Ground: Adams Park (capacity 10,137)
Location: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England
Ticket price: £24 - Purchase online or at the ground
Wycombe Wanderers. They've become sort of a love-to-hate club in recent times for those unfortunate enough to face them, yet a team many casuals would search for when scouring the League One results. The reason for this is down to two men. Gareth Ainsworth, the club's ex-gaffer and legend of the club is known for his rockstar personality, rockstar look, but not so much his rockstar football (unless your idea of rock is modern-day Green Day or The Chainsmokers). Known for ekeing out wins whilst only having roughly 30% possession, Ainsworth's philosophy, despite the club being known as the Chairboys, was not something that would keep you on the edge of your seat, but after the game, you come to ask yourself just how does he keep getting results?
The other man I referenced was key to this style of play - Adebayo Akinfenwa. A lower-league icon due to his infectious personality and cumbersome frame, he's not a player that was kept at Adams Park for his marketing presence alone. Whilst not the most gifted footballer of his generation, Akinfenwa had incredible strength, powerful neck muscles as well as an awareness and intelligence of the game that all EFL players must possess in order to succeed at the level.
With Ainsworth having left to join QPR (and subsequently being sacked after a string of poor results) and Akinfenwa retiring, the task to keep Wycombe arguably overachieving fell on the shoulders of another Wycombe legend - Matt Bloomfield. Bloomfield is a bit of a different personality to Ainsworth; he's more erudite and studious - possessing a degree in sports writing and regularly writing blogs for the BBC. Despite the contrasts between he and his predecessor, both are revered by the Wycombe faithful.
The journey to Wycombe from the depths of Yorkshire is quite the trek. There's two ways you can do it - the straight forward route of travelling into London King's Cross and taking the tube down there or the longer way which is to travel in via Birmingham, which is what I did. If you take the train to Birmingham New Street, walk the 10 or so minute distance between Birmingham's main station to one of its sister stations Birmingham Moor Road and take the London Marylebone train, it passes through High Wycombe en-route to London. You then have to walk an hour from the station to Adams Park, but it is mostly a linear route.
Wycombe do not sell programmes, however there is a 'fanzine' that a supporters group produce and sell just outside the ground for just £2. "It's not a programme, we don't do programmes here, but this is better than a programme to be fair" I was told. There is a bit in the fanzine making fun of Joey Barton, which makes for good reading.
They faced a Reading side who had not won away for over a year. I did read a post saying that if there ever was a game that they were going to break that miserable run, it would be at Adams Park.
And to be fair, they started the brighter. Dom Ballard was making things happen, finding space in between the lines and causing mischief that Wycombe could only flap their wings at. Unfortunately though, Ballard kicked the turf whilst taking a shot and went down punching the ground in agony. It took 7 minutes to get him on the stretcher and carry him off. At the time of writing this, there is no confirmation as to what the injury is, but manager Ruben Selles does not think the prognosis looks good. A big shame for the England U19 striker on loan from Southampton.
Reading didn't wilt and scored the game's first goal. It was a terrible goal kick which found Azeez on the wing. He took a cross-cum-shot which Smith got a delicate touch on to guide it into Stryek's net. Wycombe would equalise minutes later; a curling effort from just outside the area by Killian Phillips. This ended up being Wycombe's only shot on target in the game. The Royals ended up scoring the second - the game's winner - smashed home by ex-Chairboy Lewis Wing past Stryek's near post. It was Azeez again with the assist as he controlled a direct pass into him and stroked it into the path of the former Middlesbrough man. Poor keeping again by the Pole.
I think the game was won and lost due to the formations. Bloomfield seemed to insist on a 5-3-1-2 formation which just wasn't working as they weren't able to find space in behind Reading's compact 4-4-2, leading to aimless long balls which were intercepted with ease by the Royals. Tafazoli, one of the three CB's, was the only defender who seemed bold enough to play a forward pass and whilst Garath McCleary tried his best to carry the forward line, he lacked support from the two men behind him. Bloomfield got his tactics all wrong this game.
As soon as the full-time whistle blew, the Reading players rushed towards the fans, who had made an incredible noise all game, hugging those lucky enough to be near the front. The Wycombe fans made their feelings known all game, shouting, "Idiot! Useless! Crap!" at various points throughout the game. I half-expected a fight to break out at full time to be fair. An incredible atmosphere and a very enjoyable game to be a part of.
As an aside, if you are wanting to attend a Wycombe game as a neutral, be careful which email you use to sign up to purchase the tickets online with. Wycombe require that you email the ticket office once you have activated your account before you can purchase tickets. If the email you use is associated with the same email address you have used for the opposition clubs website, the ticket you purchased will go out for sale and you will not be refunded.
Wycombe Wanderers 1-2 Reading FC 25/11/23
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