up and Stanislas running in outjumped the defender but couldn’t get over the ball. Things were picking up but we were starting from a low base. Things were beginning to gel more, when it works, we look good but when it doesn’t it looks awful. Riquelme made a good break through the middle, weighted the ball greatly to put in Brooks, who went around the keeper, and a defender sliding it just got enough on it to flick it up and onto the crossbar. Stanislas fell down to the ground in the aftermath, and was immediately substituted as was Brooks. The plan of resting key men was maintained with Long and Anthony coming on. Currently, there appears to be a number of fringe players playing themselves out of the reckoning for a first team place. The game was stop-start and not helped by another with a clash of heads between Surridge and Knight. Frustratingly it descended into a scrappy game, with hardly any chances from either side. A collision between Anthony and Joshua saw the ex-England man needing attention, as did Riquelme after a strong challenge. In additional time, Jordan Zemura came on for Rico and almost picked up a booking straight away. But the game had long since petered out. We learnt that our second string isn’t really good enough, thankfully Barnsley lost, meaning that if we win next Saturday, we will avoid Brentford in the semi-finals, which would be good as they have just beaten us and Watford. If the ultimate goal was to protect key people, then this has been achieved, but this was a tough watch.
