Glovers hit Wycombe for four

Wycombe Wanderers suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat at Yeovil Town this afternoon despite enjoying plenty of possession and controlling large slices of the game.


The difference between the two sides was their quality at both ends of the pitch. The Glovers had an excellent goalkeeper and a solid back-four capable of handling anything Wycombe had to offer, while in attack they broke quickly and effectively and had players capable of converting the chances they created.

The Chairboys on the other hand, looked slow, vulnerable, disorganised and uncomfortable in defence and were unable to forge a cutting edge up-front to make their possession count.


Manager Gary Waddock chose Jon-Paul Pittman to replace the suspended John Akinde but otherwise made no changes to the side that drew with Oldham on Saturday and the Chairboys lined up as follows:

Shearer

Hunt Oliver Westwood Woodman

Betsy Mousinho (78) Doherty Davies Phillips (63)

Pittman (73)

Subs: Young Duberry Green Bloomfield Harris(78) Harrold(73) Beavon(63)



For the first half hour of the game Wycombe were the better side but couldn't make their pressure count.

In the 5th minute, John Mousinho curled in a fine shot which forced Yeovil keeper Alex McCarthy into a diving save and Jon-Paul Pittman missed an absolute sitter ten minutes later when he lost his composure right in front of goal, snatching at his shot and screwing it past the post when everyone in the stadium expected him to score.

Scott Davies broke clear after half an hour and brought another good save out of McCarthy, but by this time the Chairboys' initial onslaught was waning and Yeovil had already fired a few warning shots at the other end.

The opening goal came from a corner which need never have been conceded. In a sloppy piece of distribution, Wycombe keeper Scott Shearer needlessly threw the ball straight to a Yeovil player whose instant cross was headed behind for a corner. The corner was then cleared only as far as the edge of the box where the unmarked Kieran Murtagh promptly fired it home through a melee of players, the ball appearing to go straight through Shearer before deflecting high into the net.

It was a careless goal to concede which undid all the Chairboys' previous good work, came against the run of play and made the half-time score a false picture of the balance of play during the opening forty-five minutes.

The start of the second half also belonged to Wycombe, with Pittman twice running-on to clever through-balls only for the ever alert keeper McCarthy to come out and time his interceptions to perfection.

McCarthy was rapidly becoming the Glovers saviour. An agile athletic looking figure who commanded his penalty area with authority and regularly came off his line to gather crosses with ease, the keeper then surpassed himself with two spectacular fingertip saves within the space of a few minutes to prevent an equalising goal.

Firstly he flung himself backwards to tip a goal-bound Luke Oliver header over the crossbar, before moments later performing more contortions to keep out a Chris Westwood effort.

They were important saves to make, as you felt Wycombe were still very much in the game at that point - but not for much longer.

At the other end, a quick break from Yeovil had the Wycombe defence all at sea and JP Kalala scored at the back post from Jonathan Obika's low cross.

Any hope of a Wycombe revival was finally put to bed when Obika himself scored Yeovil's third just two minutes later. Leaving the visiting defence for dead he advanced on goal with only Shearer to beat and fired past him with ease.

Andrew Welsh raced down the left flank to create the Glovers' fourth goal, his low cross being slotted home by Sam Williams.


Wycombe Man Of The Match

Scott Davies

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