| DISASTER
STRIKES FOR WYCOMBE
(Thursday 6th July 2000) Moss (Norway) 2 Wycombe Wanderers 1 reporting for Chairboys on the Net in Norway Allan Aasterud After two wins on Wednesday, Wycombe were almost certain a place in the second phase A-finals. Therefore youth team manager Gary Goodchild made a couple of changes in before the last group match, against Moss. Ian Simpemba was suspended and goalkeeper Mark Osborn was rested and replaced by Steve Williams. Promising talents like Leeyon Phelan and John Dixon started on the bench as well. Goodchild and his staff decided to pay less attention about the other group game between Brann and Ham Kam. "I know we need at least one point if Brann win their game. We'll succeed if we focus on our game and I'm hopefull we'll manage to win the group." said Goodchild. The match turned out to be a disaster for Wycombe Wanderers. Moss took the lead in the 12. minute after scoring on a penalty. The early goal made the youngsters nervous and stressed. Several times in the first half the lads lost the ball easily. (I'm glad they didn't know that Moss played four Norwegian U-19 players!) But Wycombe managed to level through Ryan McCullaugh's fine header during added time in the first half. Even without showing any offensive potential at all in this game so far, Wycombe were still leaders of the group. Ham Kam also lead Brann by two goals to nil! Still, Goodchild was worried. "This isn't good enough, lads! It's Thursday morning, and we must be awake now. We play scrappy footie at the moment, so I want everyone to raise their game" he said. Right from the start in the second half, Wycombe got some indications that Thursday wasn't to be their favourite-day. It took Moss only two minutes to go ahead after a decent strike from outside the box. The guests from England never replied on the scoring-sheet, and the reason for this was poor passing quality. Goodchild looked furious, but instead of yelling, he tried to be positive and cheering up the lads. Ten minutes from time, well-known Roger Johnson had the ball in the net with a terrific header from Ben Townsend's corner. Unfortunately, the referee saw an infringement, and the goal was disallowed. The match ended 2-1 to the Norwegians. Wycombe Team (4-5-1): Steve Williams - John Hopcraft, Roger Johnson, Marc Leach (sub 26 for Richard Jolly), Ronnie Girvan - Jack Smillie, Scott Dash, Ben Townsend, Ryan McCullaugh (sub 26 for Leeyon Phelan), Lewis Cook - Peter Holsgrove (sub 26 for Johnny Dixon) Yellow cards: Richard Jolly. Tactics: Wycombe started to play 4-5-1 with Peter Holsgrove up front. I must admit that this wasn't his day. Ben Townsend, the captain, replaced Simpemba in central midfield, and John Hopcraft played right-back. Wycombe had no offensive power and Lewis Cook was well taken care of. At halftime Goodchild made three substitutions. Phelan, Dixon and Richard Jolly came on, but none of them caught my attention. Townsend went into the central defender-position due to Mark Leach's substitution. My men of the match: The team doesn't deserve much credit, and there are few players who made a positive performance. Even a good passer like Ronnie Girvan didn't handle the ball well. Still, both left back Girvan and right back John Hopcraft deserve some praise. They tried to take part in the offensive play, but the other team-mates didn't use them enough. Jack Smillie put in some good crosses in the second half and he didn't pay any respect for his older opponents. Reaction and comment from Youth Team boss Gary Goodchild Return to tournament preview and match index Return to News Desk... |
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© Chairboys on the Net 2000 - all rights reserved Report kindly provided by Allan Aasterud rush09@hotmail.com |
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