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Old 17-03-2015, 22:59   #20
Phil Whalley
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Re: Wycombe (A) Match Thread

Happy with the point and a very tenacious performance from the lads against a good Wycombe side. We started well, had the better of the early exchanges, but then Wycombe started to come at us and began creating a lot of chances. Scott was down sharply twice to block efforts, and their centre-half missed a sitter, slicing a shot wide from about eight yards out - a good job for us that the ball fell to the centre-half. You had to feel for Scott when we did finally concede as he made a top-drawer save to block another point-blank effort, only for the ball to fall to one of theirs who crossed for an incoming player to knock it in, and even then Scott had got across and nearly kept it out.

As much as we then tried to get back into it, we struggled to make headway, and weren't helped by the officials, particularly the liner down our right who was flagging everything we tried, much to the annoyance of Jimmy, who certainly made his feelings known. Then out of nowhere we produced a gem of a goal, a slide rule pass which took out Jacobson and then a pinpoint, low cross that Gornell slid in for and guided past their keeper.

Second-half we started well again. It looked like Coley had tweaked the system, possibly to a 4-2-3-1 with Deano and Joycey in centre-mid, but anyway this was our best spell of the game, culminating in Piero's goal, which he leathered in from the edge of the box into the top corner. We had them on the rack, and for a few minutes after this the home crowd was on the edge of turning as a few passes went astray, and another one for us at this point would have been game over.

As it was they started to push us back again, helped by a ref who gave them umpteen free-kicks in the final third, usually for nothing more than 50-50 challenges, and Wycombe were being just as combative as we were. They rarely did anything other than knock a high ball into the box, and we did particularly well defending these, virtually always a Stanley head to them first. One free-kick nearly did make a difference, a neat up-and-over the wall that hit the inside of the post and then out the other side, but we weren't as lucky with their equaliser, which looked from where we were like a Stanley clearance had hit one of theirs and looped in over Scott.

As expected, it was a bit backs-to-the-wall after this, but Josh nearly caught their keeper out with a free-kick that he whipped in hard and low, with Terry really unlucky with the bounce as he came in for the rebound.

So, a fully-deserved point, and another committed display. Stanley MoM for me was Scott in goal, totally solid throughout and determined to boss his area, which seems to be a dying art. But everyone put a shift in. Results elsewhere could have gone better, which makes Saturday a bit juicier, but this is a decent foundation from which to go for the win.
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