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Wycombe Lose at Lincoln

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The chasing pack moved even closer to Wycombe Wanderers this evening following their 1-0 defeat at the hands of Lincoln City at Sincil Bank.


Manager Peter Taylor made three changes to the side that snatched a late draw against Chesterfield on Saturday, with Gary Holt, Lewwis Spence and Will Antwi starting in place of John Mousinho, Matty Phillips and Chris Casement.

The Chairboys lined up in a 4-4-2 formation as follows:

Young

McCracken(54) Antwi Johnson Woodman

Zebroski(68) Holt(78) Doherty Spence

Harrold Pittman

Subs: Jones Moncur(54) Mousinho Ashton(78) Phillips(68)


Wycombe started brightly, taking the game to Lincoln straight from the kick-off and clearly hoping for an early goal to further dent the Imps’ confidence following their thrashing at the hands of Grimsby Town on Saturday.

As early as the 2nd minute, Jon-Paul Pittman created a chance for Matt Harrold, racing down the left and crossing hard and low only for Harrold to direct his shot wide of the target.

Wycombe continued to press and in the 6th minute Leon Johnson put a header wide from a Craig Woodman corner. But it was Lincoln who came closest to taking the lead after 10 minutes when Dany N’Guessan’s fierce strike from 12 yards shot across the face of the goal before narrowly missing the upright.

Pittman was looking lively and had a shot blocked after 13 minutes, but for all their early promise, the Chairboys couldn’t make it count and Lincoln began to gain in confidence and apply some pressure of their own.

N’Guessan put a header wide after 20 minutes and Kerr had a shot saved by Jamie Young 3 minutes later, before Kovacs squandered a great chance to put the Imps ahead when he ballooned his shot over the bar from 12 yards out with the goal at his mercy.

Wycombe keeper Young saved the visitors again shortly afterwards when he stopped a shot from Aaron Brown who had linked up well with Kerr on the left flank, an area where the Imps were having considerable success.

A Lewwis Spence free kick after 32 minutes gave Wycombe their second and final shot on target of the first half, but it was comfortably saved by Lincoln keeper Burch.

Just before half time Brown’s 20 yard shot was blocked out for a corner by the Wycombe defence and that was it for the first half, during which the visitors had played well at times but the best chances had fallen to the hosts.



The second half was only 4 minutes old when Lincoln scored the only goal of the game. Aaron Brown caused more problems on the left wing and made it to the by-line before cutting back an inch perfect cross which gave Anthony Elding the simple task of slotting the ball home from six yards out.

A minute later the Chairboys nearly equalised but Matt Harrold contrived to shoot into the side netting from 6 yards out after Craig Woodman’s corner had been knocked down to him by Will Antwi.

Wycombe made a substitution after 54 minutes when TJ Moncur replaced David McCracken.

The opening goal had given Lincoln something to hold on to and they seemed content to let Wycombe try to break them down, something the Chairboys have been having trouble doing for some time now.

Chris Zebroski made a good run after 62 minutes but having done all the hard work, his shot at the end of it was poor and missed the target altogether.

Peter Taylor was to make two more substitutions in this game as he tried to rescue a point. After 68 minutes, Chris Zebroski was replaced by Matty Phillips, whose omission from today’s starting line-up was somewhat surprising given his encouraging performances of late. Then in the 78th minute Gary Holt was replaced by Nathan Ashton.

Wycombe continued to huff and puff in their quest for the equaliser, but apart from a couple of headers from Antwi, a good turn and shot from Harrold and an effort from Phillips which went too high, they never really threatened the Lincoln goal.

Apart from their goal, Lincoln only managed one other shot in the whole of the second period, a half-hearted effort from Wright after 86 minutes which was easily collected by Jamie Young.



The current downturn in Wycombe’s fortunes is caused by their inability to effectively attack other teams. As the season nears it’s climax and the going gets tough, only having one shot on target in the whole of the second half when you’re a goal behind, is not the stuff of promotion winning sides. It’s just not good enough.


Wycombe Men Of The Match

Pittman & Young











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