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Wycombe
Wanderers 2 |
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| Shrewsbury Town 0 |
Saturday
11th March 2006
Football League 'League Two' |
Wanderers scored a confidence boosting 2-0 victory over Shrewsbury Town at Adams Park to maintain second place in the table on goal difference behind Carlisle United. Matt Bloomfield put Wycombe into the lead in the 15th minute when he angled in a shot from the right channel after Tommy Mooney's cross field pass from the left wing. The visitors offered little resistance, apart from a spell mid-way through the second period, before substitute Russell Martin secured the three points for Wycombe in the 73rd minute when he thumped home Mooney's headed knock down after Ian Stonebridge had delivered from the left flank.
Team news for Wycombe saw Kevin Betsy begin his two match ban for the red card he received at Cheltenham and Stefan Oakes took his place in midfield. Sergio Torres and Joe Burnell both remained absent with their injuries but are targeting the away game at Leyton Orient on 25th March as a return for possible selection. Will Antwi was included in Wanderers matchday sixteen for the first time since joining the club in the close season.
This was a game where the result was more important than the performance against a side that offered little in the way of a threat to Wanderers' defence. Wanderers led at the break thanks to a fine strike from Bloomfield who latched onto Mooney's sweeping pass from the left to send in a low shot that cannoned in off the left-hand upright of the Valley End goal. Only an earlier effort from Dean Bowditch added to Wycombe's serious efforts at goal in the opening 45 minutes and it took the injection of two substitutes just after the hour mark that eventually led to Wycombe's second goal of the day.
 Before, then there was slight scare when the ball clearly hit Roger Johnson's arm in his own penalty area but the officials saw no intent and waved the half-hearted claims for a penalty away. On 70 minutes Colin McMenamin got inside Martin, who had moved into right back role with Danny Senda pushing in midfield, but the Shrews striker blasted over with the goal at his mercy.
Fears of more dropped points were wiped away two minutes later when Martin latched onto Mooney's headed lay back to score his second goal for the club. Not quite as impressive as his first against Macclesfield but this time it secured a victory that was fully deserved and could have been by a higher margin had Stonebridge's 20 yarder in stoppage time crept under the cross-bar.
Final Score - Wycombe 2 Shrewsbury Town 0
 Speaking after the game to BBC Three Counties Radio, Wanderers Coach Steve Brown said it had been a 'good professional performance' from Wycombe and a 'big three points', adding, "Every game we win from here on is vital and it is a massive step in the right direction where we want to go." The second goal came at a crucial time for Wycombe and Brown commented, "Today we have continued in the way that we have started the game and tried to play on a surface that looked wonderful but being on there before the game the ball was very lively and bobbly and it's one of those games where we are happy to get the result that we did."
Meanwhile, Shrews boss Gary Peters commented to the media "I thought that we competed well enough but we made errors and let them in for two goals and that was the difference. We were playing against a team at the top of the League but it wasn't like the Carlisle game where we were under pressure for the whole of the game." He added, "There wasn't much between the teams today and we were in the game until the second goal killed it. They didn't have many corners today and that denotes how much pressure a team has on you. They didn't create much but then we didn't create much other than Colin McMenamin having a couple of half chances."
Wycombe: Talia, Senda, Easton, Johnson, Williamson, Bloomfield, Bowditch (sub 62 Stonebridge), Lee, Oakes (sub 62 Martin), Easter (sub 79 Griffin), Mooney - subs not used: Williams, Antwi
Bookings: none
Scorers: Bloomfield (15), Martin (73) |
Shrewsbury Town: Hart, Herd (sub 76 Cowan), Hope, Burton, Ashton, Sorvel, McClen, Edwards, Stallard (sub 40 Adaggio), Langmead, McMenamin - subs not used: Cronin, Hogg, Sharp
Bookings: Burton (69)
Scorers: none |
| Referee: Mr A Woolmer |
Attendance: 5,035
(away end 298) |
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