Thetownend.com

The Opponent:  Wycombe Wanderers

Meh, I only ever wanted to do well in the JPT this year anyway. I have witnessed every comment over the last few days, embarrassing, shocking and pathetic to name but a few. But, my favourite has to be a comment over on planet cuckoo land (This Is), from a Harley Red, saying “Simple, bring back Di Canio”. If Harley Red is a member of this fine forum then please make themselves known to the nearest steward. Personally, I never made the journey at the weekend, I am glad I didn’t as the journey home after the match would have been sombre and made the £500 for a BK Whopper at the services even more painful to swallow than normal. But we move on.

Wycombe Wanderers are serious contenders for yoyo team of the decade. Over the last 5 seasons they have either been promoted or relegated on 4 occasions and once again find themselves plying their trade down in league 2. To be fair to Wycombe, they have come a long way in a fairly short space of time, in 1987 they were champions of The Isthmian League, having pipped none other than Championship newbie’s, Yeovil Town and some of their past managers include Martin O’Neil, Paul Lambert, John Gregory, Peter Taylor and John Gorman!  One story I found interesting was that of The Lucky Wycombe Comanche, who was the lucky mascot for Wycombe Wanderers for a number of years in the early 2000s. On the final game of the 1999-2000 season the team faced a tricky game away at Lincoln City.  Earlier in the season when Lawrie Sanchez took over after the departure Neil Smilie, the team has been destined to be relegated. However, back to back wins against Manchester City and Wigan Athletic meant a win at Lincoln would ensure an unlikely survival in Division 2. On the way to the ground the team coach passed a second hand shop and in the window was a 5 ft wooden statue of a Red Indian. The team decided that if they won the game and survived relegation they would go back and purchase the figure. Thanks to an 83rd minute winner from Paul Emblen, and roared on by 3000 travelling fans (using 50 coaches laid on by the club) the team won 1-0 and stayed up. During that summer Terry Gibson, Sanchez’s assistant was entrusted with locating the figure and bringing him to the club. On the first day of training for the new season Gibson arrived at the training ground with the statue to howls of laughter. The figure appeared in the centre of the squad photo that year, a story which made the back page of a nation tabloid newspaper. He was given the number 31 squad number that year. Before matches the Comanche was placed on the centre circle for luck. The seasons that followed, with the Comanche as a lucky mascot, were some of the most successful in the club's history-the team reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup after beating Leicester City and Wimbledon FC on the route to a famous show down against Liverpool at Villa Park. The team went down 2-1 thanks to goals from Robbie Fowler and Emile Heskey.

Where the opposition gather –
 
http://gasroom.co.uk/

Last 6 – WWWLDD (Currently 12th on League 2 on 21 points)

They have served us both – Fola Onibuje (is there anyone in Leagues 1 and 2 this guy hasn’t tried out for),  Tommy Mooney, John Gorman, Ty Godden, Charlie Comyn-Platt, Iffy Onoura, Mark Cooper, Terry Gibson, David Kerslake, Alan Mayes, Jo Kuffour, Keith Scott, Frank Talia.

The Odds –  Swindon 4/7 Draw 3/1 Wycombe 9/2. Why does it feel like I should have a tenner on Wycombe just in case, although I won’t.  With an ever growing list of injuries its anyone’s guess as to which team Cooper will put out tonight. I fancy Ajose to get a chance and the lad knows where the back of the net is, currently 5/1 with Ladbrokes.

The Son Says – We are still undecided on going to this one, the prices are encouraging enough to be fair to the club, but in the meantime it seems 3-0 Town is the guess.

The Prediction –  Can we possibly go out of 2 cups in the space of 4 days? Of course we can, but tonight will see Wycombe feel the full force of the wounded beast of a passing machine that is Swindon Town.  5-1 Town, Ajose (3), N’Guessan and a late Pritchard thunderbolt from 38 yards will safely deposit us 1 step nearer to Wembley. 4’967 in attendance with 244 from Buckinghamshire.

And Finally – Sir Francis Dashwood’s notorious Hellfire Club met for its orgies and dubious rites at Medmenham Abbey near Wycombe, Dashwood installed suitable statuary in the grounds, their subjects including Venus and Priapus, and had caves excavated to hide his group’s activities from public gaze. In 1762 Sir Francis, famous for his drinking, pranks and womanising, was made Chancellor of the Exchequer where his tax on cider led to riots. Osborne take note.

COYR COYR COYR

More good work....I feel sorry for SuggWillSugg MBE....not only stripped of his knighthood, but seemingly no longer giving us the benefit of his drunken student antics, after being  thanked for his efforts, and wished all the best.

PS....Maurice Malpas was sacked for losing back to back FA Cup and JPT games, in answer to your question in predictions.

I'd managed to forget about that, until now.

We were on a 3 game undefeated run in the league at the time, having picked up a bit from some shit home form...away marginally better than now.   Probably best to forget it.

I'm happy to share some drunken tales if you'd like.

If we get really shit i'll take over Matchday threads again too!

I cannot be bothered to look but imagine our record for ups and downs cannot be hugely different?

I fear we are gonna lose....

I've got a good feeling about this! 2-1 Swindon COYR

4-0 (to us)

"DMR Dashwood" has a certain ring to it  :) :)

We've been more static of late - reverting to the Division 3 stalwarts we have been for most of our history.  But the Up-Down-Down-Up sequence from 1992/93 to 1995/96 was noteworthy.

Expect a performance from whoever we have fit enough to play to make up for Saturday! But I'm not overly fussed if we win or lose, expect us to win though.

That's the spirit....Shaw is doing a semi decent job atm, very solid at home but questions will soon need to be asked if the away form doesn't show a major improvement.

Back to form. 3-0

If you want a hearty laugh before the game tonight, enjoy Gerry Stilton's Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/itslove1956

Jesus, panic button much?

Like how he's bitching and moaning before the Rotherham game, then goes silent. Similarly before Vale.

Tbf there's people on here that aren't far off that.

Don't be absurd

He is just trolling or is just mental

That reminds me of my favourite status update for October:

"If somebody has something to say to me they should say it to my face. Somebody is a .......<rant>"

Misinformed could be added to that list of possibilities I think.

Perhaps he's motormouth or motormouth mk 2?

Gerald was the original proto-Dosser. And a bit like Obelix not needing the magic potion because he'd been dropped in the cauldron as a baby, Gerald doesn't need booze/narcotics to get him going, he's just ... like that.

Bit harsh on Tails...

I was at Brighton to wave goodbye!

Right I'm off to witness the backlash!!

As this isn't a league game am I right in thinking this will be on the BBC's website and not player?

Fully expect to give Wycombe a thumping tonightwi
What I fully expect and what town deliver are sadly two different things

A win isnt too much to ask tho
Is it ?

So going for a nil one or 6/7 nil
Fingers crossed the latter

I was at Histon and Brighton

:suicide:

Should be a comfortable win, but I'm not so sure. Depends upon which Swindon team turn up I guess.

Town side to face Wycombe: Belford, Byrne, Hall, Ward (C), McEveley, Kasim, Thompson L, Luongo, Pritchard, N'Guessan, Ajose

Subs: Foderingham, Harley, Elgabas, Barthram, Branco

Now, that should be back to the early season 4-3-3.

Looks like it to me too. I fucking hope so, I hate 3 at the back.

On twitter the other day Ranger said something about having to stop taking things for granted. I'm wondering if he's been dropped for being a naughty boy. 

Anybody there?

barely!

I'm here.

It sounds boring.

50mins without a post. Has to be a new record on match day post ko?

Hello! Red wine out for this one!

I thought the game was delayed

This sounds proper shit like!

Super Sam is on co-comms though.

He sounds more likely to score than the current Town players!

Eddie Howe there watching Pritchard.

That'll be him gone in January then

Maybe a swap deal for Ritchie, as long as we forget to tell them he's a Spurs player :)

Macclesfield are 16th in the conference! I assumed they'd be near the top! They are losing at home tonight!

Pritchard hits post.

We sound better than Saturday.

Dominating. Ball still not in the net though. Stupid football.

Unbelievable

0-1.

More shite defending.

Wonderful.

Rubbish!

I mean one Fucking attack.

1.0 down
Shit defending

Oh dear! Where's that panic button?

We have played well. Could have scored two or three. Not a shit performance. But....

Against the run of play that.

Bad luck to be fair, plenty of time to go. Doesn't it go straight to penalties if it's level after 90 minutes?

Learn to defend you cunts!

and after finally turning Hall he fires past a helpless Belford.  ::)

I want my money back

It wasn't a problem when we did the same against Plymouth

@SamMorshead_SA: GOAL 0-1 (McClure 45) It's terrible defending again from Town. Players jumping into each other, letting McClure wander through to fire home

Wtf?

Fucking Hall...

I Need to see how the man got the wrong side of hall before blaming him. I missed it,.

Defending like bambi on ice. Stay on your feet ffs. Ohwell still 45 to go

Harley on for Kasim

So McClure got injured,  had treatment,  waltzed through our defence,  then had to go off injured.  Doesn't bode well that a crocked player can score so easily against us.

Are we still shite?

What's happening? Has its love stormed the pitch yet?

Wrong  substitution

El Gabas for N'Guessan

Seems we have a perfect storm.

Giving away comical goals and unable to hit a cow's arse with a banjo

We won our last league game convincingly. Let's not start slitting our wrists yet.

This sounds bloody awful!

Comedy goal. Well comedy delection

But if we lose to Wycombe it's a crisis. Gerry said so ???

Moooooooo!

There you go KR, you can pack away the razorblades.

1-1 Rick O'Shea

Yay!  But stupid music played again...stop it Jed!

I knew that'd do it!!

In your face Gerry Stilton  8)

:)

The only man likely to score!

ooooh,pens?

Shame we've taken off our penalty taker

Not yet

We have to take more than one penalty

This gets worse and worse :(

2 mins until pens

Noone mentioned that Wycombe scored again but it was disallowed for offside.

4mins stoppage time.

Not got the slighest clue who'd take our pens...

Ajose, El Gabas, Luongo, Harley, McEveley?

Belford save in 90th min.

4 mins injury time

We'll get fucked taking pens

2-1!

Get in!

Free kick to Town after El Gabbas fouled

I think you should probably start threads now, ideally with as much negativity as possible!

Ajooooooooooooooooooooo-s-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee !

Never in doubt

Haha!!

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Yeah - twice in one thread!

FT.

That'll do.

That was far too stressful, do I get a refund?

Aaaaaaaaand all is okay again, right? Or are we worried about the finance director that Power has bought in?

Phew.  That is all.

eh?

Yeah, what have I missed about an FD?

McCrory was interviewed before the game and confirmed that the club had a new finance director, Steve someone or other (Anderton?). He doesn't know him personally, Lee Power brought him in, but "he seems a nice fella". So that's OK then. Let's hope he's a nice fella who can count. They didn't (that I heard) ask the question as to how the DoF is appointing key board members without the chairman even meeting him. Unless of course he actually owns the club and McCrory's just a frontman, as has been previously suggested.

3 games from Wembley, hope we avoid Peterborough in the next round.... I'd rather play them over 2 legs than one.

I only caught a bit of it at HT on the radio - we've got a new finance director (or manager, or something) who is a friend of Lee Power.

Apparently there's a bit about it on the matchday prog

He said he was an accountant.

They also said Jed was delayed due to a bereavement - But I didnt catch what the bereavement was.

Can he play?

Send him a welcome card with "Don't forget the VAT" on it.

Hope we avoid an away tie too!

*fixed :)

I know that it's a home fixture in a cup most don't take seriously against lower league opposition but credit to the team for coming back from behind to win and responding positively to the farce that was Macclesfield.

Hear Hear!

1-0 down, 2-1 up we knocked wycombe out the cup.

Sounded like the kind of defeats we get, deflection, they get a disallowed goal, non existent free kick, 95th minute winner, be interested if that was the script.

Cooper:
- Played quite well but not got mojo back
- Looked as if we'd score as Wycombe tired
- Played well in first half
- Look shaky when ball goes into our area
- Middle of pitch needs addressing too
- Needed a reaction
- Players showed they care
- The way we play we cant be good for 90 mins
- Harley: Planned to give him and Kasim 1/2 game each
- Harley looked fit
- Ajose came in and scored. He scores goals, but all of the strikers need to give us more, not just goal scoring
- Louis came in and as usual didnt let anyone down
- All he wanted tonight was desire
- Cant question them at home
- Always confident we'd score
- ***** No Nile Ranger tonight? (Long pause by Cooper) In need of a rest?....'Yeah' (Something going on there!)****
- Need to concentrate on next game but would be nice to get home tie in next round

Going by that interview Ranger wasn't rested, there's something else going on there.

Was he at the CG tonight?

Ah well. Still got me 25/1 bet going.

Orient got knocked out by 10 man Stevenage - here's hoping they are about to do a Tranmere.

I can smell an away trip to Newport next - bring back nightmares, that!!

Perhaps he doesn't want to give his money to orphans or fans.

I missed their goal as went for a H/T beer in my view from the Arkells tonight (couldn't go in DRS after last round and always like a change in the JPT from S/T seat in TE), but heard it was calamity Macclesfield all over again...good response in second half, feel more urgency is needed in our play going forward and good to see Ajose scoring again. Crowd 3900odd with 250 from Wycombe. Good to get the result, we're in the hat for the next round and hopefully we'll get a home to tie to either Stevenage or Newport! Looking forward to Saturday. C.O.Y.R!!!

Yes, he didn't really fill me with confidence on his pause before accepting the interviewers 'out' of 'rested lots of football played'.  Guess we'll see Saturday.

I did see SuggWillSugg ask Sam Morsehead about Ranger's alleged instagram of Ranger in a Newcastle top with the Premier League lion logo showing and "dat lion will soon be back on my sleeve" or similar. No way of knowing if SWS was joking, or whether the Ranger account is real.

https://twitter.com/SuggWillSugg

-----
Heard the replay of the Jed interview/new finance guy. Quite clear Power is the man pulling the strings and Jed the footy fan face of the board. Not saying there is anything wrong with this. Who knows.

Always the better team but never put enough pressure on their defence, especially first half.  Good approach play but when the penalty area looms it seemed as if nobody wanted to take responsibility, very tippy tappy, you have it, no you have it etc!!  We got lucky with our goals but on balance of play we deserved to win.  Nobody really stood out for me, but nobody did their cause any harm either.  Belford stood no chance with the goal - we had chances to clear but seemed to get in each other's way, he made two good saves - one with his feet and his kicking seemed ok.

Eddie Howe was in attendance tonight, wonder who he was scouting?

His Ranger rover wasnt parked where usually is with the other players so guess he wasnt

Well we huffed and puffed our way thru that, fully expected pens until a second bundled goal.
First half we were a lot better I thought with all the forward play going thru Luongo/Pritchard and Byrne on the right. But no real penetration in the final third.
Luongo not as effective 2nd and with Kasim going off too we struggled a little.
Fair play to Wycombe they closed down well although they did make the most of every foul against them - and their fans outsung ours.

Still we are in the proverbial hat for the next round
Newport pls - home, though wouldnt be adverse to going there as it wont be at Somerton park  >:(

Watched Ranger warm up on Saturday and he looked totally uninterested, club are hiding something I think.

How did Harley do when he came on?

If Ranger was absent from the ground tonight that says a lot, even Tijane was there

Onto the football. I swear to god I watched a different game to those moaning.

Firstly bar 5 minutes we dominated from start to finish. I mean Wycombe couldn't get the ball and when they did they passed it back to us without hurting us. In the first half we looked reasonably solid at the back..But there was some kind of cock up. I saw Pritchard try to keep the ball in, must have been daydreaming because the next thing I know their man is the other side of Hall and in on goal for a wholly unjust 1-0.

At the other end we weren't exactly peppering their goal either, we were probing and created a three or four good chances. Pritchard hit the post, Ajose should have been more commited as the ball fizzed across the area, and there were a couple of other chances. But one of the 'criticisms' of the day is in truth our final third play wasn't quite good enough. Nearly but not quite. But it wasn't for lack of effort.

After the break Harley replaced Kazim. He looked composed on the ball and we had a similar dominance to the first half. However the game did get a bit scrappy at times, and we looked more exposed at the back at times though aside from one or two moments we weren't really tested. The longer the half went on the more determined we looked, but the more it seemed we were not going to do it.

But the goals did come, albeit from dead balls. A Harley free kick was well struck but hit a Wycombe player or two, who then proceeded to slide the ball towards their own goal line. Ajose was credited with the goal, the ball was the wrong side of the gaggle of sliding players for me to tell whether it was he or an OG.

The winner, deep into injury time, came as AL Gabbas broke then did a Ritchie - put the ball the other side of him so the ref couldn't see and went down. There was contact, but it seemed somewhat light. In any case McEvely's free kick was headed away, but came back into the box and scrambled home by Ajose from close range.

So all in all I thought a dominant performance if not our most creative in terms of clear chances. We still have defensive frailties but in the context of what happened Saturday this was a good win.

Now let us pray for a home tie..

Thought Harley did ok
Put himself about a bit and seemed to have no ill effects from his lay off
Composed on the ball.
A welcome returning player

Is the new finance director that Steve Crouch (i think thats his name) that tried buying Pompey once and was rumoured in the summer?

64% possession.
16 shots to their 5.

we dominated the match no doubt about it. thought the team bar the shocking defending for the goal played really well. yasser not with it first half and harley definitely improved the midfield and made it more attacking. belford did well in goal and set up a lot of attacks with good distribution. bring on the next round!

steve anderson i thought jed said?

nope. Someone called Anderson, I think that's what Jed said.

I think Ranger WAS at the CG tonight.  I'm pretty sure that it was him who got out of a black cab which pulled up in front of me in County Road at about 5-45 pm.  He was wearing his Town track suit and black woolly hat.  I suppose it could have been DN'G but Ranger has a thinner face.

Cant quote Ronnie, but sam said Howe was watching Pritchard

And a tat' on his head!

It Was all a bit frustrating really.

Totally dominant but final third just let us down. 

Joke of a goal to concede wound up the 'vote with our feet' crowd...

Shit ref was the icing on the cake.

Thanks to Wycombes time wasting there were enough minutes added on to snatch it.

I did think there was a handball before the last goal but the useless ref wouldn't of given it.

Some of their antics were quite comical, although when you've got a team as gash as that I suppose that's what you have to do.

Enjoyed the second half alot but can we please work a bit on crossing? One of the main differences to this STFC and Di Canio's is the standard of crossing.

otanswell asked, I just provided the screenshot!

That is Rangers account though.

Just seen the goals.

The sight of 3 Town players literally on their arse in the penalty area when their fella scored about summed it up, I suppose.

Still Cup football is all about getting through. Hope we miss P'boro next

No Matt Ritchie or Paul Caddis that's why. Jay McEveley is not great at corners, crossing or free kicks.

Better defensively though than Byrne.

Both had bright games last night, but Pritchard has the perfect corner to compliment the front post defenders head. And Bryne needs three touches to get the ball onto his right foot in order to weakly cross, even when the ball is already on his right foot.

Summed what up, how?

We played reasonably well, definitely missed Nile in the box as you could see Byrne almost didn't want to cross half the time, despite being quite good at it. I know it's easy to get impatient after what happened on Saturday and it was extremely frustrating to concede the goal we did but I always felt we'd turn it around. We were in complete control and managed to eventually turn it round into the victory our play deserved.

really? First half was alright football wise but second was far better, as illustrated by the two goals. First half lacked urgency to put the ball in.

Dominated the whole game, nearly gave it away with some awful defending. But I don't think 3-0 would have flattered us, we had control of the game from start to finish. Played some decent football too. Midfield did well and all looked bright, as did the full backs. Two centre halves were far too shaky whenever the ball came into the box.

But a wins a win, we deserved it. Wycombe did well to keep us at bay for as long as they did. They'd done their research as our back 4 were pressed heavily.

Stevenage at home next please!

Once Smith and Thompson are fit I'd be tempted to play McEveley at CB, I'd almost be tempted to drop Ward...

I would drop Hall first. But that's not a bad shout at all! McEveley has been decent since his horrow show at Preston.

The comical aspect to some of our recent defending

aaah I see. I thought you were referring to the match as a whole.

An away view

http://gasroom.co.uk/


edit: now with selected TEF quotes: http://www.wycombe.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=338751

Had to laugh at how gutted their no. 8 looked having given 1-0 gestures to the crowd part way through the 2nd half.

Not sure if been quoted further back, but Gareth Ainsworth was hopping around the touchline like a mad man most of the game! I did enjoy his clap to the away fans just before the build up for the winning goal happened...certainly wiped the smile off his face!

Wycombe Wanderers FC ‏@wwfcofficial 1m
GA: "For all their possession they didn’t have many shots on goal and they scored from a deflection and a free-kick." #onewycombe

Yawn !!

Their no. 19 kept on hoofing the ball from the back. That's all he did all night. You can't score if you cannot keep the ball.

I do actually think that is a fair summary of the game.

Thats an awfully cynical view, Mr. Ainsworth. Almost an odd way to promote a performance in which your team were extremely fortunate and largely outplayed for most, if not all, of the game. You should just be happy you weren't spanked.

Yeah we only had 16 shots to their 5 and 64% possession. Shit.

As in control of the match we may have been last night, I didn't think we were going to make the breakthrough such was our struggle to create anything in the final third.

What has happened to that backline. I have been cautious to slate Ward this season as he was probably my favourite player from the last campaign but very recently he has been all over the place. Can only be the change in formation, 'his legs have gone' doesn't cut it for me, his legs had gone last season and he was superb.

How many actual outfield coaches do we have? Just Cooper and Williams? Maybe a defensive coach might be needed rather than a new player.

Cooper was a defender wasnt he? His dad was one of the best defenders the country has produced!

Just looked him up.  So Coops' Dad was player manager for both Bristol Rovers and Bristol City?  Well I never knew that.

Wasn't there something at the start of the season about Ward helping out with the coaching?

You obviously never watched HTV sport in the 80's

Was the main condition of him signing a new contract I think.

I think he was brum manager when the epic 6:4 occurred....

I think he is more famed for being part of the legendary Leeds team of the 70s and an England international. Career was ruined by a broken leg.

We had another experienced centre back and another one with a couple of seasons league experience last year too. He's got a bit more to do to help out Hall while he gets up to speed (or not)

We got Cooper Snr the sack from Rovers when we won 4-1 there, went top of the table, won virtually fuck all the rest of the season and got relegated. 81-82?

The club have eventually put this up on their YT channel so those who haven't already seen it can admire the laurel and hardy defending for their goal.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwru4shXNjY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwru4shXNjY)