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Wycombe Wanderers 1 |
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Coalville Town 0 |
Saturday 13th November 2004
FA Cup First Round Proper |
Wanderers made extremely hard work of disposing of non-League minnows Coalville Town in the First Round Proper of the FA Cup on a cold afternoon at Adams Park. It took a solitary 70th minute headed goal by Roger Johnson to end the Leicestershire side's run in the competition. Wanderers struggled throughout but the most important thing is that Wycombe's name goes into the hat for the next round, while the funds are also £16,000 better off.
With the shock departure of Tony Adams the previous Tuesday overshadowing all other news at the Club, it was Head Coach Peter Cawley left to oversee team selection, assisted by Youth Team coach Gary Smith and Club Captain Keith Ryan. Between them they made three changes to the starting line-up that had lost to Yeovil seven days earlier - Gus Uhlenbeek came into midfield in place of Matt Bloomfield, Nathan Tyson returned up front for what is assumed to be a now departed Zema Abbey, while Ryan himself returned in midfield as an alternative to Adam Birchall who did not play due to injury. Birchall has one more week of his three month loan deal to run before the Wanderers Board must decide whether to convert this to a season long or permanent deal.
With Coalville being the Club from the lowest position in the 'pyramid' left in the competition, this was always going to be a step into the unknown but there would have been few who thought how much effort it would finally require to dispose of the Midland Alliance side.
It could have been different if Danny Senda or Russell Martin had converted early chance but likewise things may have been even more awkward for Wycombe if Chris Woodhall's inswinging free-kick from the left wing on 15 minutes hadn't been pushed away from the under the crossbar by Frank Talia. Ashley Warner also smashed an effort into the side netting on 27 minutes from the right channel.
Wanderers' best chance in the first-half came with four minutes remaining when Uhlenbeek made space on the right before delivering a cross deep to the far post that Tyson somehow contrived to head wide from a few yards.
Half-time 0-0
 Matt Bloomfield replaced Danny Senda at the break but Wycombe continued to strain to create chances as Wycombe's faithful began to get more and more restless. The biggest reaction during the opening exchanges on the second period came when a 'Sack the Board' banner was unvealed on the Valley End terrace. With the banner eventually folded away after intervention from the stewards, there was great relief for Wycombe followers when Tony Craig sent over a free-kick from the left wing that Johnson connected with at the far side of the penalty area to head back across the face of the goal and into the opposite corner of the net despite the best efforts of Town 'keeper Sean Bowles to keep it out.
Joy for Wycombe but a body blow to the Town side and their 900 travelling support who were playing their ninth game in the competition this season having started in the Extra Preliminary round back in August. They saw their side strive for an equaliser but it never looked like coming and it was Wycombe who nearly increased the winning margin when Bloomfield sent a diving header over from six yards following an 89th minute cross from the right by Uhlenbeek. Wycombe through but it wasn't pretty.
Final Score - Wycombe 1 Coalville 0
Speaking after the game to BBC Three Counties Radio, caretaker Manager Peter Cawley said "For the general public looking at that game it was a 5-0 victory but having had the week we've had and even if Tony (Adams) had still been in, we would have looked upon that game as a very tricky home tie against a very resilient non-League team." Had commented on Wycombe's performance he added "They worked very, very hard. They did everything we asked of them and we got the result that we deserved."
Wycombe: Talia, Silk, Craig, Johnson, Williamson, Senda (sub HT Bloomfield), Uhlenbeek, Martin, Ryan, Stonebridge, Tyson - subs not used: Nethercott, Anya, Ahmed, Williams
Bookings: none
Scorers: Johnson (70)
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Coalville: Bowles, Garner, Brown (sub 78 Peake), Stevens, Tonge, Wilkes, Woodhall (sub 73 Russell), Pollard (sub 84 Chapman), McGlinchey, Warner, Geary - subs not used Fletcher, Marriott
Bookings: Brown (foul 69), Tonge (foul 74)
Scorers: none |
| Referee: Mick Russell |
Attendance: 2,816 (away end 908) |
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