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Wanderers made it through to the Southern Area Quarter-Final of the LDV Vans Trophy after a dramatic come back in normal time and then a penalty shoot out victory at Gillingham. Strikes from Matthew Jarvis in the 23rd and 27th minutes had given the home side a 2-0 advantage. However, two goals by Charlie Griffin in as many minutes shortly before the break, including one penalty, levelled the scores. The tie ended up 2-2 after 90 minutes and with extra-time producing no more goals it was Wanderers who went on to triumph 3-1 in the spot-kick contest to go into the draw for the next round which takes place on Saturday 26th November.The tie at Priestfield had seen John Gorman make four changes to the starting line-up compared to the previous Saturday's victory over Grimsby. Out went Clint Easton, Richard Keogh, Rob Lee and Tommy Mooney, while in came Russell Martin, Mike Williamson, Sergio Torres and Jonny Dixon. Keogh and Easton were on the bench, along with Mark Philo who came on to make his first appearance following his injury problems. Everton loanee 'keeper Iain Turner continued inbetween the sticks ahead of Frank Talia and Steve Williams. Griffin was in the thick of the action from the start whenm he headed Danny Senda's cross from the right just wide of the post. However, it was the home side who went on to take a grip of the tie with two quick goals. The first came after Darren Byfield sent through Jarvis and he ran on into the penalty area before lobbing the ball past Turner. The Gills second goal had Wanderers claiming furiously for offside. Former Millwall striker Neil Harris looked to be offside when he received the ball down the right wing but play continued and there was no cover when Harris crossed for Jarvis to shoot home for 2-0. Wanderers got back into the game six minutes before the end of the first half when Charlie Griffin finished into the roof of the net after Matt Bloomfield had squared from the right. Two minutes later the scores were level after Ian Cox fouled Bloomfield in the Gillingham box and up stepped Griffin to confidently fire Wycombe level from the spot. The better chances to win the tie in the remainder of the game fell to Gillingham. Four minutes into the second half Dixon inadvertedly jabbed the ball back into the path of Harris who was then clear on goal but thankfully the ball struck the upright. Other chances came on 78 minutes when Turner saved well from substitute Paul Shields and from the resulting corner the ball was bundled home by Byfield only to be ruled out by the referee. Wycombe's best efforts in the remainder of the 90 minutes came on 55 minutes when Joe Burnell got away down the right before finding Besty who delivered to the far post where Torres brought the ball down only to see his shot blocked. Substitute Ikechi Anya broke loose down the left side on 83 minutes and forced Gills 'keeper Tony Bullock into a one handed save. Score after 90 minutes - Gillingham 2 Wycombe 2 Wanderers were left hanging on for the majority of the extra-time period. There was an almighty goalmouth scramble in the Wycombe penalty area with seven minutes of extra-time remaining but the goal remained unbreached. And with the clock ticking down Turner punched away a shot by Jarvis and then moments later saw Ian Cox's header forced somehow onto the Wycombe crossbar by Bloomfield to force the game into a penalty shoot-out. Final Score after extra-time - Gillingham 2 Wycombe 2 Ironically, after scoring from the spot in normal time, it was Griffin who saw the first kick of the shoot out saved by Tony Bullock in The Gills goal who got down quickly to his right. However, Andrew Crofts shot high and wide with the first kick for the home side before Kevin Betsy converted to make it 1-0. Iain Turner then saved Paul Shields' kick with his feet as he dived to his right. Clint Easton made it 2-0 with a left footer into the top corner of the net before former Bournemouth player Ian Cox struck his kick against the crossbar to make it three misses out of three for The Gills. Bloomfield missed the chance to put Wycombe through when he shot over the bar and Tom Williams kept The Gills in it by firing left footed into the botton corner. It was left to skipper Roger Johnson to win the tie for Wycombe with a right footed shot into the corner of the net that signalled his colleagues to pile in for the celebrations. Wanderers won 3-1 on penalties
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