I enjoy going to Wycombe, short journey, twee town, friendly locals etc, but always seem to come away from there seething and spitting. Firstly there was no way this was a 4-1 game, they are not the world beaters some of their strutting peacocks think they are, the referee definitely had a huge influence on the outcome and I feel that Gareth Ainsworth need to be sanctioned. The pitch was heavy and players from both sides had trouble keeping their feet. After the dream start we seemed fairly comfortable but were undone by the ball falling in the right place following a soft free kick, and criminal defending when a throw in was allowed to travel half of the width of the pitch before they scored with the last kick of the half. The turning point for me was not the red card but the fact that Mr Homer allowed their number 9 get away with two blatant trips, the first yellow he received on 48 mins should have been his second. As for the red that was shown, Williams foot was high but he won the ball, what didn't help him was Mick Jagger on the touchline, followed onto the pitch by his entire entourage (was a 4th official appointed Mick? I certainly did not notice him). After that it was game over. Marks to follow, dinner is served.
Spot on here.
Hubby gave up a couple of hours work last night to be up early enough to be down at Roots Hall to help loading coaches and has been a couple of hours late going out tonight, so this performance today has affected us financially. That wouldn't have been so bad if we had got a decent result today...and things looked so promising early on. Spectacular flick on by Worrall to an advancing Weston and a pinpoint perfect cross to Payne to slot away. 1-0 Blues, cue 1k+ ecstatic, but cold, SUFC supporters. Took Wycombe's scoreboard operators 5 minutes to update their scoreboard!
After that things just went wrong. The ref allowed Paul Hayes (once upon a time a target for us) to get away with a very early yellow card, on two occasions, and then promptly gave O'Toole one anyway for something very similar. I'll allow their first, but it was still down to a dodgy decision, but the 2nd and 3rd were both down to wrong decisions by the officials in the lead up. Don't know how many handballs were missed, and don't know how many times Corr was fouled. Bazza mate, if they're going to foul you then learn to give them a dig in the ribs with your elbows to make it worth their while.
Wycombe's no. 2 was one of the most inadequate I've ever seen, and on a good day we'd have been skinning him all day long. Trouble was, they'd done their homework on Wozza. Much less influential than normal. Their defenders were a lot shorter than our players and we should have done better aerially.
The turning point was Binnom-Williams' sending off. Paul Clark on the radio apparently said he didn't think it was one and I respect his opinion, didn't look like one....just because the player threw himself in the air didn't mean it was a foul, let alone a sending off. Ainsowrth and co's reaction was a disgrace. I actually thought JBW hadn't done too badly up to then, and I think some people allow their disappointment to colour their judgement.
Felt Weston didn't really deserve to be subbed at half time, didn't think Hurst did any better than him in the 2nd half. Not sure why Deegan needed to warm up for half an hour in the 1st half. Lots of stuff to think about for those in charge, need to get that problematic striker role sorted, let's get Shaq on earlier alongside Corr and Payne - pace against them today would have been to our benefit.
Utter, utter disgrace their no. 27 warming up and turning to the Southend supporters and saying and gesturing "thanks for the 3 points", provoked a big reaction from those in the vicinity. Several of us complained to the stewards, one of whom tellingly said, "it's not the first time and we'll get it sorted." Others then complained to the police and eventually one of the senior stewards went on and got the little idiot removed from their subs' bench.
Wycombe always leaves me angry. I've been three times and have yet to see us get more than a point there. Decent enough little ground and no problem with their facilities or their stewarding. That long drive in and out is annoying, and when you lose it makes it even worse.
Bentley - 6
Leonard - 6
Bolger - 7
Prosser - 6
Binnom-Williams - 6
Worrall - 6
Timlin - 8, MOTM
O'Toole - 5
Weston - 6
Payne - 6
Corr - 6
Subs:
Hurst for Weston - 6
Deegan for O'Toole - 7
White for Timlin - 7
Officials - probably the worst I've seen this season, just awful.