Huddersfield humiliate battered Blues

Wycombe Wanderers 0 Huddersfield Town 6

It hardly seemed possible after Monday’s dire performance at Bournemouth, but Wycombe’s miserable season plumbed new depths at Adams Park this evening.

It was certainly a mismatch in terms of quality, but plenty of teams have that problem against the Terriers and somehow find a way to avoid being humiliated.

And make no mistake this was a slaughter. Had it been a boxing match the referee would have stopped it after half-an-hour with Huddersfield already 3-0 up and threatening to inflict mortal punishment on the shell-shocked Blues.

It actually looked quite promising for the first ten minutes. The Terriers had won only once in six games and were tentative in the early exchanges, but as soon as Wycombe gifted them the lead, everything changed.

Nikki Bull saved Lee Novak’s shot and from the resulting corner Oscar Gobern escaped marker Danny Foster and headed home through a crowd of players despite Matt Bloomfield’s attempt to clear the ball.

Huddersfield visibly relaxed and were soon 3-0 up thanks to a brace from Jordan Rhodes who looked a different species to anyone in a blue quartered shirt.

It could quite easily have been 7-0 before half time. The Blues were on their knees and with the Terriers attacking at will, only a couple of goal-line clearances and some wayward finishing prevented the floodgates from opening.

The second half saw Rhodes score another three well-taken goals to take his personal tally to five and the Terriers’ haul to six with over 20 minutes still to play.

Fortunately for the Blues, the visitors seemed content with half a dozen and gradually took their foot off the gas.

As far as Wycombe were concerned, Marcello Trotta had a shot saved from distance in the first half, Stuart Beavon hit the side-netting after the break and substitute Gareth Ainsworth watched his deep cross hit the woodwork.

There was virtually nothing to cheer and for the second game in a row the Wycombe fans had to resort to black humour to keep the pain at bay.

This was the Blues’ third defeat in seven days with nine goals conceded and not a single one scored.

Faith in Gary Waddock appears to be at an all time low and when the stadium announcer revealed that he was replacing Trotta and McNamee with Halls and Ainsworth after 64 minutes, whole sections of the crowd actually burst out laughing.

No doubt the fans will be told that the season starts tomorrow and it’s all about how the players respond to the defeat, but when you’ve heard it a dozen times before, it really begins to grate.


Line-up & ratings
Bull (6), Foster (4), Tunnicliffe (5), Johnson (4) (McCoy 57 (5)), Basey (3), Grant (5), Lewis (4), Bloomfield (4), McNamee (3) (Halls 64 (3)), Beavon (6), Trotta (4) (Ainsworth 64 (4)).