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Wycombe Wanderers 1 |
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Mansfield Town 1 |
Friday 5th December 2003
FA Cup Second Round Proper |
Iyseden Christie's equaliser on 62 minutes forced this tie to a replay as the live Sky TV encounter with Mansfield Town ended 1-1. Gavin Holligan had fired Wycombe into a 50th minute lead but Christie's leveller means the two sides will now meet in a replay at Field Mill on Tuesday 16th December and the reward for the winners will be a home tie against Burnley in the Third Round on the weekend of Saturday 3rd January 2004.
With Mansfield riding high in Division Three as well as boasting to be the leading scorers in the Football League, this tie was always going to be a handful for Wycombe. Indeed Wanderers survived a couple of early scares with Frank Talia being forced to fist over a Liam Lawrence volley from the right flank after just three minutes. Then on 13 minutes Talia was on hand again to tip away a shot from the left side of the penalty area by Junior Mendes.
Wanderers responded with chances of their own starting on 20 minutes when Jermaine McSporran cut in from the right side of midfield before sending a curling effort from 20 yards over the crossbar. Four minutes later it was McSporran who got free again down the right but Danny Senda could only head over after making up good ground to meet the cross.
Holligan played a neat knock down to McSporran on 34 minutes but Jocky's shot was deflected over. McSporran was involved again six minutes before the break when he delivered from the right bye-line for Holligan to see his shot block and then Currie not quite making use of the loose ball.
Half-time 0-0
It was the Wanderers who finally broke the deadlock on 50 minutes when Holligan stabbed the ball home after cross by Danny Bulman. The goal came just seconds after Wycombe had survived a goal mouth scramble where Christie crashed a shot against the post. It was just the bit of luck Wanderers needed during a troubled start to the season but they could only hold the lead for twelve minutes as the conceded again from a set-piece.
It was Christie who was on target to convert the equaliser after Wanderers failed to deal with a corner from the left. At this point Wanderers were in danger of going out of the cup and it was
Christie who went close to putting the visitors ahead. However, it was Wycombe who finished the stronger side with Currie going closest on 81 minutes following a delicate lay off from Craig Faulconbridge. Currie also sent in a free-kick from the left on 87 minutes that Ian Simpemba climbed well to get in a header that was just a fraction high of the cross-bar. Stuart Roberts finally replaced Holligan with a couple of minutes remaining but Wanderers couldn't find the net and will now have to negotiate a tricky replay.
Speaking to the press after the game Tony Adams said "We live to fight another day. I’m really pleased we didn’t concede in the last minute because I don’t think I could handle that, I think I’d have packed the job up on the spot! Encouragingly, although I was trying to get a sub on in the last seven or eight minutes, we were pushing the game to them and I thought: “Go on boys, keep going!”, so that was really pleasing. We’re up for the replay, we’re still in there and we’re a tough team to beat now."
Final Score - Wycombe 1 Mansfield 1
Wycombe: Talia, Senda, Johnson, Marshall, Vinnicombe, Currie, Bulman, Simpemba, McSporran, Faulconbridge, Holligan (sub 88 Roberts) - subs not used: Williams, Rogers, Mapes, Roberts
Bookings: none
Scorer: Holligan (50) |
Mansfield: Pilkington, Hassell, Artell, Day, Vaughan, Lawrence, MacKenzie, Williamson, Disley (sub 88 Larkin), Mendes, Christie - subs not used: White, Dimech, Corden, Beardsley
Bookings: MacKenzie (foul 76), Disley (foul 83)
Scorer: Christie (62) |
| Referee: Mr Paul Taylor |
Attendance: 3,212 (538 away end) |
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