BUCKS FIZZ
How Wycombe Wanderers have found their sparkle
The FLP’s John Lyons looks at how Wycombe Wanderers have surged into League Two promotion contention…
IT DOESN’T take long to realise that something special is in the air at Wycombe Wanderers right now.
The squad that manager Gareth Ainsworth has painstakingly put together on limited resources has clicked. Everyone is working for each other and top-notch results are coming thick and fast.
Ahead of yesterday’s testing trip to Cheltenham Town, 2018 had been a glorious one for the Chairboys in terms of League Two action.
For while they suffered a 5-1 drubbing against Preston in the FA Cup third round, they had picked up six wins from seven league matches. The other result, a 1-1 draw at Exeter last weekend, wasn’t too shabby, either.
But it wasn’t just the wins that made people sit up and take notice. There have been three 3-2 victories in that spell – the first at lowly Crewe, the second at table-toppers Luton and the third at home against Swindon in a midweek thriller.
Throw in a 3-1 win against Colchester and a 2-1 victory at Forest Green, then it’s clear the Chairboys haven’t found it difficult to score goals in recent times.
Coasting
But, if there was one game that encapsulated everything that is so good about Wycombe at the moment, it was the 4-3 Adams Park victory against Carlisle a couple of weeks ago.
Two-nil up and coasting, 3-2 down after Luke O’Nien’s red card gave the visitors renewed hope, the game looked up.
But Paris Cowan-Hall netted a 93rd-minute leveller and then Marcus Bean, yes, Marcus Bean, volleyed home a 96th-minute winner before doing his best Forrest Gump impression in celebration.
You could understand his excitement. It was his first goal for the club in his 104th game. There’s even a T-shirt on sale in the club shop now with the logo ‘I was there when Beany scored’.
Incredibly, he then followed it up with the equaliser at Exeter last weekend.
“That’s two in two now for Marcus – or two in 105, whichever way you want to spin it,” quipped Ainsworth.
Up to third in the table preweekend, the momentum is undoubtedly with the Chairboys and it’s always wise in football to try to ride the crest of the wave for as long as you can.
The news in midweek that Championship club Barnsley had wanted to speak to Ainsworth about their thenmanagerial vacancy must have given Wycombe fans palpitations.
But news that the club had rejected the approach would have been a relief. This is the last thing Wycombe need now as they approach the final furlongs.
So, what are the keys to their current success? One is undoubtedly the shrewd work of former QPR winger Ainsworth to put together a squad with a fine mixture of youth and experience.
Indeed, you would be hard pressed to find a squad with greater nous than Wycombe’s current group. Striker Adebayo Akinfenwa, 35, who notched the late winner against Swindon in midweek, is a class act in the fourth tier, while fellow forwards Craig MackailSmith, 33, and Nathan Tyson, 35, back at the club where he made his name first time around, are also showing that age is no barrier. When all three line up together across the front line, you’ve got more than a century of striking talent at your disposal. Throw in the likes of Bean, skipper Adam El-Abd, both 33, and Matt Bloomfield, 34, and there is no shortage of knowledge or leadership. It means Ainsworth can leave the dressing room, by and large, to take care of things themselves. “Sometimes there are bad dressing rooms, but we won’t have that here,” said the 44-year-old Wycombe boss, who took charge in 2012. “The culture is really important. “We can’t pay for players. We have to cut our cloth accordingly, but we can create a culture where they can come in and try to be the best they possibly can, develop and then, hopefully, we’ll see them moving on to bigger and better things. “To be here, you’ve got to join in, embrace the spirit. Experienced players like Akinfenwa, Bloomfield and El-Abd will just drive that spirit forward. I don’t have many problems. They sort things out themselves.
“My biggest problem at the moment is team selection – who to leave out.”
Powerhouse striker Akinfenwa, the man nicknamed ‘The Beast’, believes it’s vital the older brigade lead the way.
“I think it’s massive,” he said. “The gaffer gives us that responsibility. We know the younger players are looking to us. If we’re putting in the extra work, then they can´t help but follow.
Weighed
“It’s a duty when you start getting to a certain age to be able to help the youngers players. They help me when I come in sometimes and my body’s aching. I just vibe off their energy.
“We´ve got a very nice balance, senior players and younger players. We try to gel as a unit and, with the results and where we are in the league, we’re doing OK. Long may that continue.”
Akinfenwa has already weighed in with 15 goals and is just three shy of his tally last term. The Chairboys know he can hold the ball up, bring others in to play and get on the end of things.
He won promotion from League Two a couple of years ago, sealing a 2-0 victory against Plymouth in the play-off final by scoring from the penalty spot. Now, he fancies a repeat in a hotly-contested division. “It would be a beautiful thing because there are no egos in this changing room,” he said. “There are no cliques. Everybody runs for everybody, we laugh and we joke, so to get promoted with this team would be special.
“I try to enjoy every minute on the football pitch because I know that I haven’t got that much time left.”
Former QPR, Brentford and Colchester midfielder Bean believes Ainsworth deserves a lot of the credit for the way Wycombe fight until the very last whistle.
“When the gaffer was a player he always played that way himself,” said Bean in the Wycombe matchday programme in midweek. “He never knew when he was beaten. He played with his heart on his sleeve and ran through brick walls for his teammates, and he has instilled that into this team.”
There was a crowd of just under 5,000 for the Swindon thriller last Tuesday, but you feel this is a team that deserves to be playing in front of full houses, given their never-say-die attitude and recent thrill-a-minute displays.
Buckinghamshire may not be a renowned football hotbed, but Wycombe are certainly providing plenty of Bucks Fizz at present.
Whether their season will have a Champagne ending remains to be seen.