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Swindon Town 1
Saturday 8th November 2003
FA Cup First Round Proper
John Gorman and Tony Adams FA Cup A new era began for Wycombe with the parading of new boss Tony Adams prior to kick-off before seeing caretaker boss John Gorman lead the side to a 4-1 success over Swindon Town. It was fitting tribute to Gorman in his final game in charge that Wanderers were able to register a victory against one of his former Club's and take Wycombe into the Second Round where they have been rewarded with a home tie against Mansfield Town.
Adams spent the first-half of the game, as planned, sitting amongst the Directors but he joined Gorman on the bench for the second period as he sampled his first taste of being a Manager at Football League level. Speaking after the game Adams revealed that he was keen to get involved on his first matchday at the Club, commenting "I was up at two o'clock this morning thinking about the match. I was going to keep out of it but came to the conclusion that if I didn't say something and we went out of the Cup I would have felt bad. I thought the players were a bit in awe of me and I needed to show them I was human." But he kept his input to a minimum, adding "I spoke to the guys beforehand and I spoke to them briefly at half-time and I thanked them afterwards."
The game itself was a scrappy affair with Wycombe finally grabbing the upper hand a minute before the break when former Swindon defender Andy Thomson headed home Darren Currie's corner from the right. Before that Wanderers best chances had come on 21 minutes when the ball had been worked across from the right before Currie was forced to side step the referee only to curl his shot over the far corner of the crossbar. Dannie Bulman mis-kicked in front of goal on 28 minutes when moments later a Currie delivery from the right saw makeshift centre-forward Keith Ryan head over from just over six yards out.
The visitors, missing Premiership loan stars Deon Burton and Junior Lewis matched Wanderers ineffectiveness in front of goal and it wasn't until the 31st minute that they created their first serious chance - Brian Howard striking a low shot from the right side of the penalty against the post after Frank Talia had misjudged the original cross.
It prompted a spell of pressure from Swindon but Wanderers survived and two minutes before the break a break down the left wing saw McSporran's cross cleared as far as Currie but Ruby tried to pick his spot too precisely and the effort was blocked.
Wanderers efforts were rewarded just before the 45 minute mark was up when Currie sent the second of successive corners towards the far post where Thomson rose above his man to head home to give Wanderers the lead.
Half-time Wycombe 1 Swindon 0
Swindon had the slight upper hand at the start of the second-half but with a sometimes animated Adams down on the bench, Wycombe again began to take control. On 62 minutes Stuart Roberts cut back inside his man down the right wing before delivering a curling cross that McSporran flicked on with his head but it wasn't enough to direct the ball on target.
Roberts was involved again as Wanderers made it 2-0. The Welshman was fouled just to the left side of goal as headed towards goal. From the resulting free-kick Currie in a Beckham style curled the ball over the wall and past a bemused Rhys Evans in the Swindon goal. It was a quality strike.
Roberts almost made it 3-0 on 68 minutes when he sent a low shot wide of the righ-hand upright following Bulman's cross from the right. However, the game was far from over at this point and when the visitors were awarded a penalty in the 70th minute for a foul by Michael Simpson on former Wanderer Sam Parkin, Andy Gurney converted to set up an exciting finale.
Parkin went close to equalising on 82 minutes but with the visitors pushing more players foward Currie sent the visiting fans scurrying for the exits two minutes later when he finished off from close range after Dannie Bulman's shot from the edge of the penalty area had been spilled by Evans. Jermaine McSporran capped the day for Wycombe when he thrashed the ball into back of the net from the right side of the penalty area after he had been sent away down the wing by a Charlie Mapes through ball.
Speaking to the press after the game, Tony Adams said "I thought we played quite well in the first half and the lads were very resilient. I was extremely impressed with Andy Thomson and Roger Johnson at the back and I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen in general of the players. I was quite surprised because technically the club has got some very gifted players. John’s done really well, he’s lifted the guys, there’s good spirit here and the training sessions in the last couple of days have been very positive." Adams also paid tribute to Town by adding "Credit to Swindon they really had a go but I suppose you’d expect that in the FA Cup, especially when a team is a couple of goals down, although I’m a bit disappointed not to have kept a clean sheet." Meanwhile, Town boss Andy King couldn't hide his bitterness of being dumped out of the Cup, commenting "In the first half I didn’t think we played well, but we still were the better side. No ‘ifs’ and no moans we were beaten 4-1 and we’re not in the next draw although the first goal was a certain push." He then went on to add "For 32 minutes we battered them and they get a breakaway goal and we come back into it with the penalty. We then had a couple of crosses but unfortunately because I threw caution to the wind in the last nine minutes they broke away and scored two goals. He (Tony Adams) won’t have a more one sided game where he’s won 4-1 in his management career." Final Score - Wycombe 4 Swindon 1
Wycombe: Talia, Senda, Vinnicombe, Johnson, Thomson, Currie, Simpson, Bulman, Ryan (sub 86 Mapes), McSporran, Roberts (sub 74 Brown) - subs not used; Williams, Bell, Simpemba
Bookings: none
Scorers: Thomson (45), Currie (65, 84), McSporran (88)
Swindon: Evans, Reeves (sub 82 Ruster), Heywood, Nicholas, Robinson, Duke, Gurney, Miglioranzi, Howard (sub 80 Smith), Mooney, Parkin - subs not used Griemink, Viveash, Herring
Bookings: Gurney (90 foul)
Scorers: Gurney(70, pen)
Referee: Mr Richard Beeby Attendance: 4,738 (1,127 away end)
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