Yeovil 1 Wycombe 0

LIKE certain wines and French rugby teams, Wycombe don’t travel well.

They’ve picked up just one point in 18 from their League 2 trips this season, and at Huish Park this afternoon, the Chairboys rarely looked like dispelling those away day blues.

After a scrappy and pretty unmemorable match, it took one bit of magic to break the deadlock.

Ryan Hedges tapped the ball in from close range for Yeovil, after Wycombe goalkeeper Jamal Blackman could only turn Alex Lawless’s low shot onto the post, and his Yeovil team-mate collected the 36th minute rebound.

Defeat ended a run of four straight wins for Wycombe.

Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth named the same starting 11 who began the match against Exeter last week. That meant Exeter match winner, Adebayo Akinfenwa was named as one of the substitutes, along with Stephen McGinn, who was on the bench to replace Scott Kashket, absent through sickness.

Frenetic opening quarter of an hour with a game of pinball football as neither team seemed capable of putting a foot on the ball or finding their team-mate with at least a couple of consecutive passes.

Yeovil defender Bevis Mugabi offered the first shot in anger after 15 minutes, but his speculative effort didn’t trouble the bright pink and lime green clad Wycombe keeper, Jamal Blackman.

The Chairboys’ keeper was called into action five minutes later, smartly turning behind a sweetly struck shot from Nathan Smith, who cut inside Michael Harriman to produce a low effort which would have crept in at the post.

Otis Khan’s well-placed left wing corner into the six yard area was palmed away for another flag kick. And when Matthew Dolan sent in a second corner kick, Blackman failed to collect, the ball cannoned off the knee of Smith on the edge of the six yard box, and into the six foot six inch Wycombe keeper’s grateful arms as he lay on the floor.

Sam Wood snapped at a left foot volley on the edge of the box after 29 minutes which didn’t trouble the Yeovil keeper.

Another Dolan right-wing corner on the half hour caused more concern in the Wycombe defence. This time, his well struck left-foot cross, found central defender Alex Lacey, who rose highest at the far post but his downward header eight yards out sailed over the crossbar.

Minutes later, Garry Thompson offered Wycombe’s first shot at goal. The midfielder shook off a defender, and with a clear sight of goal on the edge of the penalty area, he could only drag his left foot shot wide, with Yeovil keeper Artur Krysiak not called on to make a save.

Yeovil finally breached Wycombe’s defence in the 36th minute with an exquisite goal. Alex Lawless strode forward and left fly with a crisp low drive from outside the penalty area which Blackman turned on to the left-hand post. The ball flashed across the goal line and Ryan Hedges tapped the ball home to put the Glovers in front.

Three minutes later, Khan should have doubled Yeovil’s lead. He forced Harriman off the ball, twisted and turned his way to the edge of the six yard box, but blazed his shot across the face of the goal.

Sam Wood played in Paris Cowan-Hall in 43rd minute as he cut inside the Yeovil area. Despite the acute angle close to the touchline, Cowan-Hall’s deft goal bound chip over the head of Krysiak was turned away by the keeper, and there was no Wycombe player to retrieve the loose ball.

Wycombe began the second half with a little more pep, pressing high and zipping the ball forward quickly.

Within three minutes of the re-start, Cowan-Hall found space and tucked a low cross behind the Yeovil defence and into the area. The well-measured cross just failed to meet the outstretched foot of skipper Paul Hayes and was turned behind for a corner.

The Chairboys were offering more up front. Wood and Cowan Hall linked up well after 55 minutes with an effort which Krysiak collected, and then Hayes and Cowan-Hall played in a neat one-two which Yeovil’s defence cleared for a corner on the hour. Wycombe’s short corner routine came to nothing, however.

Leading scorer, Adebayo Akinfenwa was thrown into the fray after 63 minutes for Garry Thompson.

With Cowan-Hall playing wide behind Akinfenwa and Hayes, the Beast began to give Wycombe the zest they were looking for.

He was in the thick of the action straight away, controlling a cross into the penalty area, and, despite being surrounded by a forest of defenders, Akinfenwa fed the ball to Rowe who stabbed his effort wide.  

Hayes and Akinfenwa combined well to set up a free-kick left edge of the Yeovil area after 72 minutes. But Jacobson’s left-foot curler sailed high and out of harm’s way over the four-man wall.

Yeovil came close to sealing the match after 79 minutes when fine chasing down by Ryan Hedges allowed him to cross the ball to the far post, past Blackman, and Dolan’s effort crawled slowly across the face of the goal.

Nick Freeman came on as a late substitute. With time running out, Freeman had a last chance to grab an equaliser after Akinfenwa outjumped Darren Ward to win crucial header inside the penalty area, but the Wycombe player blasted his shot into the side netting.

Wycombe: Blackman, Jacobson (sub: Freeman 81), Stewart, Pierre, Thompson (sub: Akinfenwa, 63), Hayes, Wood, Cowan-Hall, Harriman, Rowe, Gape (Bloomfield 69). Subs: Richardson, Jombati, McGinn, De Havilland.

Yeovil: Krysiak, Smith, Dolan, Mugabi, Lacey, Dawson, Lawless, Khan (sub: Whitfield, 86), Campbell, Hedges, Ward. Subs: Maddison, Ezewele, Copp, Sowunmi, McLeod, Lea.

Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire)

Attendance: 3,187 (319 away)