 |
Wycombe Wanderers 2 |
 |
|
Mansfield Town 2 |
Saturday 11th February 2006
Football League 'League Two' |
Wanderers came from 2-0 down to register their 16th 'League Two' draw of the season following a 2-2 scoreline against Mansfield Town at Adams Park. Results elsewhere saw Wanderers drop to third place in the table with Grimsby Town now holding top spot.
Team news for Wycombe saw Frank Talia return between the sticks following Matt Duke's midweek recall by Hull City. Danny Senda also stepped back in at right back after missing the previous week's game at Wrexham due to an ankle injury. Elsewhere, Jermaine Easter and Dean Bowditch got their first home starts for Wycombe with Easter playing alongside Toomy Mooney in a Wanderers front two. Bowditch was prefered in midfield to Stefan Oakes, who dropped to the bench. The team had been picked by John Gorman but the Wanderers boss was not at the game due to illness of his wife and he left coaches Steve Brown and Keith Ryan to take charge of matchday matters.
 The duo would not have been happy with Wanderers first half showing where they conceded twice from set-pieces. The visitors took the lead in the 27th minute when a corner from the right saw a near post header from Jon-Olav Hjelde loop in off the far post. Six minutes later The Stags doubled their lead after Mike Williamson conceded a free kick just outside the penalty area and Richard Barker struck the resulting dead ball through the Wycombe wall and inside the right hand upright.
But it could have been different if early chances had counted. Easter went close on 15 minutes and Bowditch also saw a tap in at the far post ruled out for offside on 18 minutes. There was also another injury blow to Wycombe and Joe Burnell on 23 minutes when the midfielder was forced off with a calf injury and was replaced by Oakes.
 Wanderers response came after the break and following the introduction of Sergio Torres for Bowditch. Within a minute of the substitution Wycombe had pulled a vital goal back when Tommy Mooney headed home a Kevin Betsy cross from the right. Easter was unlucky in the 63rd minute when his snap shot from the edge of the six yard box hit the crossbar but the equaliser came on 77 minutes when another Betsy ball from the right found its way to Oakes who sent in a left footed effort from the left corner of the six yard box that was helped past Kevin Pressman by a Mansfield defender before the ball could creep inside the far post. Former Sheffield Wednesday shot stopper Pressman then pulled off full length diving saves from Mooney and substitute Ian Stonebridge to prevent Wanderers snatching all three points. A stoppage time booking for Clint Easton, his fifth of the season, means he will miss the game at Boston United on Saturday 18th February.
Final Score - Wycombe 2 Mansfield 2
Speaking to the media after the game Steve Brown said he was pleased with the commitment from his side during the second half but dissapointed that Wycombe hadn't gone on to win the game. He said "I wasn't happy with the performance. It's not what the gaffer has preached during the time he has been here. We didn't play to the principles that he had laid down and if you don't do that you find yourself behind in the game. In the first half we lacked all the things we had done to get us to the top of the table. But we had a good chat at half-time and in the end I was disappointed we didn't win it. I thought Kevin Pressman was the busier of the two goalkeepers in the second half."
Brown also rubbished the peception that Wycombe were having a dip in form, saying to BBC Three Counties Radio "There's no one around this Football Club I've heard ever use the word blip or loss of form. It's just the media who think we are having a blip or bad form at the moment. We've only lost one game in six and people think we are having a bad time. Yes, we are not winning football matches but we are still doing well and playing good football. At Northampton we should have won, at Barnet we should have won, Stockport out here we should have won and people think we are in bad form. If they think that, then that is up to them but we are happy and we will just still keep striving like we have done from the start of the season."
Wycombe: Talia, Senda, Easton, Johnson, Williamson, Betsy, Burnell (sub 23 Oakes), Easter (sub 73 Stonebridge), Bloomfield, Bowditch (sub 53 Torres), Mooney - subs not used: Williams, Martin
Bookings: Burnell (7 foul), Easter (17 dissent), Williamson (33 foul) Easton (90+ foul)
Scorers: Mooney (54), Oakes (77) |
Mansfield: Pressman, Jelleyman, Jacobs, Hjelde, Uhlenbeek (sub 79 Dawson), Buxton, D'Laryea, Coke, Rundle (sub 63 Wilson), Barker, Reet (sub HT Birchall) - subs not used White, Lloyd
Bookings: Reet (24 time wasting), Birchall (55 unsporting behaviour), Jelleyman (65 unsporting behaviour/diving), Dawson (89 foul)
Scorers: Hjelde (27), Barker (33) |
| Referee: Mr P Mellin |
Attendance: 5,041 (184 away end) |
|
| Interactive Stats |
 Match and players
All the Wycombe results, scorers, team line-ups and statistical breakdown of the current season - FULLY INTERACTIVE to your heart's content.
Latest Table and form
Updated table with results archive of ALL Division Two games plus form guide and previous meeting between ALL clubs for the past four seasons.
|
All match reports © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Chairboys on the Net (www.chairboys.co.uk) - Not to be reproduced without our written permission.
|
"Was
our reporter at the same game? Have your say!!"
On
This Day
All there is to say and know about Wycombe Wanderers on the Internet