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Wycombe
Wanderers 1 |
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| Bristol
Rovers 0 |
Saturday 27th November 2004
Football League 'League Two' |
Wanderers continued their 100% record since the departure of Tony Adams with a narrow but exciting victory over Bristol Rovers at Adams Park. The only goal of the game came nine minutes into the second half when Nathan Tyson tucked away a penalty after he'd been tripped by Christian Edwards on the left side of the penalty area. Wanderers deserved their victory in a game where Steve Guppy made a heroes return, making a one-off appearance to help out his former team mates and good friends Keith Ryan and Gary Smith. Lewis Haldane came closest to equalising for the visitors on 81 minutes when he volleyed wide of the far post following a cross from the left. This latest victory lifts Wycombe to 12th place in the table and just one point from the play-off zone.
There was definitely a buzz in the atmosphere prior to this game, increased by the knowledge that Guppy was pulling on a Wycombe shirt for the first time in more than ten years in a competitive fixture. Wanderers started brightly with Stonebridge and Tyson both going close within the opening six minutes. However, Rovers created chances of their own with Junior Agogo vollying over in the 9th minute and Stuart Campbell firing high of the target from the right channel on 21 minutes.
Wanderers finished the half the stronger side and did enough to have taken the lead. On the half hour mark Danny Senda headed wide of the far post after Tyson had crossed from the right while the best chance of the half came in the 36th minute when the out of luck Ian Stonebridge delayed too long with his shot when he was left in space as he entered the right edge of the penalty area. Gus Uhlenbeek, who enjoyed plenty of possession down the right wing in the first half, sent a bullet shot just wide of the left-hand upright five minutes before the break as the encouraging signs for Wycombe continued.
Half-time 0-0
The second-half was a more even affair. Campbell struck a shot wide of Frank Talia's left hand post three minutes after the restart before Wycombe got their breakthrough. Edwards tripped Tyson following a ball over the top into the Rovers box and Tyson picked himself up to power the resulting spotkick into the right corner of the net and give Wycombe the lead.
 Two minutes later it could have been 2-0 when a trademark left-wing Guppy cross was met by the head of Stonebridge but the ball flew high of the target. Guppy reproduced a similar cross on 62 minutes and this time Roger Johnson's diving header found the target but was some how blocked on the line by Rovers' keeper Keith Miller.
A tiring Guppy was replaced by Matt Bloomfield with fifteen minute remaining and it prompted a final fling from the visitors to snatch a point. Mike Williamson was thankful to only see a yellow card on 78 minutes when he pulled back Dave Savage on route to goal and Johnson did well to clear the resulting free-kick from Jamie Forrester away from the Valley End goal. Haldane's volley in the 81st minute went fractionally wide before an agonising four minutes of stoppage time was indicated. It was during the added time that Williamson made a brilliantly timed tackle inside his own penalty area on Haldane to prevent a clear goal scoring chance and with it went Rovers last hope of taking something from the game.
Once again the celebrations at the end from the players and supporters showed how much these latest results mean and who ever the new boss is, he looks like having inheriting a squad with confidence on a high.
Final Score - Wycombe 1 Bristol Rovers 0
Speaking after the game to BBC Three Counties Radio Keith Ryan said he was pleased again with the result, adding "It wasn't the prettiest of games in the second half but I thought we did the work in the first half and ground them down quite well and made chances and opportunities to score but unfortunately we didn't take any." Wanderers Caretaker boss
said the squad had planned to work harder than the other side and commented "Certainly for an hour I felt we did that. We got tired and Bristol Rovers got back in the game and made it hard for us but I felt the work the lads put in earlier on in the game meant that we deserved the win."
Wycombe: Talia, Silk, Uhlenbeek, Johnson, Williamson, Craig, Senda, Ryan (sub 87 Martin), Guppy (sub 75 Bloomfield), Tyson, Stonebridge - subs not used:Faulconbridge, Williams, Nethercott
Bookings: Williamson (78 foul)
Scorers: Tyson (54,pen) |
Bristol Rovers: Miller, Hinton, Edwards, Elliott, Ryan, Campbell (sub 78 Williams), Hunt, Savage, Trollope (sub 63 Forrester), Agogo (sub 71 Haldane), Thorpe - subs not used Lescott, Walker
Bookings: Edwards (foul 44), Ryan (foul 60),
Scorers: none |
| Referee: Andy Penn |
Attendance: 4,999 (739 away end) |
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