Posts Tagged ‘Wycombe Wanderers’

Leeds United V Wycombe Wanderers; guest writer muses.

Jan 13th, 10 / Comments Off

 

Occasional guest writer Martha Zantides does the double by reflecting on Leeds United verses Wycome Wanderers (after writing on Wycombe Wanderers verses Leeds United earlier in the season http://clarkeonenil.co.uk/front-page/contributions-on-the-leeds-united-quagmire/leeds-at-wycombe-%e2%80%93-thoughts-from-a-leeds-fan-of-41-years ).

Elland Road, Saturday 9th January 2010. Well five months on, we met Wycombe Wanderers again, this time at Elland Road. Last time it was August, at Adams Park and very hot. Now the other extreme, a snow covered car park and surrounding streets in the bleak winter of January 2010, temperatures just below freezing. Even by football standards, too cold and bitter.

A special mention and gratitude from a multitude of Leeds fans to the LUFC ground staff for their Trojan efforts in making sure that the game went ahead. Well done.

The thing that stands out in my memory from the away match is the warmness of the welcome from Wycombe and the very understated policing.

Who would have thought that since then, we would have played two out the so-called top four? Liverpool in the third round of the Carling Cup and Manchester United aka The Scum in the third round of the FA Cup. Whilst we were unlucky to lose to Liverpool 1 – 0 at home, we beat ‘mighty’ Man U 1-0 in their own backyard and knocked them out of the cup. One of my sweetest moments as a Leeds fan, it was payback for six years or so of relegations, administration, rubbish football, gutless players, misery, hurt, pain and bitter, bitter disappointment. It made the Hereford United’s, the Walsall’s, Carlisle’s, Bournemouth’s and the Hartlepool’s etc bearable and the dues that we have to pay to get back to where we belong. A taste of where we came from and where we are returning to.

So back down to Earth as Wycombe Wanderers came to town. We started brightly enough and a finely worked goal game after four minutes, Crowe pounced on a mid-height ball in the final third of the Wycombe end and passed quickly to Johnny Howson who rifled a low shot into the left-hand side of the goal. At this point I thought we would go on to score a handful but the delayed hangover from the Man U game kicked in and as time went on we became more and more lack lustre. Wycombe hit the woodwork twice and it became obvious, at least to me that Jon-Paul Pittman was a very dangerous player who needed close attention. Bradley Johnson had an on-target header saved just before half-time. Mr. Beckford worked a bit harder then usual but failed to convert any of his chances, it was going to be that kind of game.

On the 63rd minute, the inevitable happened when the ever dangerous Jon-Paul Pittman ran around Richard Naylor and scored from a low shot to the far corner of the goal after picking up the ball from a nifty cross-field pass. We huffed and puffed but could not blow the Wycombe house down and so completed our fourth draw of the season. An indifferent day at the office but our home league record still intact after about a year and despite Norwich beating Exeter at home, six points clear with two games in hand.

Editor says: thanks to MZ for the Leeds United v Wycombe Wanderers trilogy, may we never play them again. All guest reviews of games gratefully received.

Contributions on the Leeds United Quagmire

Sniffers Sunday Shorts 29/11/09: Leeds United, Plymouth Argyle, Sheffield Wednesday, Lincoln City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Wycombe Wanderers, Chester City, Weymouth, Kingstonian.

Nov 29th, 09 / Comments Off

Your reading a pre 2010-11 archived article

Welcome to the Sunday edition of Sniffer Nose, a punchier version of your favourite occasional column.

No lose situation.

So one year on and Leeds United face the prospect of defeat by a non league side, in a game played at a cramped ground and broadcast live on television, are we worried? Well I’m not, for some reason (and for a change) I don’t intend to let an unlikely defeat derail a cautious optimism that this season we will make enough progress to make worrying about 1st and 2nd round draws redundant from the end of the season. Having said that however it would be nice to get through to the third round for the first time since relegation through results.

Man overboard.

Yesterday’s stand out controversy has to be the decision to abandon the Plymouth/Barnsley game whilst the latter was 4-1 up. Whether or not it was justified or just another example of how football over-pampers players these days, one thing is for sure, it may have saved Paul Sturrock’s job for a week or so. Sturrock is one of those managers who gets clubs promoted but seems to never get a chance to build something substantial. Personally I hope the new owners of Plymouth give him the rest of the season but I doubt he will be in work come Xmas.

Owls of disillusion

The classic example of Sturrock not getting time was Sheffield Wednesday after he got them promoted. Over 3 years on and his replacement Brian Laws has taken the club not a smiggin further. The ownership side might be more secure but on the pitch the Owls are as stagnant as they could be, 4-0 home defeats to a WBA side testament to that lack of progress. Laws needs to take responsibility for this, when you bring the likes of Francis Jeffers back into the fold whilst binning the likes of Richard Wood you deserve to be Sturrocked!

Impinged.

Watching the Northwich Victoria/Lincoln game I was struck by a few things worthy of note at Sincil Bank; firstly that victory over Blue Square North Victoria does not a significant turn in fortunes make. Secondly that the Bermudian international Smith needs to recognise the difference between being tackled and fouled (and thus doesn’t become marked by referees as a serial cheat). Finally this; when you have your manager, assistant manager and the squad under investigation for a mass brawl already do you really need to charge in like cretins simply because a part-timer tries to connect with a loose ball? Lincoln City are too close to the relegation zone of L2 to be having suspension after suspension, especially given the size of squad!

And your point is what?

Another modern idiocy in the game is the opinions of footballers on issues nothing to do with them, Gary Neville’s comment on Liverpool’s exit from the CL being a classic example. No matter how much us fans enjoy Benetiz hitting the wall I convinced that the moronic mutterings of a serial whinger we can live without. We can only hope that some bright spark decides to fast track Neville on to the Old Trafford coaching team and he gets a senior position in the post SAF world, that should scupper any future success!

Got it wrong, an occasional series.

Time to hold my hand up, looking at Newcastle United top the CCC has really knocked my sideways a bit. Like a lot of you I could see no reason to believe a club under ownership crises, with a temporary manager and a squad full of PL relegation fodder was going to adapt well to the lower division, well they have and with spades. Some credit goes to Chris Hughton and his coaching team for this but some also goes to the motivational leader of this lot on the pitch, take a bow Alan Smith.

Putting 50p in the meter.

Another ex Leeds United player who gets venom for no dam good reason is Michael Duberry, presently captain at struggling L1 Wycombe Wanderers. Personally I think Gary Waddock has made a sound decision to make Duberry the leader as they struggle to adapt to the consequences of promotion. As Stoke City and Reading fans will testify whilst the ex Chelsea man isn’t quite up to his 1999 standards he is certainly better than the one who struggled at Elland Road. I wish him and the club well, would be nice to see them both come out of things smiling.

What took so long?

One place where smiling would be inappropriate is the Deva Stadium home of Chester City, when supporters disrupt a game they are winning in order to protest against the chaos ensuing that is a sure sign it’s time for some real action. The FA should take responsibility off the Conference and immediately ban Stephen Vaughan from all involvement in English football, period.

Less Royce more bread.

Of course it wouldn’t be English football if we didn’t have various dodgy characters hopping from one club to another and showing arrogance and contempt (can’t for the life of me think who the best example of this over the last 30 years is!) as they leave behind a big fat mess. Weymouth may have had no choice in the matter but does taking the ex Cambridge chairman Mr G Rolls on board really constitute stability. This south coast club has had enough drama already; the newest inclusion to the soap opera can only increase the tension.

Quicker by carrier pigeon.

One little piece of tension that has come to my attention recently is this; whenever I am watching the scores come in on Sky on a Saturday afternoon (and god I hate being at home on match days) the last HT or FT result to come in is usually Kingstonian when they play at home. Why is this, the distance between the Sky studios and Kingston is in single figures, the same doesn’t apply when AFC Wimbledon are at home so why when the K’s are? Maybe my small loyal following from around here can illuminate?

The Other 91 Basket Cases

Leeds at Wycombe – thoughts from a Leeds fan of 41 years.

Aug 16th, 09 / Comments Off

Your reading a pre 2010-11 archived article

Clarkeonenil is happy to bring you the first of a series of guest articles which I hope you will enjoy. Today Martha Zantides writes on the Leeds United away trip to Wycombe Wanderers but without my cynical eye.

Sometimes I think that August is not the time for football, warm and humid weather does not go with the pre-match drinks and it feels a little surreal to be watching mediocre football whilst stood wearing shorts and t-shirt and when the sun is shining as it did yesterday at Adams Park, High Wycombe.

So yesterday was when the mighty battle scarred Leeds went to Wycombe. Adams Park has a capacity of 10,000 so it might have punctured our self esteem a little when the attendance was just over 8,000. It has been the norm for the past 5 seasons to sell out the away grounds when Leeds is playing. Chants of ‘You’re only hear to watch the Leeds’ and ‘We filled your ground for you’ are common and whilst we Leeds fans might sound arrogant, it is intended as the usual banter, in addition the stats would bear us out to be right.

Whilst we may be perceived to be arrogant, we are under no illusions about the depth and breath of our fall from the so-called ‘big time’ and are in our third-season in League One which is in the stark terms, the third tier of English football. With all due respect to the likes of Exeter and Wycombe, we would normally have only ever expected to play them in the Cups. Our fall from grace is re-emphasised every time we play teams like Wycombe in the league and it hurts. Another reminder was the chant of the wonderful Exeter fans last week,’ Stand up if you hate Plymouth’. Plymouth? Alright they are in the division above us but we are used to chants of ‘Stand up if you hate Man U’, even the Derby fans chant of ‘Stand up if you hate Forest’ a few seasons ago when we were in the Championship, were not such a hurtful reminder, after all Forest were twice Champions of Europe as were/are Leeds of course, well at least in the eyes of every Leeds’ fan. We have long memories and an acute sense of injustice from bitter experience of every referee who made a decision that cruelly robbed us of a well deserved victory, May 28th 1975, Parc des Princes, Paris, Leeds United v Bayern Munich being the most infamous example, leading to our second most famous chant, ‘We Are Champions, Champions of Europe’. Being a Leeds fan is a commitment for life and one of misery occasionally leavened by the odd spell of success.

Right now back to Wycombe. A group of us arrived by train at High Wycombe station around 1:20 to be greeted by just two policemen, first good sign of sense, not the usual hysterical over-policing that we are used to, Cumbria Police and the West Midlands being two examples of that. We walked through the town and again, mixed with locals and were welcomed and served quickly in the pubs. Wycombe is a busy town and is best known for being the home of Sir Francis Dashwood and the nefarious and notorious activities of his Hell Fire Club. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellfire_Club The Hell Fire Caves now forms the main tourist attraction in the area along with The Model Village. http://www.hellfirecaves.co.uk/index.php?id=70

We shared a cab with a Wycombe fan to the ground and just about managed to get to the ground for kick-off. The stadium is decent enough and is surrounded by rolling green hills and is a very pleasant environment.

This was the first ever competitive game between the two clubs and probably their biggest league game ever in terms of crowd, hype and interest.

The bare facts are that Leeds won 1 – 0 to keep our 100 % record. Luciano Becchio scored in the 61st minute after pouncing on a cross along the ground from the right which came he fired into the goal. The cross came from a rare piece of good movement from Leeds.

The first half was a scrappy turgid affair with Leeds playing an ineffective long ball game, as is usual when playing against inferior opposition, we dominated but failed to convert that into effective play and created very few chances.

The second half performance was much better as Leeds started to play the ball on the ground but still some way from the pass and move football that would destroy most of the teams in League One and are capable of. We still were dominant and still failing to capitalise on it, we still are ineffective in the final third most of the time and at times the midfield go missing. We need a fit Kilkenny back in the middle to play the playmaker role in a team playing pass and move.

I am still undecided as to whether Higgs is a better options then Ankergren who now seems to be dropped in favour of Higgs, but Higgs made a great save to deny Wycombe late in the second half from a rare bit of good movement from them. A debt of gratitude is owned to Higgs as this could so easily have turned into the all too familiar 2 points dropped late in the game because we failed to defend our lead, always a sickening experience.

So we keep our 100% record, are third from the top, 6 points from 6 and Walsall looming on the horizon. I have bitter memories of a defeat last season and a draw the year before when we should have won, so am hoping for revenge and taking the 3 points.

On the whole a good day out but we still look unconvincing.

Hope you enjoyed Martha’s insight, others will also be posting match reports with a difference as the season progresses.

Contributions on the Leeds United Quagmire