Blues draw another blank as Fulham hit three

Wycombe Wanderers 0 Fulham 3

Having battled to hold Fulham to a one-goal lead with only five minutes remaining, the Blues conceded twice at the death to give the scoreline a more realistic look.

The visitors took the lead after 18 minutes when Nikki Bull was beaten by a delightful curling shot from Mladen Petric.

The Cottagers’ late goals were an exquisite 85th minute free-kick from Bryan Ruiz and a back-post tap-in from Steve Sidwell just two minutes later.

The margin would have been far greater but for the performance of Bull in the Wycombe goal.

The first half yielded just one attempt on goal from the hosts, a long range effort from Stuart Lewis that flew high and wide of the target after 35 minutes.

Their second attempt didn’t arrive until the 58th minute when Lewis tried his luck again with identical results.

New signing Matt Spring was next to have a go, his ferocious effort clearing the roof of the Green King Terrace on its way to the stratosphere.

Wycombe’s one and only ‘shot’ on target didn’t arrive until the 86th minute when Dennis Oli found himself in the clear and instead of putting his foot through the ball, tried to chip Fulham’s 6′ 5″ keeper Mark Schwarzer with predictable results.

The fact that Oli was still on the pitch at that point can only be explained by the need to get valuable minutes under his belt.

It was never going to be easy to breach the Fulham defence, but worryingly, Wycombe didn’t appear to have a clue how to go about it.

After his senior side recorded consecutive goalless draws at Forest Green and Luton, manager Gary Waddock told reporters that he intended to shift his focus to the attacking side of the game having concentrated his efforts on organisational shape and defensive solidarity so far this summer.

His words will be music to the ears of anyone who has witnessed the Blues’ pre-season campaign so far.

Wycombe line-up
Bull, McCoy, Doherty, Stewart (Johnson 62), Basey (Dunne 62), Oli, Spring (Bloomfield 62), Lewis, Wood (Angol 74), Logan (McClure 74), Beavon (Grant 62)