Wycombe Wanderers travel to Leyton Orient on Saturday for their 45th league game of the season.
The League table currently shows Wycombe in 22nd place with 42 points from 44 games, while Orient occupy 18th spot with 48 points from 44 games.
Orient’s Home Record is…………Won 9….Drawn 6….Lost 7
Wycombe’s Away Record is…….Won 4….Drawn 8….Lost 10
Almost exactly a year to the day since they staggered unconvincingly into League One by the skin of their teeth, Wycombe Wanderers travel to Leyton Orient knowing that anything less than a win will send them straight back down to the basement division.
The scenes at Adams Park last May were almost embarrassing. A near capacity crowd had turned up expecting to see the Chairboys brush aside struggling Notts County to confidently claim their first automatic promotion since joining the Football League.
Instead they watched in horror as a Wycombe side strangled by caution were beaten by a last minute goal which led to an agonising five-minute wait to discover whether results elsewhere had given them a reprieve.
You could have cut the sense of anticlimax with a knife, and when the news finally came through that Wycombe had made it, the crowd forced themselves to celebrate, with manager Peter Taylor receiving cheers for his achievement while the fans simultaneously muttered under their breath about his negative tactics.
On May 2nd 2009, League One status was Wycombe’s to lose and in a less than brave performance they very nearly did so. But here we are a year later and things are completely different.
Relegation looked certain just a few weeks ago, but in the last four games Gary Waddock’s team have played the type of attacking football we all love to watch. Each player has given his last drop of energy fighting for the cause and their combined efforts have rightly kept them in with a chance of survival.
After a season littered with disappointments, the feel-good factor is back at Wycombe and it’s probably fair to say that surviving the drop would mean far more to their fans than last year’s promotion ever did.
After struggling to score all season, Wycombe are now firing on all cylinders with Alex Revell in particular finding a rich vein of form just in the nick of time. He will be playing his last game of the season on Saturday and will be determined to add to the five goals he’s scored in his last three games.
Defensively, the Chairboys have been patched-up for the last few weeks with Lewis Hunt doing a fine job as stand-in centre-half and John Mousinho playing out of position at right-back.
Centre-half Alan Bennett was expected to be out for the rest of the season but has now returned from his parent-club Brentford and could be fit to play against Orient, while right-back Julian Kelly is also available again.
This gives Waddock the tricky decision of whether or not to change a team that’s done so well for him lately.
If he does choose to start with an unchanged side on Saturday, only Lewis Hunt, Craig Woodman and Jon-Paul Pittman will have survived from the team that lost to Notts County a year ago.
Standing between Wycombe and the possibility of a nail biting showdown with Gillingham next weekend are an Orient side spearheaded by former Chairboys’ striker Scott McGleish.
McGleish didn’t figure in Peter Taylor’s plans but came back to haunt his former boss by scoring the only goal of the game at Adams Park earlier this season – a result which saw Taylor sacked a few days later.
The O’s are still in danger of relegation themselves and in a bold move sacked manager Geraint Williams earlier this month, replacing him with firefighter Russell Slade who successfully rescued Brighton from the drop last year after being appointed late in the season.
Orient will want to win this game every bit as much as Wycombe and this won’t be an occasion for the faint-hearted.
Here are all the stats……..
Orient’s last five games (All Competitions)
LG1: Southampton (A)….Lost 1-2
LG1: Exeter (A)…………Drew 0-0
LG1: Norwich (H)………..Won 2-1
LG1: Stockport (H)………Won 2-0
LG1: Millwall (A)………….Lost 1-2
Wycombe’s last five games (All Competitions)
LG1: Walsall (A)…………….Lost 1-2
LG1: Hartlepool (H)………..Won 2-0
LG1: Tranmere (A)………..Won 3-0
LG1: Franchise (A)…………Won 3-2
LG1: Swindon (H)…………Drew 2-2
Orient Goal Stats (50 games in all Competitions)
Goals Scored (Total)………56
Goals Conceded (Total)…..67
Goals Scored (Home)……..35
Goals Conceded (Home)….28
Clean Sheets….11
Wycombe Goal Stats (48 games in all Competitions)
Goals Scored (Total)………59
Goals Conceded (Total)…..86
Goals Scored (Away)……..30
Goals Conceded (Away)….45
Clean Sheets….7
Orient’s Top Goal Scorers (All Competitions)
Scott McGleish……….11 (inc 1 pen)
Sean Thornton………..7
Tamika Mkandawire…7
Ryan Jarvis……………7
Adrian Patulea………..3
Five other players have each scored 2 goals.
Six other players have each scored 1 goal.
Wycombe’s Top Goal Scorers (All Competitions)
Jon-Paul Pittman…….10 (inc 1 pen)
Matt Harrold………….10 (inc 6 pens)
Alex Revell…………….6 (inc 1 pen)
Matt Phillips……………4
Kevin Betsy……………4
Scott Davies…………..4
Stuart Beavon………..3
Four other players have each scored 2 goals.
Nine other players have each scored 1 goal.
Orient Shooting (Top-3)
Scott McGleish…….35 on-target…30 off-target…1 against woodwork
Ryan Jarvis………..29 on-target…30 off-target…2 against woodwork
Sean Thornton…….33 on-target…15 off-target…2 against woodwork
Wycombe Shooting (Top-3)
Jon-Paul Pittman…..34 on-target…26 off-target…1 against woodwork
Scott Davies………..19 on-target…24 off-target…4 against woodwork
Matt Phillips…………22 on-target…20 off-target…2 against woodwork
Shooting (Club)
Orient………268 on target…182 off target…..8 against w’work (Rank-14)
Wycombe….221 on target…211 off target…12 against w’work (Rank-18)
League Form Guide
All Season
Orient…….Pld: 44…W: 12..D: 12….L: 20….Pts: 48…Pts per game: 1.09
Wycombe..Pld: 44…W: 9….D: 15….L: 20….Pts: 42…Pts per game: 0.95
Since 1st January 2010
Orient………..Pld: 20…W: 6…D: 6…L: 8…Pts: 24…Pts per game: 1.20
Wycombe……Pld: 20…W: 5…D: 9…L: 6…Pts: 24…Pts per game: 1.20
Against Top Half Opposition
Orient…………Pld: 23….Pts: 25….Pts per game: 1.09….(Rank-10)
Wycombe…….Pld: 24….Pts: 25….Pts per game: 1.04….(Rank-13)
Against Bottom Half Opposition
Orient…………Pld: 21….Pts: 23….Pts per game: 1.10….(Rank-21)
Wycombe…….Pld: 20….Pts: 17….Pts per game: 0.85….(Rank-24)
Last Five league Games
Orient…………..LDWWL – 7 points
Wycombe…….LWWWD – 10 points
Last Five League Games (Home)
Orient…………..WLLWW – 9 points
Last Five League Games (Away)
Wycombe………DDLWW – 8 points
Earlier this season a 77th minute diving header from former Wycombe striker Scott McGleish was enough to give Orient a 1-0 win at Adams Park in Peter Taylor’s last game in charge of the Chairboys.
Previous Meetings at Brisbane Road
1993/94: LCp Orient 0 Wycombe 2
1994/95: LG1 Orient 0 Wycombe 1
1995/96: LCp Orient 2 Wycombe 0
2000/01: FLT: Orient 0 Wycombe 2
2004/05: LG2 Orient 1 Wycombe 2
2005/06: LG2 Orient 1 Wycombe 0
The Man In The Middle
Saturday’s referee is Andy Hall from the West Midlands who was promoted to the National List of Referees in 1997. He’s been in charge of two Wycombe games this season; September’s 1-1 draw at Swindon and February’s 1-0 win over Millwall at Adams Park in which Gareth Ainsworth was sent off. During the current campaign he’s issued 157 yellow and 8 red cards in 40 games.
Prediction
Orient 1 Wycombe 2 – Hope will continue to kill us for another week.
Rivals’ Saturday Games
Hartlepool v Exeter
Tranmere v Millwall
Gillingham v Southampton
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