Match Day Thread Wycombe Wanderers v Preston North End Adams Park 13/3/2021

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LAST TIME OUT
QRP 1 WYCOMBE 0

Wycombe Wanderers Football Club /ˈwɪkəm/ is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. They play their home matches at Adams Park, located on the western outskirts of High Wycombe, having moved after 95 years at Loakes Park in 1990. The club traditionally plays in quartered shirts of navy (Oxford blue) and pale blue (Cambridge blue). The club's nicknames are "The Chairboys" and "The Blues".

Founded in 1887, they entered the Southern League in 1896. They switched to the Great Western Suburban League in 1908 and then the Spartan League in 1919, before joining the Isthmian League after winning the Spartan League in 1919–20 and 1920–21. They spent 64 years in the Isthmian League, winning eight league titles and one FA Amateur Cup title. Having rejected numerous invitations to join the Alliance Premier (Gola) League (now National League), they finally accepted an offer in 1985 and eventually found success in the fifth tier of English football under the management of Martin O'Neill, winning promotion into the Football League as GM Vauxhall Conference champions in 1992–93. They also lifted the FA Trophy in 1991 and 1993, and won the Conference League Cup, Conference Shield (three times) and Conference Charity Shield.

Wycombe made an immediate impact in the Football League, winning promotion out of the Third Division via the play-offs in 1994. They spent a decade in the third tier and reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 2001, though were relegated three years later. They also reached the League Cup semi-finals in 2007 and then gained promotion out of League Two in 2008–09. This was the first of four successive seasons of promotions and relegations between League Two and League One, which was followed by a decline that saw the club only avoid relegation into non-league on goal difference in 2014. The club secured promotion out of League Two in 2017–18 under the stewardship of Gareth Ainsworth, who then took the club to the Championship for the first time in the club's history with victory in the 2020 League One play-off final.

Adams Park is an association football stadium in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. Built in 1990, it is the home ground of the local Wycombe Wanderers in the Championship division. It was also leased from 2002 to 2014 to the rugby union club London Wasps from Aviva Premiership, and from 2016 to 2020 to the Reading F.C. Women football club. From the 2003/04 season to the 2005/06 season, the stadium was officially called Causeway Stadium, named after its sponsor Causeway Technologies.

HEAD TO HEAD

Our first visit was a 1 all draw 7/5/1994 I know I was there we played them a few weeks later at Wembley and bazzed away a 2-1 half time lead due to the tactical genius that John Beck wasn't. Never lost a league game however we did get stuffed in the cup a few weeks ago

FORM GUIDE

WYCOMBE 3 PNE 5

FAMOUS WYCOMBE PERSON

Allen Stroud is a course leader at Coventry University, where he teaches on the BA Media Top Up. Previously he was the course leader for Film and Television Production and the Creative Writing for Publication degrees at Bucks New University.[1][2] Up until the end of 2019, he was the editor of the British Fantasy Society Journal.[3] He also composes instrumental music;[3] however, Stroud is best known for his sci-fi fantasy novels and video game writing. He is the 2017 and 2018 chair of Fantasycon, the annual convention of the British Fantasy Society, which hosts the British Fantasy Awards.

In 2017, Stroud completed a Ph.D. at the University of Winchester entitled An Investigation and Application of Writing Structures and World Development Techniques in Science Fiction and Fantasy.

In June 2019, Allen Stroud became Chair of the British Science Fiction Association, taking over from Donna Bond.

MACS VIEW

This will probably be our hardest game of the season against a side who are scrapping to stay in this division although personal view think it is a futile task
They will be in your face and we will have to match them unlike the meek surrender in the FA Cuo when we got creamed 4-1.
Need to keep an eye on Ikpeazu although he was only on the bench on Wednesday, Jacobson a danger from corners and free kicks and our ex Horgan who was unlucky at Deepdale never fit into how Neil wanted him to play
Susect a change in a few positions given we have three games in seven days again
Not easy this one wouldn't be surpised if we cock it up

 

Preston North End head to Adams Park for a league game for the first time in a decade this weekend, looking for another valuable three points.

The two sides meet in Buckinghamshire in the Emirates FA Cup back in January, with former North End winger Gareth Ainsworth’s side coming out on top in a third round tie.

The reverse fixture at Deepdale back in December was a 2-2 draw, but this time around the Lilywhites will be trying to add another three points to their tally.

With a free week for Alex Neil and his team and a chance to get some rest and a couple days out on the training pitches, he will hope to have a fresh squad.

Team News
Alex Neil’s injury list eased slightly last weekend with Sean Maguire, Alan Browne and Paul Gallagher returning, however, he was without Andrew Hughes with a shoulder injury.

The Welshman joined Ryan Ledson and Liam Lindsay, also need to be assessed, whilst Louis Moult, Billy Bodin, Declan Rudd and Patrick Bauer remain on the sidelines.

Jordan Obita could return for Gareth Ainsworth, with Ryan Alssop having been back on the bench for Tuesday night’s defeat at another of the Wycombe manager’s former clubs, Queens Park Rangers.

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Match Officials
It was just after New Year, when Forest visited Deepdale the last time Saturday’s match official, Tim Robinson, took charge of the Lilywhites.

Before that, back in 2019, he took charge of our trip to Derby County and his last game in PR1 was the goalless draw at home to Forest in February that same year.

Prior to that, we saw the referee in December 2017. That game, a 1-0 win at home to Sheffield United, saw Robinson as the man with the whistle at a PNE game, for the second time in three weeks.

Tim, from West Sussex, in his ninth year on the EFL list and was the match official for the 1-1 draw with Norwich City at Carrow Road in November that same season. Before that, he last took charge of North End in his first trip to Deepdale, when we overcame Birmingham City 2-1 back in March of the previous season.

That was his fourth game overall in charge of the Lilywhites, the others all being away trips; Brentford, Ipswich and a 2-0 victory at Coventry City when Joe Garner and then club captain Tom Clarke were on the scoresheet.

This will be his 31st game of the season, his last being Tranmere’s 2-0 win at Southend United on Tuesday night. This season he has issued 89 cautions and five red cards in those previous 30 games.

This is his first Wycombe game of the season and his assistants on Saturday afternoon will be Nigel Lugg and Andrew Fox, whilst the fourth official is Alan Young.

 

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Wycombe Wanderers 1 Preston North End 0

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A first half header from Ryan Tafazolli gave Wycombe Wanderers the points at Adams Park.

The set piece effort gave the home side the victory despite North End dominating the second half.

Greg Cunningham was missing through a injury, but Andrew Hughes returned as a direct replacement and Sean Maguire came into the side for Tom Barkhuizen for the Lilywhites.

The home side, direct and physical in their approach, looked to play forward directly as much as possible and win set pieces, and North End required their on-loan Danish goalkeeper Daniel Iversen to keep them out in the opening half.

On four minutes, the Leicester City loanee tipped over a Tafazolli header at the back post, from a corner by Wycombe skipper Joe Jacobson’s inswinging corner from the right.

And again he did well in goal to save from Uche Ikpeazu, who had got in behind from a header over the top.

But moments later Gareth Ainsworth’s men went ahead with another Jacobson corner, this time from the left, fizzed over to the back post to Tafazolli, who got up and headed back across goal into the top left-hand corner.

The stopper was required again before half-time to deny Garath McCleary, who cut in from the left and fired hard and low towards the bottom left corner from 20 yards, until a strong hand from the big Dane.

North End were being forced to match their opponents in their approach, with Ched Evans having to battle against Tafazolli at the back and just before half-time the forward was livid not to have won a penalty, when Ben Whiteman’s corner from the right was headed back across goal by Hughes. The Welshman looked to latch onto it as he appeared to be pulled back, referee Tim Robinson seeing nothing wrong.

A triple change at the break saw Paul Gallagher, Brad Potts and Tom Barkhuizen on for Whiteman, Daniel Johnson and Scott Sinclair for the green-clad Lilywhites.

It was a very different game in the second half, with North End having much more of the possession and territory, with Evans the focal point and Gallagher getting on the ball with regularity, while the pace of Barkhuizen was also a threat down the right.

Anthony Gordon replaced Maguire just after the hour mark to add a further attacking option for North End.

And on 71 minutes, two of the changes, Gordon and Potts, combined with Hughes to create a chance for Potts 15 yards out in the left-hand corner of the box, the midfielder firing hard and low, but into the side-netting.

Shortly after, a Gallagher free-kick from the left caused plenty of problems in the home side’s penalty area; Potts winning the bouncing ball, but Gordon was unable to get a shot away under pressure.

A final change saw Emil Riis on for Sepp van den Berg, with a switch to a 3-4-3 formation and a concerted effort get something from the game.

Gordon’s quick feet brought a fine save from David Stockdale as he drove down the left and got a low shot away from the left corner of the six-yard box, the Wanderers stopper blocking the effort with his legs.

As the game entered the final ten minutes, back-to-back corners came for Gallagher from either side and both caused problems, but without forcing an equaliser.

In the final minute of normal time, a long ball forward by Barkhuizen was headed up in the air by Josh Knight, but it fell for Potts to hit on the volley and his effort was just past the right-hand post.

Even in the last minute of stoppage time, a Barkhuizen long throw into the box caused all sorts of problems, but PNE were not able to grab the goal their second half efforts deserved.

Wycombe Wanderers line-up: Stockdale, Jacobson (c), Gape (Ofoborh, 77), Tafazolli, Ikpeazu (Muskwe, 86), Knight, Horgan, Thompson, McCleary (Grimmer, 86), McCarthy, Mehmeti. Subs not used: Allsop, Stewart, Kashket, Akinfenwa, Onyedinma, Samuel.

PNE line-up: Iversen, van den Berg (Riis, 76), Hughes, Whiteman (Gallagher, 46), Huntington, Storey, Maguire (Gordon, 63), Browne (c), Evans, Johnson (Potts, 46), Sinclair (Barkhuizen, 46). Subs not used: Ripley, Lindsay, Rafferty, Riis, Molumby.

Referee: Mr T Robinson

 

Wycombe Wanderers manager Gareth Ainsworth told BBC Three Counties Radio:

"First half I thought we were phenomenal. The way we started, we really went at Preston. There was some real flowing football.

"I asked before the game for nothing less than everything, and asked them if they believed we could stay up and they all believe we can.

"We believe we can stay in this league, we are only nine points of Birmingham. There's a genuine belief in there that we can do this. I'm really pleased and proud of the boys."

Preston North End manager Alex Neil told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"I think the first half I wouldn't even say (I was) angry or annoyed, probably just more disappointment.

"We spoke of the importance of the game for two days and we serve that up in the first 45 minutes - if I'm being honest I didn't even recognise our team.

"We didn't really have enough in the game. It was a poor performance. Am I alarmed about the run of form we are on? Course I am. This is arguably the toughest time we've had."

 

On the road to nowhere!