A Scott Sharples and Keegan Casey inspired F.C. Lions of Wycombe slumped to their 6th defeat of the season, and their second in two games, following a 1-0 loss away to United F.C. this morning. Their cause wasn't helped either by the sending off of player/manager Will Carter, who let his frustrations boil over and was dismissed in the 40th minute for a reckless two footed lunge on Mohammed Kasim. In truth, Carter has been walking this tight rope all season, and can have no complaints.
The Lions lined up in a 4-4-2 with Adam Mordas between the sticks. This enabled Tom Stevens to partner Simon Thomas at centre half, with Scott West and Dan Stacey occupying the full back positions, as they have so often this season. The midfield four consisted of Jordan, as a makeshift right winger, alongside the combative pairing of Why and Casey in the middle, with Captain Sharples out wide left. Andrew Harris came back into the side, after missing the last two games, and was handed a chance in the number 9 shirt alongside Carter, - with Tilbury too unwell to start, and Ben Phippen withdrawing late due to injury. Jona McNight, Alan Davies and Tilbury occupied the three spaces on the bench for this game.
The Lions started the brighter of two poor teams, and had the Lions share of possession in the opening exchanges. (Pardon the pun). Both Why and Casey looking strong in the middle, dominating possession and winning the 50/50's. The Lions first chance of the game came in the 8th minutes when a Dale Why cross was dropped at the feet of the onrushing Carter who forced the keeper into deflecting the ball out of play for a Lions corner.
After 10 minutes, the Lions were forced into an unexpected positional change with Casey struggling to cope with the pace of the game, having started the game suffering from a bout of chestiness, he went up front with Carter moving to left midfield, enabling Sharples to play in a more familiar central role. This change worked well initially with the pace of Casey causing the home side trouble with the lofted ball over the top.
This was the best it got for the Lions, who then struggled to string two passes together, and too often, possession was carelessly given away. On 15 minutes, Andy Harris was adjudged offside, following a superb crossfield ball from Casey, and minutes later a ball over the top was chested past his own keeper by a UFC defender, and could only hash his clearance following good pressure from Harris, who was there waiting should any mistakes be made.
Skipper Sharples had started the game on fire, buoyed by a pre-match gee-up from manager Carter, and seemed to be covering every inch of the pitch as he tried his best to exert some creativity for the Lions.
UFC started to gain possession and won several corners and free-kicks around the box that keeper Mordas as his back four dealt excellently with. The centre backs of Stevens and Thomas, especially.
Then, 5 minutes before the break, Carter exchanged passes with Scott Sharples, down the Lions left hand side, but before he could release the Lions number 10, he was dispossessed by Latif. angered by his team mates lack of communication, and frustrated with the teams poor opening showing, he immediately jumped into the next challenge with two feet, and rightly earned himself a straight red card from referee Mahboob. The corner flag felt the force of Carter's displeasure as he left the field.
The referee will be disappointed to have missed the seemingly obvious violent conduct displayed by several United F.C. players in the immediate aftermath of the challenge, which occurred right infront of him, and his failure to referee the game in a fair and conclusive manner with his mishandling of the situation thereafter. He received several choice words from Carter upon restart of the game, before the Lions number 15 was led away to calm down.
Half TIme 0-0
Assistant Manager and Coach Tilbury and West set about rescheduling the team in the half time break, switching to a 4-3-2 with Casey partnering Harris up front, and Why being flanked by Sharples and Jordan as they tucked in from the wing.
A few minutes into the game's second half, centre half Simon Thomas came off, suffering from an ankle injury, to be replaced by striker Alan Davies. This move saw Andy Harris dropping into central defence, with Davies going up front.
The non stop running from Casey and Sharples always meant the Lions possessed a chance on the counter and Casey almost hit the jackpot when he cross shot was allowed to roll right across the box but there was no one there to tap home.
With just under half hour left, Jona McNight came on to replace left back Dan Stacey. Stacey had rarely been tested down the left hand side, such was the lack of width applied by UFC, but almost immediately they pushed the impressive number 7 Josh Butler out wide right against McNight.
The Lions back four remained strong and repelled anything they had to deal with, although it must be said that the game had failed miserably to live up to the entertaining spectacle shared by the two sides almost a month ago, both sides struggling to get out of neutral over the 90 minutes.
With 20 minutes to go, a ball was allowed to bounce and substitute Sohail Abbas was left one on one against keeper Mordas, Mordas won the battled and produced a fine one handed save with McNight racing across the box to clear.
It was at the moment, Tilbury stepped off the bench to replace Dale Why, who had enjoyed another impressive appearance. The Lions moved to a 4-2-3 as they chased the victory in a bold, attacking move by Carter, who had now calmed down and taken the Linesman's flag. With Tilbury moving in alongside Casey and Davies in a front three.
Almost as soon as he brought himself on, Tilbury almost bagged a goal, but his finishing let him down as he could only fire straight at keeper Matt Davis, when shooting either side surely would've netted the tall frontman his 12th of the season.
As the Lions poured forward, Sam Jordan got the better of his man on the right and forced the keeper into a save down low to his left. Jordan had been particularly impressive in an unfamiliar position.
Tom Stevens followed Carter into the referee's book when a crude challenge stopped Abbas as he tried to force his way through the Lions rearguard. Again, Stevens can have no real complaints.
As the game entered the final 5 minutes, the fatigue brought on by playing with 10 men for almost an hour finally told, as a rare United F.C. attack heralded them the games winning goal when Mohammed Asheiq carried the ball forward down the Lions left hand side, easily stepping past McNight, before being fouled by a robust Tilbury challenge, the ball rolled kindly for a United FC player who took a touch on the corner of the Lions 6 yard box and curled the ball, left footed, past a diving Adam Mordas into the far corner, it was very harsh on the Lions who had battled valiantly against the extra man, and deserved a point throughout the game.
Man of the Match - Soctt Sharples. Closely followed by Casey and Jordan.
Mordas - Done what he had to do. Good handling.
West - Solid. Perhaps lucky with late handball.
Stevens - Excellent on his return to outfield play. Booked.
Thomas - Again, solid. Unfortunate with injury.
Stacey - Rarely tested. Couple of customary wobbles but great last ditch block in first half.
Jordan - Bags of class. Worked his socks off. Tired late on
Why - Important blocks, looks creative when given the opportunity.
Casey - MoTM contender. Faultless. Kept his head under testing times.
Sharples - MoTM. A real captains performance. Never stopped running and battling.
Harris - Showed great versatility. Unlucky with first half call. Worked hard.
Carter - Let his team-mates and players down. Needs to find a way to stop the red mist descending.
Subs:
Davies - Worked hard. Could've snuck a goal when poking narrowly wide.
McNight - Still feeling his way into the team after 3 month injury lay off. Rusty. Great clearance.
Tilbury - Obviously not well. Missed chances he would've normally gobbled up. Little time to impact.
