Back with a goal Talisman May is the hero to seal Wycombe win
ALFIE May marked his return from injury as his goal for Cheltenham Town secured a 1-0 home win over Wycombe Wanderers.
Making his first League One start since October 1 due to an ankle injury, May cut inside after Dan Nlundulu’s pass and scored with the aid of a deflection off Nick Freeman in the 26th minute.
It was May’s fourth league strike of the season as he piled more misery on Wycombe, against whom he netted four times in a 5-5 draw last season.
There was little between the sides in the first half, with Josh Scowen seeing a shot blocked for Wycombe after Anis Mehmeti’s early run.
May sparked Cheltenham into life with a shot in the 13th minute that was blocked, with Liam Sercombe’s followup also charged down.
Wycombe’s David Wheeler sent a shot just past the left post five minutes later before May broke the deadlock.
Alfie Mawson saw a shot deflected wide for Wycombe in the 58th minute and only a last-ditch challenge from Charlie Raglan stopped Lewis Wing from levelling as Cheltenham held out for their first win over Wanderers since 2013.
Cheltenham have taken eight points from the last 12 in League One, and sit eight points above the drop zone, and eight behind the play-off places.
“I don’t care how we win,” said head coach Wade Elliott. “I think they’ll be in the play-offs. It’s a massive win, brilliant performance.
“It’s a tough league, competitive and it’s starting to take shape in the table.
“It’s bunched up and a couple of results can propel you into a different position and different types of conversations. We’ll enjoy the win.
“I don’t look too far ahead. We have certain targets for the season, but we don’t start looking too far ahead.
“Externally, if people have offered us this position, the fans and the club, they’d have accepted it. We are on track, but we’ll go from game to game, try to win the next one and see where it takes us.
“In the first half we made decent chances and openings.
“We get a little bit of quality from Alfie and I know it’s deflected, but he’s worked the opportunity really well.
“We knew what their threats were going to be. In the second half when we needed to be tough and resilient and dogged, we stood up and they stood up to the challenge really well.
“Luke Southwood hasn’t had a many shots to save, he’s come for crosses and he’s punched things.
“The back five defended really well. Whoever made up the midfield and centre forwards as the game went on, worked hard to put pressure on their backline to stop balls coming in our box. I am really proud of them.”
Elliott said talisman May was “fine” after coming off clutching his back.
“I don’t think we’ve had a fully fit Alfie yet this season,” said Elliott. “We were starting to see it against Shrewsbury, with him looking bright and sharp.
“Hopefully it won’t take too long to get him up to that speed because you can see what he’s capable of.
“His personality is infectious. It gives the punters a lift when they see him. It doesn’t matter how he plays, he gets man of the match every week.
“They obviously love him. It gives the lads a lift, the opposition see him on the team sheet and know he’s a threat, so it makes them more wary, so bottom line is he’s a good player and you want as many of them as possible.”
Elliott said Nlundulu came off as missed a couple of days’ training in the week because he was ill.
“Alfie (May) trained all week, but he hasn’t had a lot of football. We knew at some point we’d freshen up the front line,” he said.
Cheltenham kept their seventh clean sheet of the season on Saturday, but goals have been harder to come by
“We lost some goals in the summer,” said Elliott. “You take Boyler (Will Boyle) out of it, he was worth some goals, Callum Wright, Matty Blair... You cut your cloth according to what you’ve got. The players dictate the style of the team and we might look slightly different, but I’d like think that we are solid defensively, we play some good stuff. Even in the first half we made numerous openings.
Cheltenham Town: Southwood; Raglan, Taylor, Long; Broom, Sercombe, Bonds, Williams (Hutchinson 79); Olayinka (Jackson 67); May (Brown 84), Nlundulu (Norton 67). Subs not used: Macdonald, Adshead, Bradbury. Wycombe: Stryjek; Grimmer (Mccarthy 77), Mawson, Tafazolli, Obita; Scowen, Freeman (Horgan 77); Mccleary (Hanlan 64), Wheeler (Wing 64), Mehmeti (Mellor 86); Vokes. Subs not used: Dickinson, Wakely.