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1 month ago
10
Wycombe did just enough to keep their bandwagon rolling at a raucous Grosvenor Vale, a goal in each half securing their place in round three and lending an unfairly serene sheen to an awkward tie during which they were blunted for long periods by Wealdstone’s National League strugglers.
Both goals were outstanding in contrasting ways, Beryly Lubala opening the scoring with a beautiful free-kick and the substitute Richard Kone making the game safe in the 84th minute after capping a fine run infield from the left with a composed finish. But there was little sign of the ease with which Wycombe have disposed of so many League One opponents this season, Matt Bloomfield’s side creating little from open play until Wealdstone started to be gripped by fatigue and desperation in the final few minutes.
The game had all the tell-tale signs of a big second-round Cup tie – television cameras on temporary gantries, another on a drone circling overhead with the seagulls, small, fiercely crowded banks of standing behind each goal, a power failure in one of the stands and a savagely sloping pitch – and for the home side this game was if not a new frontier then certainly an unfamiliar one, just the third second-round tie in their history.
Their opponents are for now the best team in the competition after an extraordinary start to the season: for all that they needed a last-minute goal to edge past Mansfield in midweek they have won their last 10 in all competitions and have lost only once, against Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup, since August. Here, however, they started without Kone, their top scorer and all-round phenomenon, and if their superiority in mind and movement was clear for much of the match they were largely bereft of cutting, or even bruising, edge.
They failed to create a single chance in the opening period, achieving nothing of any import in the home side’s penalty area. But still they took a lead into the break: the call, commanding Wealdstone centre-back Jack Cook haring rashly out of the defensive line to trip Dan Udoh 25 yards from goal, and Lubala curling the ball into the top corner from the resulting free-kick.
By then the Stones had carved out and horrifically missed the best chance of the game, a low cross from the left finding Alex Reid unmarked at the far post but with Shamal George nowhere and a yawning goal in front of him somehow he sidefooted over the bar. Reid also missed their best chance of the second half, intercepting David Wheeler’s attempt to chest the ball back to his goalkeeper – when Wycombe finally created a chance it was for the wrong team – but hitting George with his shot. Then in the 73rd minute the Oldham loanee carried the ball to the edge of the area before sending in a shot that deflected off Ryan Tafazolli and was well saved.
By this point Wycombe’s creativity had scarcely improved, though Tafazolli had a header cleared off the line from Matt Butcher’s corner. But in the closing stages Tafazolli shot across goal, the referee having missed a clear pull on a defender’s shirt, before Kone’s 12th goal of an extraordinary first full season in professional football settled the tie.
