Wanderers put up a good fight against recently relegated and title contenders, Birmingham City, being beaten by three goals to two in what can only be described as an eventful loss.
Wycombe broke out of the blocks with plenty of energy and looked to contain a Birmingham side, that brought with them a total footballing philosophy. Whilst the visitors enjoyed the majority of the possession, they created very minimal chances in the early exchange. In the 11th minute, Birmingham created their first chance but were denied by a Joe Low block and a Nathan Bishop save. The tenacity of the Chairboys however almost prevailed when Richard Konè pounced onto a defensive error but couldn’t direct a shot on target.
Wanderers press frustrated the visitors who looked to probe with a combination of passing manoeuvres but the Chairboys remained resilient. And soon they were to be rewarded, by scoring their first goal of the season at Adams Park. After some great control and hold-up play from Richard Konè, he released Kieran Sadlier who made a great run into the box and his cross was turned in by Birmingham’s Krystian Bielik to hand Wycombe a 1-0 lead.
Wycombe were only given ten minutes to enjoy that lead however after a mistake by Dan Harvie allowed Ethan Laird to exploit the wing and cross the ball into a compact box that the Chairboys failed to clear. Inevitably Wycombe’s bogeyman Alfie May pounced and poked the ball beyond Bishop to hand Birmingham the equaliser.
The Chairboys were impacted and struggled to grab a grip on the game as Birmingham looked to build on this momentum. Just before halftime, Jack Grimmer denied them a potential second when a miscommunication on the left-hand side allowed Luke Harris to get in behind and cross the ball into a gaping goal. With Birmingham’s forwards only requiring a tap-in, Grimmer slid in and hooked the ball to safety to keep the scores level at the break.
In the second half, Birmingham once again looked to enforce pressure on the Wanderers by maintaining possession and trying to press forward. Matt Bloomfield ran the changes in the 55th minute with Matt Butcher and Richard Konè coming off for Tyreeq Bakinson and Dan Udoh. Meanwhile, Ryan Tafazolli sustained a knock and was replaced by Jasper Pattenden. Despite the Chairboys looking to maintain the same shape as the first half, they started to wain in energy. In particular in the middle of the park. With too much space being afforded to the visitors, they took the initiative and in the 68th minute, Ayumu Yokoyama’s run down the left allowed time for him to cross into Birmigham’s Luke Harris, who finished with a shot into the Bishop’s bottom corner and give Birmingham City a 2-1 lead.
With the game slowly slipping away, and the Chairboys failing to make the most of attacking free kicks, Bloomfield made a further change by bringing on Sam Vokes in place of Luke Leahy. The formation and game plan subsequently changed to be more direct whilst Birmingham still prevailed with their total football focus. This led to more defensive errors and opened the game for Birmingham, who inevitably wrapped up the game in the 82nd minute when Willum Willumsson volleyed home to make it 3-1.
However, Wycombe persevered and looked to reduce the arrears with their ‘never say die’ attitude. As the game entered into six minutes of added time, the Chairboys chased down a loose ball which landed with Kieran Sadlier crossing for Sam Vokes to head home and reduce the scoreline to 3-2, and set up a rather nervous finish.
Birmingham exercised time management, much to the annoyance of the home crowd, and saw out the game. Another frustrating game for the Chairboys, who will now look to Tuesday’s match against AFC Wimbledon to build some much-needed momentum once again.