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Wycombe Wanderers v Chelmsford City Memories of previous meetings |
![]() Wanderers had battled through eight previous ties to reach this stage against the Southern League professionals, including a 13-0 (thirteen-nil) victory over Amersham Town in an Extra Premilinary tie the previous September. As this was the first time the Wanderers had reached this stage of the Cup since 1932, Club officials were expecting a record crowd, so the actual attendance of 10,777, including some 2000 from Chelmsford, was deemed to be rather disappointing. Admission charges had been raised to 1/- (5p) and the gate receipts were £590. The eight page programme would have cost you 2d (1p). As for the match itself, the visitors got off to the best possible start - scoring inside the first minute through DICKER. For the next half hour they had the Wanderers on the run but were only able to score once more when PLUNKETT was on target. Wycombe fought back after the interval but they wasted their best chance when McCullum's penalty was saved by Prozier on the hour. In the closing stages PLUNKETT completed his hat-trick with a header and a penalty to make the final score Wycombe 0 Chelmsford 4 Wycombe Team: C.Lodge, E.Bunce, S.F.Hobbs, F.Gearing, G.Bryant, M.Partridge, N.Douglass, L.Perkins, W.McCullum, E.Applegarth, G.Jackson. Chelmsford Team: J.Crozier, S.Bidwell, D.Beach, J.Alexander, L. Wicks, T.McKenna, S.Foxall, R.Foxall, S.Plunkett, L.Dicker, F.Morris. Attendance: 10,777 The next meeting was more than 30 years later and in the unlikely venue of Cosenza in Italy during the Gigi Peronace Anglo-Italin Tournament in 1983. Both English clubs had lost their semi-final games against their Italian hosts and so played off for 3rd and 4th places on 25th April 1983 in a tie played prior to the Final between Cosenza and Padova. With the attendance swelling to what would be an estimated 10,000, STOTT and BAKER gave the Essex side a two goal lead but the Blues cames back with goals from Steve THORNE and Joe KOTVICS to level the scores at Wycombe 2 Chelmsford 2. The Wanderers then had 'keeper Chris Way to thank for winning the game with two spectacular saves during the penalty shoot-out at the end. Wycombe Team: C.Way, T.Lee, A.Harman, K.Stone, M.Hill, S.Long, R.Dell, P.West (sub 75 A.Davies), K.Wilson, H.Kennedy, S.Thorne (sub 75 J.Kotvics) ![]() Wycombe Team: G.Lester, T.How, M.Hill, A. Harman, A.Vircavs, G.Borg, J.Jacobs, S.Perrin. T.Glynn, S.Long (sub 88 P West), K.Wilson. Chelmsford Team: W.Carrick, P.Dudley, C.Johnson, D.Longhorn, J.Devine, M.Bright, G.Cowlishall, G.Powell, M.Blackhall, G.Anderson, F.Bishop - sub not used: M.Tiffen Attendance: 2,277 The replay at Loakes Park the following Tuesday attracted a gate of 1,937 with the winners set to travel to Gillingham in the Second Round. But on what turned out to be a disappointing night for Wanderers followers, it was visitors who broke the deadlock early on through Frank BISHOP after a mistake by Trevor How. Then after some more poor defending, Gary ANDERSON struck a suberb second just after the hour mark. Wanderers' only consolation came from Terry GLYNN deep into injury time. ![]() ![]() ![]() Chelmsford Team: J.Keeley, K.Lee, C.Johnson, S.Oliver, R.Makin, P.Taylor, A.Owers (sub P.Thrift), A.Foley, P.Lazarus, T.Glynn, R.Pountney Attendance: 3,816 For Wycombe, the joy of reaching the Third Round for only the second time in their history and a possible 'glamour' tie, was quickly quelled as the Saturday evening draw saw a trip to Third Division York City pulled out of the hat. A relatively dissapointed Wycombe Manager Paul Bence, tried to remain upbeat after the game, saying "It's equalled a previous achievement and all credit must go to the players, my assistant manager and all the officials and backroom staff. Naturally we didn't want York but it's not a forgone conclusion that they will beat us. Meanwhile, controvesary stormed after the game when Club Captain Anton Vircavs revealed there would be no bonuses for reaching the Third Round, saying to the national press, "There is no question of a bonus for us, there never is one. We make Corinthian Casuals look like millionaires. People think we are getting a lot out of this but we are getting nothing." Vircavs claimed that the players were on around £35 per week wages but would receive no extra for their FA Cup success, adding, "It has caused unnecessary animosity. It's not as though the club cannot afford it but the committee just do not put themselves out for us. Nobody has even come up to us, patted us on the back, and said well done." Wanderers Chairman Brian Lee responded by saying, Footballers don't play for £10, £50 or £100, they play out there for pride." Wanderers went on to lose 2-0 at York with Lee eventually compromising and offering his squad commemorative cups awarded at a function held at the then Crest Hotel in High Wycombe. Lee prefering to offer a permament reminder of the players feats, rather than money than could be squandered. ![]() Speaking after the game Martin O'Neill said, "We did fine in the end after a difficult first half. Chelmsford got going early on and caused us problems. I think we coped with it very well. I'm just glad we are in the hat for the next round." Wanderers went on to beat Hitchin Town 5-0 away from home in the Second Round amid rumours that O'Neill was about the join Leicester City. The Wycombe boss famously turned down that offer as Wycombe progressed to a Third Round home meeting with West Ham which went the way of the Londoners by a 2-0 margin before a then record gate of 9,007 at Adams Park. Wycombe Team: P.Hyde, J.Cousins, S.Brown, M.Crossley, T.Evans, K.Ryan, D.Carroll, M.Bell, L.Turnbull, (sub 75 S.Thompson), S.Garner (sub 80 N.Reid), S.Stapleton - sub not used: C.Moussaddik Chelmsford Team: K.Shoemake, L.Hunter, Eliot Martin (sub 85 Eddie Martin), P.Clark, D.Jacques, M.Keen, K.Hoddy, R.Garvey, A.Rogers, S.Restarick, A.Owers (sub 59 S.Campbell) - sub not used: L.Ballard Attendance: 5,564 |
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