Wycombe: The Opposition View

Following Saturday’s fortuitous draw against Darlington, here are some views from the Quakers’ manager and a few of their fans.



Darlington manager Dave Penney told the press after the match: ‘It’s very cruel to lose a goal in the 96th minute to a penalty which we don’t think was right – Steve Foster tells me he headed the ball away and the player just fell down. I will find out why the referee gave it soon, when he has got his story right.’

Penney went on to say :

‘We were magnificent though, absolutely first class – I think it was our best performance of the season from minute one.’

‘I don’t think Wycombe put us under any pressure and we battered them from the first minute to the last – we passed it around well and controlled the game.’

“It’s very cruel to lose a game in the 96th minute.’



Quakers’ fans were also unimpressed with both The Wanderers and the referee. Here are some of their views.


The following extracts are from BBC 606, ‘Darlo Uncovered’ and The Northern Echo.


Darlo_Dev wrote:
‘Was at the game yesterday and have to say that apart from the two slips by our Defenders which resulted in the penalty and hitting the post, Wycombe didn’t offer anything going forward. I thought they were poor and lucky to get a point.’


DarloTed wrote:
‘The way we got the draw just hurts! 97th Minute!?! – Was there really a need for so much injury time.’


TonyDaniels wrote:
‘Darlo should take heart from this performance, Wycombe are unbeaten – on paper the best in the league to date. Yet it was the visitors who dominated the game. More performances like this from Darlington and we should have no one to fear in the league.’


DarloBarmyArmy wrote:
‘It was the ref that cost us the 3 pts. He played the allotted time and played a further 2 minutes.’


karlodarlo wrote:
‘All the lads played very well yesterday! The defence was solid and everyone else ran their socks off. Wycombe looked poor, but are hard to beat. They should have scored in the first half but Foster slid in to block. Totally gutted about the penalty but like everyone says, ask me the result and I’d have been happy with a point!’


DL5 wrote:
‘The league at the moment is waiting to be picked up by the scruff of the neck and we’ve got as much chance as anyone else of doing that.’


dickdarlington wrote:
‘It looked like a penalty to me. Foster slipped and took the player with him. We’d have been fuming if it had not been given at the other end. But, knowing our luck, it wouldn’t have been given because refs obviously hate us.’




There was one happy punter


commeondarlo wrote:
‘On arrival at the ground we were met by a steward. He then showed us where the bar was and escorted us there (not in a herding sort of way but in a friendly helpful way). We were given a bag which contained some flyers and a free apple. In the car park they were giving away free sausage rolls and if you bought a cup of Bovril you got a free cone of chips. In the White Horse pub I saw three full strips and was asked for no money!
Very nearly the perfect day, in fact if Carlsberg had put on this football match……….they’d have so nearly got it right!’



But my personal favourites came from fans who weren’t actually at the game


uncovered wrote:
Left the in-laws happy as Larry, the BBC claimed it was full time and we had won 1-0. Lo and behold I come home and log on here to find out the real scoreline. I feel gutted. 1-1 is a great result away from home against the league leaders, but when you think we’ve won it kinda changes things.’


RH79 wrote:
‘I have complained to the BBC here is the text:’

‘During the Final score programme on Saturday (18/10/08) you announced via the classified football results that Darlington had beaten Wycombe 1-0. This was not the case. There was a late penalty (a VERY late penalty). This would not normally be a problem, however, you did not note that the result was still to come. The boxes presenting the score were marked red denoting a full time result. I understand that if a game is still in progress the score boxes are marked in yellow. The information on screen indicated that the result presented was the final score. There was no ‘L’ notification to indicate a late result. Whilst I realise that a league two game will be a long way down your interest list it is clearly unacceptable to present false and misleading information. Would you do the same with Manchester United? No I don`t think you would. Viewers rely on your information, you are the BBC not some independent broadcaster. One should be able to expect certain standards from the public service broadcaster.’


Priceless