Wanderers 'keeper Steve Williams ended the centre of attention after Wycombe scraped through 6-5 on penalties to overcome Beaconsfield SYCOB in the semi-final of the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup at Adams Park. The tie had ended 0-0 after 90 minutes before two minutes into extra-time Williams brought down a SYCOB player in the box and although the ball ended up in the net the referee pulled play back to award a penalty. Williams added to SYCOB's frustration when dived to his left to save Jason Bowler's spot-kick. The tie was still goalless at the end of extra-time before the penalty shoot out saw both sides score their first five spot kicks. Then in sudden death Williams saved Adrian Sear's kick before stepping up himself to score the winning kick past Julian Taylor in the SYCOB goal. Wanderers will now play MK Dons in the final that will be held at Adams Park on Monday 1st May, kick-off 3pm.![]() ![]() On an inceasingly cold evening, the tie seemed to leave Wanderers' coaches Steve Brown and Keith Ryan more and more frustrated as the tie progressed with a relatively strong Wycombe being kept at bay by a SYCOB side that included a central defensive pairing of former Wycombe Youth Teamers Kieron Gradwell and Nicky Leach. What chances fell to Wycombe saw recent youth signing Josh Mulvany fire over in the early stages, while Charlie Griffin had a beter chance on 22 minutes but got tangled with the 'keeper as the ball broke towards the right side of the six yard box. Wanderers thought they had taken the lead on 57 minutes when Gary Bunting swung in a free-kick from the left that Will Antwi, making his first competitive start for Wycombe, tucked in at the far post only for the offside flag to quell any celebrations. Griffin saw a 20 yard plus effort tipped wide on 66 minutes and seven minutes later Ian Stonebridge saw a similar distanced effort thump against the crossbar before rebounding back into the keeper's hands. A rare SYCOB attack on 82 minutes almost saw the visitors snatch victory when Daniel Willment headed just wide. The Southern League side where then denied the lead during the extra-time period when on a worst night for Wycombe, Williams would have been either red carded for his challenge on Sear or the goal allowed to stand from the resulting play. Instead, Williams proved his shot stopping capabilities by blocking out Bowler's kick and then playing a crucial part in the penalty shoot-out. The penalty competition saw Terry Gibbs, Daniel Boateng, Jason Bowler, Finlay Doney and Kieron Gradwell score for SYCOB with Russell Martin, Charlie Griffin, Ian Stonebridge, James Faulkner and Peitro Giambrone responding successfully for Wycombe. Williams then dived to his left to save from Sear and then took the responsibilty of scoring the winner himself. The final on 1st May 2006 will see Wycombe attempt to retain the trophy they won against Aylesbury United last season and thus win the competition for two consecutive seasons for the first time since claiming the prize in the non-League days of both 1978 and 1979. ![]() Final Score Wycombe Wanderers 0 Beaconsfield SYCOB 0 Wanderers won 6-5 on penalties
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