| Matchday Essentials 2001-2002 Click here for the latest match previews and reports |
Richard Walker scored and was later sent-off as Wycombe drew 1-1 with Swindon Town at Adams Park on Saturday. Walker's goal on the stroke of half-time cancelled out Wayne Carlisle's 25 yard strike in the 23rd minute.Sadly, in an otherwise entertaining game, it was match Referee Frazer Stretton who was the main talking point of the day. The Notts official sent off Walker in the 88th minute following a head to head confrontation with Steve Robinson after the Town player had rashly challenged home debutant Stuart Roberts. Stretton, no stranger to Wycombe fans, could only have sunk lower in Wycombe estimation if he had scored the winning goal for Swindon. Roberts was the one change to the Wycombe side that drew 2-2 at Colchester in the week with Dannie Bulman dropping to the bench. Roberts had an impressive debut, picking on the sponsors Man of the Match award and setting up the equalising goal for on loan striker Walker. Walker now faces a three match ban that means the final game of his current loan spell will be the trip to Tranmere on Saturday 3rd November. While Stretton did his best to spoil the day both sides can be applauded for their attack minded attitude. Within the opening five minutes the visitors had the ball in the net when Guiliano Grazioli converted from close range but his effort was ruled out for offside. Two minutes later Wycombe responded when Darren Currie flighted the ball in from the left before Roberts' shot on the turn was blocked by Bart Griemink in the Town goal. Back at the other end Wycombe summer target Danny Invincibile was just forced out by a timely challenge from Mark Rogers. Having survived the early pressure from the visitors it looked like Wycombe had gained the upper hand. On 15 minutes, only Neil Ruddock's block cut out Andy Rammell just as Wanderers' top scorer was about to pull the trigger and four minutes later Danny Senda angled a low shot a couple of feet wide of Griemink's right-hand upright. However, it was Town who took the lead on 23 minutes when on loan Crystal Palace midfielder Wayne Carlisle was allowed too much space on the left before he sent a rocket shot from 25 yards that gave Martin Taylor no chance.  Wycombe lost their way a little after the goal and could have gone further behind on 35 minutes when Invincibile slid to connect with a cross but saw his shot come back off Taylor's left hand post. But Wycombe finished the half in familiar fashion. On 40 minutes Steve Brown's cross from the left was glanced wide of the far post by Senda and then in stoppage time Wycombe got their reward. Currie delivered another awesome pass to Roberts out on the left wing before the Welsh youngster sent in a bullet like cross that Walker flashed into the Valley End net past a stunned Griemink.Half-time 1-1 Wycombe probably just edged the second-half with Griemink the busier of the two 'keepers. On 55 minutes he managed to get to a Michael Simpson free-kick and was then grateful to see Brown's follow-up loop wide. Five minutes later Roberts sent another inviting low cross in the from the left only for Senda to try and be too precise with his shot, allowing Griemink to block. That miss could have been made to look doubly painful a minute later. Invincibile appeared to get away with a blatant handball in midfield before putting in David Duke on the Swindon right. Duke's shot looked goalbound but Taylor got down to his right to add another incredible save to his collection. 
Dannie Bulman replaced Brown on 67 minutes and again he played like a player possessed. He was part of battling move from Wycombe in the 69th minute that ended with Currie shooting high of the target. However, Wycombe still had to be wary of Town on the break. Invincibile's dive in the Wycombe penalty area under a challenge from Chris Vinnicombe went unpunished from Stretton in the 79th minute while a minute later Jo Kaffour shot high of Taylor's goal.The game heated up in the closing minutes culminating in Walker's red card. On 83 minutes Roberts delivered again from the left and after a scramble, Keith Ryan's deflected shot looped down to Simpson just a few feet from goal but the Simo failed to connect. Roberts proved a handful again in the 88th minute before he was taken out by Steve Robinson. Walker showed his displeasure with a head to head stand-off, Robinson collapsed and Walker was promptly sent down the tunnel to complete a farcical perforance from Stretton. Lawrie Sanchez looked to be fuming from his pitch side position but he had to settle for a result that keeps the unbeaten run going and Wycombe tucked in 7th place in the Division Two table. Speaking after the game in a press conference he said "I thought we played well, after a dodgy first 20 minutes when we went 1-0 down. Thereafter we were the better team, especially in the second half when I thought we had a lot of chances to finish the game off." Sanchez said he didn't see the sending off incident but added "The referee didn’t have one of his best days. When 7,000 boo one man off the field you realise perhaps he didn’t have a good day at work." Final Score Wycombe 1 Swindon 1
|
Chairboys on the Net - Not to be reproduced without our written permission. |
|||||||||||||||||||
"Was
our reporter at the same game? Have your say!!"
On
This Day
All there is to say and know about Wycombe Wanderers on the Internet
HOME||||INDEX||||ROUGH GUIDE||||NEWS||||REPORTS||||FIXTURES&RESULTS||||INTERACT |