It was also my brother’s first match of the season due to his business travelling and family commitments. He was pleasantly surprised by the style with which we played sufficiently enough to even allow the phrase ‘play offs’ to enter our conversation as we hiked back to the car although ‘tongue in cheek’ needs to be added here.
Wycombe had the better of the first five minutes but then we dominated the next half hour. The football played by ‘the lads’ was a joy to behold at times. Wes Fogden has added so much energy to the side and he had two chances before the quarter hour mark, the first being headed off the line whilst the second was tipped around the post by Bull. All the action was in the Wycombe half and a right wing corner was headed just wide by Cook. It seemed just a matter of time before we scored.
This was the case as in the twenty third minute Arter won possession in our halfand with great vision held the ball for a second before threading a pass between two Wycombe players who were hassling him. This was collected at pace by Fogden who shifted it on to Thomas who sprinted forward before laying the ball out to Malone who was flat out on the overlap and his low cross was turned in at the far post by Pugh. A lovely goal and what’s more Fogden and Thomas had sprinted into the box and as Purches was the first to congratulate Pugh he must have been in the vicinity as well.
AFCB continued to dominate and it was rather a surprise that Wycombe entered our box in the thirty fifth minute but even worse that they gained a penalty from this. It was a stone wall penalty as Malone had tucked Grant’s shirt after he had skinned him and Arter. Malone was correctly booked. Beavon attempted to blast the spot kick but sliced it horribly and it sailed over my head into the away fans even further back in the stand. Wycombe buoyed by the penalty even without the expected outcome had the better of the rest of the half but weren’t good enough to trouble Flahavan. 0 1at ht was the least that we deserved although Grant was proving to be a tricky opponent.
There were no substitutions made at half time. Almost straight from the kick off Wycombe moved forward and fifteen year old Ibe shot from just outside the box but Flahavan saved the low effort with ease. The power and pace of Wes Thomas had troubled the cumbersome Wycombe centre backs throughout the first half and he continued his torture of them in the second. He had an effort saved by Bull ten minutes into the half before Wycombe started to claw themselves into the match. Even as they did so we still created as much as they did. Grant was by far their most effective player, well when they had the ball anyway. He had a shot saved well by Flahavan and another surging run was well defended by Purches who used his experience to shepherd Grant away from goal. Wycombe’s best change also fell to Grant when a long cross from deep was met by him with a downward header which bounced up viciously causing Flahavan to tip the ball over in a rather undignified fashion. Despite huff and puff that was it from Wycombe. Indeed it was us that almost scored with seven minutes left. Francis sent in a gorgeous cross after a good run and Thomas got in front of his marker and his powerful header hit the far post.
Thomas was immediately replaced by Sherringham and he received a standing ovation as he trudged off. Symes came on for Fogden four minutes later as Bradders sought to have fresh legs up top to defend from the front. It worked and we gained the three points that we deserved.
One of my abiding memories of the match will be Purches making a hard challenge in the first half…why does he not tackle at fullback? Arter had a very good first half but faded in the second probably at he had more defensive duties to perform. The two Weses up front (well Foggy played just behind Thomas) ran their hearts out not just in attacking mode but as our first line of defence shutting the Wycombe fullbacks down. Due to this and the continual trouble that he caused the Wycombe centre backs my man of the match is Wes Thomas. My brother also stated that he thought that Barrett had a very good first half.
As I was offered a job on the Friday before the match the win made it a very enjoyable weekend. I will now also be able to attend a few more away games and if the team play like this regularly it will be enjoyable but it has to be tempered by the fact that Wycombe are poor.
AFCB: Flahavan, Cook, Barrett, Francis, Cummings, Purches, Pugh, Arter, Malone, Fogden, Thomas
Subs: Jalal, Peters, Zubar, Sheringham (for Thomas, 83 mins), Symes (for Fogden, 87 mins)
Phil Nesbitt, Acocks Green (soon to be Oxford)