Wanderers 1, Southend 1, (6-7 on penalties)

Wanderers’ fantastic season came to the cruellest of ends as Southend emerged victorious in a penalty shoot-out to win the League Two play-off final at Wembley.

Sam Wood saw the 16th spot-kick tipped onto the post by Daniel Bentley as the Wycombe players collapsed to the turf.

Gareth Ainsworth’s side had been a matter of seconds away from promotion in extra-time after Joe Jacobson’s free-kick had ricocheted in off Bentley after 95 minutes.

Wanderers held the lead up until the final minute of two added on before Joe Pigott picked out the bottom corner with a low shot.

Alex Lynch saved the first penalty of the shoot-out but he couldn’t get close to another one as Matt Bloomfield also missed for Blues.

The noisy Chairboys fans stayed behind to applaud their team, who had come so close to achieving what no one thought possible when then season kicked off in August.

Lynch, who would have dreamt that he would make his professional debut this season when he joined the club in July probably didn’t imagine he would be playing in a game of this magnitude, was handed a start in goal after Matt Ingram failed his race to be fit, meaning the 20-year-old made just his fourth appearance in professional football at the national stadium.

Gareth Ainsworth raised one or two eyebrows amongst Blues fans with the inclusion of Hogan Ephraim, whose start in the semi-final second leg against Plymouth was just his sixth of the season, ahead of the tireless Steven Craig.

His opposite number Phil Brown included striker Corr, who had netted three times in his last three outings against Wanderers, including two goals when the sides last met at Roots Hall in March.

Half of Wembley was a wall of light and dark blue as the outnumbered Chairboys support did their best to out-sing the Southend fans draped in yellow on the west side of the stadium.

The game kicked off amidst a roar from both sets of fans but proceedings were halted just two seconds in when Sam Saunders went down under an innocuous challenge from Will Atkinson after receiving the ball from kick-off and needed lengthy treatment.

There seemed to be no malice in the tackle but the on loan Brentford midfielder was in real pain and the anguish on his face was evident as he limped off, meaning Wycombe’s longest serving player Matt Bloomfield came on in the fourth minute.

Wanderers came out of the blocks quickest after the lengthy delay and the inclusion of Ephraim seemed to be paying early dividends as he got the better of Shrimpers skipper John White to whip in two tempting crosses.

Lynch, who had looked shaky in the first leg of the semi-final before putting in a more confident display in the second, clung onto Corr’s downward header from Atkinson’s corner as Southend mustered the first real opening of the game.

Another Atkinson corner saw the Shrimpers come within inches of opening the scoring as Cian Bolger, who after shaking off the attentions of Alfie Mawson, planted a header narrowly wide of the far post with Lynch well beaten.

This was Wanderers’ first appearance at Wembley since it was reopened in 2007 and they seemed to be freezing on the big stage as the team in yellow began to dominate and who thought they had gone ahead when Corr headed home yet another corner.

 The big Irishman wheeled away in jubilation before realising that referee Simon Hooper had disallowed the goal following a slight push by Bolger on Nico Yennaris.

It was a let-off for Wycombe and one which the replays showed that Brown and his team had every reason to feel aggrieved.

Bentley had been a relative spectator as the game moved toward half-time, but he was called into action for the first time when Ephraim once again stole a yard on White and floated a ball to the six yard line where Paul Hayes prodded the ball straight at the Shrimpers stopper.

Both sides were keen not to make mistakes and their hesitance in committing men forward was making for a tense spectacle although Sam Wood threatened to release the tension with a piledriver from distance which flew narrowly over the bar as the half petered out.

Ainsworth will not have been pleased with a flat first half performance but his players emerged for the second half geed up and they won a corner 30 seconds after the restart following good interplay by Yennaris and Ephraim.

Wycombe fans have grown to appreciate the left foot of Jacobson since his arrival in the summer and the defender whipped a beautiful ball to the back post, where Mawson rose highest but cleared the cross bar with his effort.

Moments later the fans in the east end were even more thankful to the Welshman as he reacted quickest to clear Stephen McLaughlin’s driven cross on the six yard line as David Worrall lurked ominously.

Wanderers looked a side transformed from the team who had mustered only one effort on goal in the first 45 minutes and, although Bentley was still relatively untroubled, Mawson came close to hitting the target with another header from a Jacobson corner.

Clear cut chances had been few and far between but Southend wasted a glorious one when the unmarked Corr met Worrall’s cross from the right.

The striker headed it down but his effort lacked power and Lynch was able to fall on it as everyone of a blue persuasion in the ground took a collective sigh of relief.

Just as the tide was beginning to turn in the Shrimpers’ favour a man who had been on the periphery of proceedings, Aaron Holloway, unlocked the Southend defence with a moment of magic.

After a one-two with Hayes the 22-year-old turned the ball back into his strike partner’s path with a classy flick which rendered the defence motionless and left the Wycombe captain bearing down on goal.

The striker took a touch to set himself before his electing to try and place his right-foot effort into the far bottom corner, drawing a fine one-handed save from Bentley before Ben Coker cleared the danger.

After Wycombe’s earlier fortune with Corr’s disallowed effort, lady luck was smiling on the Chairboys again as Corr was denied what Sky pundit Peter Beagrie labelled a “stonewall” penalty after Jacobson shoved the forward in the back as he stretched to reach a header.

Ainsworth turned to one of his trusted ‘lieutenants’ in the team when he threw on Craig for Ephraim with seven minutes left and it was a change which nearly paid the biggest dividend.

The Scotsman took up a position on the left and, after receiving the ball from Wood, delivered a superb floated cross to the middle of the box where Pierre’s powerful header was tipped over acrobatically by Bentley.

Both sets of fans were doing their best to raise their heroes and those fans were resigned to another half an hour of play as the final whistle went with the tension at fever point in the national stadium.

The Wycombe boss was doing his best to rouse the Wanderers fans equally as much as his players, and they showed their intent in the opening throws of extra-time as Hayes sent a shot narrowly wide before heading over the bar.

Wanderers’ were on top and the fans decked out in light and dark blue were in dreamland five minutes into the extra period.

Holloway was felled a few yards from the edge of the box – in what will be known forever more by the Wycombe fans at Wembley as ‘Jacobson territory’.

The left-back had sent his previous free-kicks over the crossbar but this flat, curling effort rebounded off the underside of the bar before bouncing down, catching Bentley on the back and nestling in the back of the net.

Cue an eruption of noise from the Chairbys support. It will go down as a Bentley own goal, but it will take a brave man to tell that to Jacobson, who stared through the roof at the national stadium in disbelief at what he’d just done.

The Southend fell silent. Wanderers players began to run the clock down amid chants of “you’re not singing anymore” from the Blues fans, who were now in party mode.

Half-time in extra-time. The Chairboys were now just 15 minutes away from a return to League One after a three year absence.

Southend, as you would expect, weren’t going to go down without a fight and it took a fine claim from Lynch to end a spell of pressure as the Shrimpers sent the ball scrambling around the penalty area.

Holloway, fresh from signing a new on-year deal at the club, had the entirety of Wembley on their feet as with five minutes left he held off White before cutting inside Bolger and braking through the last line of Southend defence.

A roar which made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up ensued and the forward ran through on goal, looking destined to put the game beyond all doubt.

The striker saw the whites of the ‘keeper’s eyes but he tried to sidestep Coker instead of striking the ball at goal and the full-back’s last-ditch tackle stripped the ball away from him.

As the fourth official’s board went up showing two minutes would be added on, Wanderers looked to be home and hosed, but there was a sting left in the tail.

Southend substitute Pigott controlled the ball in the box and his shot evaded a sea of blue shirts as it rolled into the far corner past a helpless Lynch a matter of seconds before Simon Hooper bough the game to an end.

The Shrimpers, including manager Phil Brown, celebrated like they’d won the match as Wanderers trudged into the huddle looking down beat.

Lynch may have dreamed about the prospect of a penalty shoot-out as he lay in bed last night and he came close to pulling off a save as dove to his left but he couldn’t keep out Pigott’s penalty.

Peter Murphy arrived as Blues’ last substitute and he lashed the ball home with all the confidence in the world to level the scores.

Coker stepped up next, struck it down the middle and the trailing legs of Lynch kept the ball out as the Wycombe fans exploded with noise.

Mawson was next in line for Wycombe and he rammed the advantage home with a cool penalty before Ryan Leonard responded in kind.

Penalty take extraordinaire Hayes walked up and dispatched his spot-kick as Bentley dove in the other direction before Jack Payne kept the pressure on.

‘Mr Wycombe’ was up next but his right-foot strike was a nice height for Bentley, who parried it away.

Michael Timlin, adorned in a scrum cap, sent Lynch the wrong way to make it 4-3 to Southend before Marcus Bean slotted home with all the pressure in the world on his shoulders.

Adam Barrett hit the roof of the net before the pressure mounted once again on Jacobson, but the left-back rolled his penalty in with consummate ease. Sudden death.

Myles Weston picked out the bottom corner as Holloway strode up next for Wycombe. The big man owes a big debt to the post after his effort snuck in.

The two managers were in agony on the sidelines as they stood side by side. Bolger netted next, leaving Wood to take what would be the final spot-kick of the match.

The midfielder hit his shot to Bentley’s left but the ‘keeper got enough on the ball to turn it against the post as Wanderers season came to a cruel end.

Wycombe Wanderers: Lynch, Yennaris (Murphy), Mawson, Pierre, Jacobson, Wood, Bean, Saunders (Bloomfield), Hayes, Ephraim (Craig), Holloway
Substitutes not used: Horlock, McClure, Kretzschmar, Onyedinma
Goals: Bentley OG 95,

Southend United: Bentley, White, Bolger, Barrett, Coker, Worrall, Atkinson (Weston), Leonard, Timlin, McLaughlin (Pigott), Corr
Substitutes not used: T. Smith, Prosser, Payne, Deegan, Cassidy,
Goals: Pigott 122

Referee: Simon Hooper
Assistant referees: Jonathan Hunt and Billy Smallwood
Fourth official: Graham Scott

Attendance: 38,252