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Wycombe Wanderers 3 |
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Kidderminster Harriers 0 |
Saturday 2nd April 2005
Football League 'League Two' |
Another Nathan Tyson hat-trick kept Wycombe's promotion hopes alive after a relatively comfortable 3-0 victory over Kidderminster Harriers at a sunny Adams Park. In the end the winning margin could have been greater but there will be few complaints and with results elsewhere, Wycombe are now four points from the play-off zone with five games remaining.
Team news saw Gus Uhlenbeek come back into the side for Jonny Dixon, while new midfield signing Adrian Caceres made his debut from the bench. Mike Williamson was deemed fit enough to continue in defence after needing six stitches to a chest injury picked up in the previous game at Rochdale. However, Wycombe did have to regroup early in the game after Clint Easton was forced off with a hamstring injury with Joe Burnell moving back to the left-back position. Burnell himself was then replaced during the second-half following a cut to his head.
Against a team one place off the bottom of the table, Wanderers fans had to wait for 25 minutes before Tyson began his latest scoring spree. Before then the early chances saw a left wing cross by Easton end with Joe Burnell firing a shot wide of the far post. While Harriers threatened briefly on 11 minutes when Dean Keates curled a free-kick just wide of Frank Talia's left hand post but it was a day when Wanderers defence held firm to record a clean sheet for the first time since the 1-0 victory at Shrewsbury on 29th January and only the fourth occasion this season in the League at Adams Park.
Tyson got the scoring underway when he broke in from the left before cracking in a shot that went in off the near post. Twelve minutes later it was 2-0 after Tyson got in between two defenders from the centre of midfield before side stepping John Danby to finish inside the penalty area. Harriers then fell apart. Moments later Steve Claridge should have made it 3-0 but he blazed over from three yards following a low cross from the left by Tyson, while Matt Bloomfield went close from distance shortly before the break.
Harriers made three substitutions at the start of the second half but it was to no avail as Wycombe continued to dominate. On the hour mark a wonderful cross field pass from Roger Johnson found Danny Senda on the right flank. Senda's cross was met by Tyson only for his shot to be saved by Danby in the Harriers goal, and the follow up to hit the cross-bar. However, Tyson deservedly completed his second hat-trick of the season seven minutes later when Wycombe capitalised on a defensive error to shoot home from eight yards after Burnell had laid the ball off.
A tiring Claridge and injured Burnell where further substitutions for Wycombe and it signalled a brief spell of pressure for Harriers - the best chance coming on 73 minutes when Gary Birch just failed to connect with a low ball in from the right. However, it was Tyson who could have added another when he shot wide from the left channel with six minutes left on the clock. But the points were in the bag for Wycombe well before then.
Final Score - Wycombe 3 Kidderminster 0
John Gorman was obviously delighted with the result and thought his side could have won by more. He added to
BBC Three Counties Radio We didn't play to our standard today but we won the game more convincingly than we've done any game this season." And he reaffirmed the fight to get into the play-off's was still very much on, saying "We always said we would keep going. It was disappointing we lost to Northampton when we could have leap frogged them and got ourselves into a play-off position. Imagine now three more points where it would have put us? But we are now only four points off instead of six or eight. Lincoln are now really close to us, they've got really hard games and we will just keep plugging away. Who knows, we might just come in on that late run and sneak in there."
By contrast Kiderminster boss Stuart Watkiss was bitterly disappointed with the result and his team's performance as they attempt to avoid the drop back to the Conference. He commented in the post match press conference "We were second best in every department and the defeat could have been much heavier. Wycombe were a much better team and they thoroughly deserved the win. There were no positives for us at all today - we just weren't at the races." He concluded "It's certainly by a long, long way the worst performance I've seen since I've been here and at the moment I'm struggling to think of a worse performance in my entire managerial career, at any level."
Wycombe: Talia, Senda, Easton (sub 15 Stonebridge), Johnson, Williamson, Lee, Bloomfield, Burnell (sub 77 Dixon), Uhlenbeek, Tyson, Claridge (sub 72 Caceres) - subs not used: Nethercott, Cronin
Bookings: Bloomfield (foul 28)
Scorers: Tyson (25,37,67) |
Kidderminster Harriers: Danby, Weaver, Hatswell (sub HT Jones), Mullins, Jackson, Cozic, Keates, Bennett, McGrath, Beardsley (sub HT Birch), Rawle (sub HT Christie) - subs not used: Sturrock, Russell
Bookings: Weaver (foul 68), Christie (foul 86)
Scorers: none |
| Referee: J Ross |
Attendance: 4,608 (away end 360) |
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