Wycombe Wanderers produced their worst display of the season to date as they crashed to a thoroughly deserved 3-1 defeat to Burton Albion at Adams Park.
It was all too predictable that it would come in front of the television cameras as the wider footballing audience saw the Chairboys’ flaws exposed on a Monday evening to forget in the Chair Metropolis.
The pre-match build up was all about new Albion manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, and he couldn’t have dreamed of a much easier start to his life in management.
His opposite number Gareth Ainsworth will have plenty of tales to tell him, not least managing a club on a small budget and working with a very small squad. Injuries and suspensions were always going to hurt and tonight that pain was acutely felt.
Defender Aaron Pierre and midfielder Josh Scowen were both ruled-out through suspension after picking up their fifth bookings of the season in the F.A. Cup win at Barnet last weekend. Defenders Gary Doherty (knee ligaments) and Tommy Fletcher (foot) were still in the treatment room.
They were joined by strikers Aaron Holloway and Matt McClure, who were also sidelined through injury and it meant Ainsworth was able to name just four players on the bench, including 45-year-old goalkeeping coach Barry Richardson.
The Brewers included former Wanderer John Mousinho, making his first appearance in the centre of defence after a month out with a torn calf. Striker Stuart Beavon led the line and he had the first half-chance after six minutes but his weak shot was blocked.
The Blues immediately counter attacked and winger Hogan Ephraim raced clear down the right before crossing for striker Paul Hayes, who kneed the ball a yard wide of the post.
The pattern of the game was set in the first ten minutes with the visitors dominating possession (with 68% no less) although the hosts looked the more likely in attack with Ephraim’s cross deflected into the arms of visiting goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin, midfielder Matt Bloomfield’s cross just an inch too high from winger Sam Wood and defender Alfie Mawson hitting a half-volley over the bar from 20 yards.
Albion started to threaten themselves with winger Alex MacDonald hitting a half-volley wide before midfielder Matty Palmer had the first effort on target when he shot straight at home goalkeeper Matt Ingram from 20 yards.
Bloomfield swung over another cross which Ephraim flicked on for Hayes, but the striker again fired inches wide of the right-hand upright from six yards. The hosts should have been awarded a penalty after 36 minutes when Mousinho grabbed defender Sido Jombati around the waist and hauled him to the ground, but the offence went unseen.
Two minutes later the visitors stole the lead when Palmer curled over a teasing corner from the left and whilst defender Danny Rowe and midfielder Peter Murphy stood still, defender Phil Edwards stole in to plant an unstoppable header past Ingram from four yards.
The Wanderers performance was lethargic with no tempo and Ainsworth was heard trying to change the players body language from the touchline. Bloomfield saw his 25-yard strike deflected just wide as the first half ended with the Blues trailing.
It got worse at half-time when Wood was forced off with a hip flexor injury and replaced by winger Paris Cowan-Hall. Midfielder Stuart Lewis was also introduced in the place of the hopelessly anonymous Max Kretzschmar.
With the squad compromised, it was time for square pegs in round holes, but the unfortunate Bloomfield, having played as a right-winger in the first half, became a triangular peg in the second half as he switched to the left-wing.
Cowan-Hall tried to inject some energy into the hosts and had a pop from 25 yards which was deflected just wide. Two minutes later the Brewers doubled their lead with a sublime goal that was created by the outstanding Matty Palmer.
He left both Lewis and Murphy trailing in his wake before playing the most delightful reverse pass that left Jombati for dead as MacDonald ran clear on goal before coolly slotting the ball past Ingram and into the net.
It was the one moment of the evening that wouldn’t have looked out of place at a higher level. There was a lull for quarter of an hour or so before the Wanderers won a penalty. Ephraim made the most of an apparent body-check from defender Shane Cansdell-Sherriff and referee Graham Scott pointed to the spot.
Hayes stepped up to coolly beat McLaughlin from the spot and find the bottom right-hand corner of the net from 12 yards. Ephraim then missed a gilt-edged chance just a minute later when he ballooned Cowan-Hall’s right-wing cross over the bar from 12 yards.
The Wanderers chances of getting anything out of the contest went with that chance as two minutes later full-back Damien McCrory was allowed to swing over a cross from the left and substitute Jacob Blyth was left completely unmarked by both Mawson and Jacobson and headed powerfully into the roof of the net from six yards.
It was the kind of defending that wouldn’t have been out of place on the Rye and it rather summed up the hosts evening. It was the first time in 43 matches that Wycombe had conceded three goals, the last time coming back on the 4th of January in a 3-0 home defeat to AFC Wimbledon.
Hayes thought he’d pulled one back from Cowan-Hall’s header two minutes later but he had strayed into an offside position. Man-of-the-Match Palmer almost created a fourth goal for his side after 75 minutes when his low cross from the right was turned towards his own net by Rowe but Ingram pulled off a magnificent one-handed save.
Jombati flicked a header just over from a Jacobson free-kick before the atmosphere changed when Alfie Mawson needed treatment for six minutes after suffering a head injury in a challenge with Palmer and was taken to hospital as a precaution.
The hosts had to play out eleven minutes of injury-time with just ten men but the visitors were happy to play the game out as they claimed three fully deserved points. They are unlikely to come across a more generous defence all season.
After the nightmare of the 2013/14 season, this campaign has been a joy to behold but there has always been a sense of inevitability that the bubble might burst and it seems that it did so in quite spectacular fashion this evening.
Sod’s law dictates that our worst display would come in front of a second best home crowd of the season (3,981) and a television audience. Common sense says it was predictable with the likes of Pierre and Scowen suspended, and how costly those bookings look now.
With Mawson and Wood also doubtful for this weekend’s trip to a wounded Cheltenham Town, it would be fair to say that expectations have been dialled down a couple of notches tonight.
Gareth Ainsworth was unusually candid in his post-match assessment, admitting his team ‘weren’t at the races,’ adding the cliche that it was ‘a bad day at the office’ into the bargain.
He has repeatedly said his target has been reaching 50 points since August 9th and a quick look at the table shows we need another 18. With performances like this evening, it could take a while to get them.
Ratings: Ingram 6, Jombati 5, Mawson 6, Rowe 4, Jacobson 5, Bloomfield 5 (Craig N/A), Kretzschmar 4 (Lewis 5), Murphy 5, Wood 6 (Cowan-Hall 6), Ephraim 5, Hayes 6
Man of the Match: Matty Palmer (Burton Albion)
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