Match Thread: Wycombe Wanderers v Lincoln City
- Thread starter Jules
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StrangelyBrown
Vital Squad Member
A good round of applause at start of 2nd half when he was in goal in front of the away end- think he seemed to appreciate that and also acknowledged it at the end of the game too.
StrangelyBrown
Vital Squad Member
Not sure what you heard- we had a lot of singing about DC, AKinde, Red and White army but nothing like "let him die" etc which you often hear at some games and Bloomfield got a continuous round of applause from all 4 sides of the ground whilst he was carried off.
Brendan Bradley
Vital Squad Member
I saw that on the club's Twitter they posted a note that David Longhurst died 29 years ago tomorrow.
It's a shame that some people find those sort of comments amusing.
StrangelyBrown
Vital Squad Member
My twopenn'orth for what it is worth.
Ainsworth had clearly done his homework on the Imps and won the tactical battle- Payne was marked out of the game which meant we lost a lot of forward distribution (box to box) and therefore Walker became almost invisible although he tried the run the channels.
WWFC pressured high with a real intensity- in fact first half they looked like the Imps team we have seen in the first five weeks and we looked like Southend! We struggled to win 2nd balls and struggled more with momentum, passing and general energy levels.
Second half was better when Akinde came on- think we moved to 4-4-2 or possibly 4-5-1 with Walker in the number 10 role. Difficult to tell to be honest.
Three goals from set pieces is scandalous and will frustrate the Cowleys significantly- I am not sure of the confidence between defence and keeper but it takes 11 players to defend not 1.
Possession wise, we were like Fleetwood last week- kept the ball but did b*gger all with it.
Ref should have clearly stopped the game when we scored but it was almost as if he slipped into "end of game" mode and allowed one more cross before the final whistle.
We missed Morrell today as well- Connolly is not scurrying, harrying, snapping at yer heels, forward thinking holding midfielder (at least not today) and we missed Morrell particularly with Payne being nullified.
Not much else- our inability to get results away from home may harm us in the long run if our home form dries up.
Ainsworth had clearly done his homework on the Imps and won the tactical battle- Payne was marked out of the game which meant we lost a lot of forward distribution (box to box) and therefore Walker became almost invisible although he tried the run the channels.
WWFC pressured high with a real intensity- in fact first half they looked like the Imps team we have seen in the first five weeks and we looked like Southend! We struggled to win 2nd balls and struggled more with momentum, passing and general energy levels.
Second half was better when Akinde came on- think we moved to 4-4-2 or possibly 4-5-1 with Walker in the number 10 role. Difficult to tell to be honest.
Three goals from set pieces is scandalous and will frustrate the Cowleys significantly- I am not sure of the confidence between defence and keeper but it takes 11 players to defend not 1.
Possession wise, we were like Fleetwood last week- kept the ball but did b*gger all with it.
Ref should have clearly stopped the game when we scored but it was almost as if he slipped into "end of game" mode and allowed one more cross before the final whistle.
We missed Morrell today as well- Connolly is not scurrying, harrying, snapping at yer heels, forward thinking holding midfielder (at least not today) and we missed Morrell particularly with Payne being nullified.
Not much else- our inability to get results away from home may harm us in the long run if our home form dries up.
Scotimp
Vital Football Legend
I was there that day at York, and it was immediately obvious there was something very seriously wrong. The players quite clearly did not want to play on because they knew he had died. I have been to way over 1,000 football matches in my time, but have only experienced that sensation on that one day. The Longhurst events were unique in my 50+-year-experience.
There used to be a guy - I have no idea who he was, but he used to stand very near me on the Sincil Bank terrace throughout the 70s and 80s - who used to shout, "fetch a shovel!" every time an opposing player went down injured for any period of time.
He didn't mean it, it was just an attempt at humour.
As I remember, he never shouted it after September 1990.
Merthyr Imp
Vital Football Hero
Got back about two and a half hours ago. I too had to leave about four minutes from the end in order to get the train back (which only just managed).
A few random comments:
I was in line with the free kick for the first goal and unlike from the angle you see it from on the video I didn't think Vickers could have got to it. Disappointing to concede but a good free kick. He certainly had no chance with the second, and I also agree that with Akinde in his usual place at the near post it might not have happened. Would definitely fault Vickers with the third - it's not as if the ball just bent in at the far post, it went over him right in the middle of the goal.
The first half was poor, and I think Walker's effort which hit the post was our only attempt at goal. I thought Payne and Connolly were both disappointing (we missed Morrell) and Andrade only got into the game after the break.
Second half, the change to 4-4-2 made all the difference (O'Connor took a knock in the first half so I'm assuming that was the reason he was substituted rather than Connolly) and Akinde began to put some pressure on the Wycombe defence for the first time.
Andrade as well as Bloomfield was on the ground in the penalty area when we scored. I wonder if the referee, in watching the ball, may not have seen them until Grant put the ball across for Akinde to score?
As someone else, plus whoever it was on Quest said, the long injury delay caused to us to lose our impetus, although Andrade had a good opportunity but put the ball over the bar, and then the third goal meant 'game over' - and they almost got a fourth when hitting the bar.
At 3-1 in the second half our defence seemed to be at sixes and sevens at times, although that was viewing from 100 yards away.
Overall, I don't think it was quite as bad as some make out. Very bad to concede two goals from corners (especially the third goal) and one from a free kick, yes, but Walker was close to making it 2-1 before half time and Andrade perhaps should have made it 2-2.
A few random comments:
I was in line with the free kick for the first goal and unlike from the angle you see it from on the video I didn't think Vickers could have got to it. Disappointing to concede but a good free kick. He certainly had no chance with the second, and I also agree that with Akinde in his usual place at the near post it might not have happened. Would definitely fault Vickers with the third - it's not as if the ball just bent in at the far post, it went over him right in the middle of the goal.
The first half was poor, and I think Walker's effort which hit the post was our only attempt at goal. I thought Payne and Connolly were both disappointing (we missed Morrell) and Andrade only got into the game after the break.
Second half, the change to 4-4-2 made all the difference (O'Connor took a knock in the first half so I'm assuming that was the reason he was substituted rather than Connolly) and Akinde began to put some pressure on the Wycombe defence for the first time.
Andrade as well as Bloomfield was on the ground in the penalty area when we scored. I wonder if the referee, in watching the ball, may not have seen them until Grant put the ball across for Akinde to score?
As someone else, plus whoever it was on Quest said, the long injury delay caused to us to lose our impetus, although Andrade had a good opportunity but put the ball over the bar, and then the third goal meant 'game over' - and they almost got a fourth when hitting the bar.
At 3-1 in the second half our defence seemed to be at sixes and sevens at times, although that was viewing from 100 yards away.
Overall, I don't think it was quite as bad as some make out. Very bad to concede two goals from corners (especially the third goal) and one from a free kick, yes, but Walker was close to making it 2-1 before half time and Andrade perhaps should have made it 2-2.
PerthImp
Vital Football Hero
Just a bad day at the office. For the first (the FK) O'Connor shouldn't have given it away in that position - DC drills that into the players. At this level players will score those, no matter how well you set up sometimes. You could argue Vickers was too far to the left but the wall appeared not to do its job. Second was a Sunday League goal - you should never concede from a corner at your near post, unless your defender is blocked. The third was a Worldy and the player should be given credit for it - I think very few keepers would have stopped that one. When it was scored and on the i-Follow replay it was perfectly flighted and just above Vickers reach. Expect the unexpected - it happens as you go higher ?- its called skill. If we won a game like that we would have been singing the praises of our boys for a battling, skillful and determined performance, so all credit to Sir Gareth and his team. We just learn from it and go on next week.
buckielugger
Vital 1st Team Regular
Not there yesterday but have definitely noticed very strong pot smells on previous away trips...Barnet comes to mind...
New gold dream
Vital Squad Member
syimp
Vital Squad Member
We were sitting next to two lads who were out of their trees, last season at MK. This does not surprise me in the slightest.
devonexlondonimp
Vital 1st Team Regular
We beat ourselves yesterday,the talk of a tactical masterlass by Ainswrth is totally overplayed.
Our defending was shocking.
DC post match comment "we lacked personality"
Make what you want of that statement,i know my view.
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Consensus seems to be only third goal was chiefly a goalkeeping error.
The truth is the goalkeeper won't position himself to be in the best place to stop a ball curling into the top corner of the back post.
He is expecting a ball threatening the edge of the six yard box for players to head goalward. It requires very quick and athletic repositioning to react to the delivery that came in from that corner.
Therefore the question is
a) Would Gilks have dealt with it better. Would his superior organisational, talking and positional skills have got his 37years old legs to move quicker than 24 year old Vickers legs to deal with the unusual delivery from the same correct starting position?
b) Would the shorter Smith have been better equipped to deal with that situation, bearing in mind how he dealt with Chair's curling shots making him reposition as they landed in the top corner of his net.
Truth is we don't know - but I'm certainly not 100% convinced they would have fared better. I accept it was an error but I would not put it in the we may need a new keeper category.
Brendan Bradley
Vital Squad Member
I was at that too, Scot, though I was with a friend who supports York and was unfortunately near to where he fell.
This is a bit self-indulgent to say, but I think I'm a bit of a Jonah as half a dozen years later I was at a non league game when the referee keeled over. Someone shouted "Let him die". He didn't know then, but he did 10 minutes later, that the ref had suffered a fatal heart attack. As we filed out the bloke who shouted that was in tears himself, out of guilt no doubt.
In 2002 I was at another abandoned non league game when everyone assumed the goalkeeper had been killed in a collision with the centre forward. Thankfully he survived (and bizarrely I heard him recount this story on Danny Baker's radio show a couple of years ago) but it turned out he "died" three times on the pitch and the physio brought him round on each occasion.
So I'm always more nervous than most when there are apparently serious injuries.
MaineRoad_96
Vital 1st Team Regular
Behave! Negative? You obviously weren’t there yesterday.
