Wanderers 2, Plymouth 1, (5-3 on aggregate)

Wanderers booked their place in the League One play-off final at Wembley after a confident display saw them beat Plymouth in front of a noisy Adams Park crowd.

Paul Hayes had scored the opener in the first leg and the Wycombe captain was once again on target to hand his side the initiative after eight minutes.

The home side were unrelenting in their pursuit of a first play-off final since 1994 and they doubled their lead when Alfie Mawson met a corner after 34 minutes.

Plymouth improved after the break but their travelling fans were left facing a long journey back to Devon despite Ryan Brunt setting up a nervy finale with a second half strike.

Wanderers held on to their advantage on the night and they advanced to the final where they will face Stevenage or Southend United in the final on May 23. 

Gareth Ainsworth professed his pride, in his last programme notes of the season, at the team’s performance on the pitch over the course of the campaign and he challenged his players to “achieve something nobody imagined” at the start of the season and make it to Wembley.

The Blues boss also said in the pre-match build-up that first choice ‘keeper Matt Ingram would be “very close” to returning but the stopper failed to recover from a knee injury, meaning that Alex Lynch made his second successive start in goal.

Ingram was joined in the stands by former Wycombe winger Paris Cowan-Hall, who also had first leg goal scorer Steven Craig for company after a hamstring injury ruled him out and opened the door for Hogan Ephraim.

There was no place in the Plymouth starting line-up for last week’s super subs Zak Ansah and Jason Banton, who both made do with a place on the bench as John Sheridan made only one change, bringing Dominic Blizzard in for Gethin Jones in midfield.

It took Wanderers ten minutes to take the lead in the first leg five days previously but they made that look pedestrian as Hayes, once again, opened the scoring with just eight minutes on the clock.

After Sam Saunders sent an inswinging corner to the back post, Mawson beat Luke McCormick to the ball and Hayes poked home from two yards in what was a carbon copy of the first goal at Home Park.

Buoyed by the goal the largest crowd of the season roared loudly once again as Saunders slid a through ball in behind the Pilgrims backline and, after brushing Curtis Nelson aside, Aaron Holloway forced a fine one-on-one save from McCormick.

Ephraim has been a peripheral figure since joining the club in October and on just his sixth start in light and dark blue quarters he seemed determined to finally make an impression.

The winger jinked down the left-hand side before floating up a teasing cross to the back post where the onrushing Nico Yennaris rose highest but saw his header fly narrowly wide of the target.

Wanderers haven’t made it to a play-off final since 1994 but they planted more than one foot on the Wembley turf when Plymouth failed to deal with another Wycombe corner.

Jacobson delivered from the right and his whipped ball picked out Mawson who nodded into an empty net after McCormick had come flying out of his goal and ended up in no man’s land.

Adams Park erupted and the pain of blowing a 3-0 lead at Home Park had evaporated as they built up a 5-2 aggregate lead with just 34 minutes played.

The Green Army were also given a taste of their own medicine as thousands of Blues fans shone the lights on their phones, sparking memories of the Plymouth fans on Saturday.

As the half-time whistle sounded everything was going to plan for Ainsworth and his men, although the Blues boss probably spent the 15 minute interval reminding his team what had happened in the final five minutes at Home Park.

Clearly angered by his team’s first half display, Sheridan made a triple change at the break with last week’s super subs Ansah and Banton on alongside striker Brunt in place of Carl McHugh, Blizzard and Reuben Reid.

The Plymouth boss had seen his side fail to test Lynch in the entire first half although they came close to hitting the target when Brunt flicked Tareiq Holmes-Dennis’ cross a yard wide of the near post.

Ainsworth had switched Yennaris to right-back after the introduction of the pacy Banton but that didn’t stop the Plymouth winger flying past the on loan Brentford man.

Banton sent over a flat cross which caught out Lynch although the rookie ‘keeper showed lightning quick reactions to tip the ball onto the underside of the bar and watched from the ground as it trickled out of play.

Plymouth had improved since the break and they finally put the host under pressure when first Bobby Reid and then Banton called Lynch into useful saves.

But after 71 minutes the 20-year-old could only watch on in despair as Ansah sprung the offside trap, got to the byline and pulled the ball back for Brunt, who applied the finishing touches with a cheeky flick.

For the first time in the evening Blues were feeling the strain and a nervousness around the ground which nearly reached fever point when the ball fell to Ansah inside Wycombe’s box after he was teed up by Kelvin Mellor.

The on loan Charlton man struck it first time toward the near post where Lynch was ready and waiting with two solid hands to turn the ball round the post.

McCormick had been reduced to a bystander as the home side were nullified as an attacking force in the second half but they came agonisingly close to putting the tie beyond all doubt with ten minutes left.

Sam Wood did superbly to keep the ball alive in the penalty area, allowing Aaron Pierre to lay the ball back for the onrushing Hayes, who sent a side foot effort flying a yard wide of the far post with the Pilgrims stopper beaten.

The remaining minutes were a case of ‘anywhere will do’ for Wanderers as they called upon every ounce of their resilience to keep out their desperate opponents.

Lynch capped a fine night with a fingertip save at the back post as Wycombe booked their place at Wembley with a win.

Wanderers: Lynch, Bean, Mawson, Pierre, Jacobson, Ephraim, Yennaris, Wood, Saunders, Hayes (McClure), Holloway
Substitutes not used: Horlock, Bloomfield, Fletcher, Murphy, Onyedinma, Kretzschmar
Goals: Hayes 8, Mawson 34,

Plymouth: McCormick, Holmes-Dennis, Mellor, Nelson, McHugh (Ansah), Hartley, Blizzard (Banton), O’Connor, B Reid, R Reid (Brunt), Alessandra
Substitutes not used: Bittner, Purrington, Harvey, Jones,
Goals: Brunt 71,

Referee: N Miller
Assistant referees: S Oldham and J Whiteley
Fourth official: D Whitestone