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Sunderland 2 Wycombe Wanderers 0 Saturday 21st May 2022 Football League One - Play-Off Final Wycombe fell at the final hurdle of the 2021/22 season – losing 2-0 to Sunderland in the much-anticipated League One Play-Off Final at Wembley. It was a day that saw Gareth Ainsworth’s side fail to do themselves justice against a Sunderland side that finally gave their huge fanbase something to celebrate following a three year exile in League One. Having beaten Milton Keynes over a pair of exhilarating semi-final ties, hopes were high amongst the 25,000 Wanderers fans in a 70,000 plus crowd at the famous venue. However, Wycombe started nervously and fell behind to a soft goal in the 12th minute when Elliot Embleton’s strike caught David Stockdale out in the Wycombe goal, the ball squeezing past him at a catchable height. From there on there never seemed the same spark in the Wycombe side that had battled their way to a play-off place in the closing weeks of the season. Ainsworth introduced Adebayo Akinfenwa on 75 minutes for his last appearance in a Wycombe shirt. But there was no fairytale ending for the legendary player. Wanderers’ best chance of equalising came in the 78th minute when Hanlan beat his man down the left channel, but his shot was far too tame to beat the ‘keeper. A minute later Sunderland sealed their promotion place when Ross Stewart drove a low shot past Stockdale in the Wycombe. The reaction of the Sunderland masses behind the same goal said it all as the Macken fans could finally let loose four years of frustration in the third tier of English football. Meanwhile, Wanderers supporters were left wondering what might have been. Full-time - Sunderland 2 Wycombe 0
Speaking after the game, Wanderers Manager Gareth Ainsworth told the press: "To see the kids, this new generation, wearing Wycombe shirts and getting behind their team, I think we've got a good future at this football club. I'm proud to say the boys have given absolutely everything on the pitch. I'm a proud manager today. It's a day when we wanted to perform and we missed out. I think the quality today told, just in the final third [it] just escaped [us] today." He added: "The better team won today. I can’t stand here and pretend we were better than Sunderland but I thought at 1-0 there was a few nerves from them and we had a couple of good chances, but they’ve got some good players. Congratulations Sunderland, you deserve to be in the Championship next season. As for us, we’ll go again. We’ll dust ourselves down. I’ve got a really good set of boys and I’m very, very proud of them. Today was Sunderland’s day and sometimes it goes that way.” Sunderland boss Alex Neil said: "I thought we deserved to win. Wycombe have done great this season but we came into the game knowing a lot of people had heavily backed us and made us favourites. As I said before the game, that’s normal for us. I’m buzzing for [the players] and for [the fans] . This club shouldn’t be where it is and this is the first step towards us getting back to where we want to be." Match highlights via YouTube Full match replay via YouTube |
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