Matchday Essentials 2002-2003 Click here for the latest match previews and reports
Click here for Quick Guide Stockport County 2 Click here for your Rough Guide to Wycombe Wanderers
Wycombe Wanderers 1
Saturday 30th November 2002
Football League Division Two
Roger Johnson
Roger Johnson - Goal set up late rally by the Wanderers.
Wanderers miserable run continued with a 2-1 defeat to Stockport County at Edgeley Park. All the damage was done in the first half starting on ten minutes when Anthony Tonkin's pass caught Wycombe's defence square and Luke Beckett beat the offside trap before slipping the ball past Martin Taylor from the right side of the six yard box.
Seven minutes before the break Beckett picked up a loose ball and his cross from the bye-line was turned in by Neill Ross.
Lawrie Sanchez made a triple substitution at half-time but it wasn't until the 86th minute that Roger Johnson set up an interesting finish when he turned the ball in from close range following a Lewis Cook corner. Craig Faulconbridge was then denied in the final minute when he saw a header brilliantly saved by Lee Jones in the County goal.
Wycombe went into the game with an injury and suspension crisis. Michael Simpson served a one match ban for reaching five yellow cards and Danny Senda sat out the second game of his four match suspension. Loan signing from Brentford Ijah Anderson made his Wycombe debut in the left back position as cover for the injured Chris Vinnicombe while Danny Bulman returned in midfield following the loss of Darren Currie with a shoulder injury.
Apart from Wycombe's late rally there was little to cheer for the Wycombe faithful who had made the trip north. Against a County side with just three home league wins from nine prior to this gameWycombe's lethargic front line and lack-lustre midfield never had the creativity to break down Carlton Palmer's side.
Paul McCarthy had already taken a knock to the head when he was caught flat-footed as Tonkins long and accurate ball from the left side of defence found Beckett and despite Taylor rushing from goal in an attempt to block, Wanderers were a goal down inside ten minutes.
It could have been 2-0 on 22 minutes when Ross played in Beckett but this time Taylor made a great save to keep Wycombe's interest alive. In fact Wycombe were just coming back into the game when County added a second. On 32 minutes Keith Ryan saw a shot saved after Anderson's initial shot had been blocked by Palmer and then on 37 minutes McCarthy saw a header tipped over from a Cook corner.
County's second goal came when Kevin Fradin played the ball in from the left to Aarron Lescott. His shot was half blocked by Andy Thomson but Beckett was first to react to the loose ball and his low cross found Ross who converted with ease from close range. The goal was a real body blow for Wycombe who have not won a game this season after conceding the first goal of the game and have lost all games when they have trailed at the break.
Half-time Stockport 2 Wycombe 0
Lawrie Sanchez made three substitutions as he concluded that his current line-up was never going to make a breakthrough. However, it took a while to for the changes to gel and only further saves from Taylor from Brigg and Beckett before the hour mark denied the home side further goals.
It was not until the final quarter of the game that Wanderers showed some kind of life. First Cook's shot/cross from the right saw Johnson nip in behind the County defence for a header and only a reflex save by Jones prevented a goal. Moments later at the other end Johnson saw a backheader beat his own 'keeper but thankfully, from Wycombe's point of view, the ball ended a couple of feet wide of the right hand upright.
But Johnson did get on the scoresheet in the 86th minute when he slid in Cook's corner from the left and but for a fantastic save by Jones in the dying minutes Wycombe could have snatched a most unlikely point.
The latest defeat sees Wycombe drop to 17th place in the Division Two table with 23 points from the opening 20 games. At the same stage last season Wanderers had 32 points and were tucked in at 7th place.
Final Score Stockport 2 Wycombe 1
Wycombe: Taylor, Rogers, Anderson, McCarthy (sub HT Johnson), Thomson, Bulman, Cook, Ryan, Brown, Devine (sub HT Faulconbridge), Rammell (sub HT Dixon) - subs not used: Harris, Lee
Yellow Cards: Brown (foul 62)
Stockport: Jones, Gibb, Palmer, Challinor, Tonkin, Lescott, McLachlan (sub 81 Goodwin), Ross, Briggs, Beckett, Fradin - subs not used: Daly, Blayney, Hardiker, Lambert
Yellow Cards: Goodwin (foul 88)
Ref: Eddie Ilderton (Tyne & Wear) Att: 4,731 (approx 250 Wycombe)
Interactive Stats
Match and players
All the Wycombe results, scorers, team line-ups and statistical breakdown of the current season - FULLY INTERACTIVE to your heart's content.
Latest Table and form Updated table with results archive of ALL Division Two games plus form guide and previous meeting between ALL clubs for the past four seasons.
Squad Info
Quick Links

Chairboys on the Net - click here to reload from the top
Match Report Archive.
Current season plus all matches back to July 1996 >>>
Click here for Quick Guide Quick Guide to The Hatters
Past meetings, connections, web links and more
Visit The Gas Room"Was our reporter at the same game? Have your say!!"
Click here other results on this dayOn This Day
More Wycombe results from 30th November
All match reports © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,2000, 2001, 2002
Chairboys on the Net - Not to be reproduced without our written permission.


Back To Top

Chairboys on the Net All there is to say and know about Wycombe Wanderers on the Internet
HOME||||INDEX||||ROUGH GUIDE||||NEWS||||REPORTS||||FIXTURES&RESULTS||||INTERACT