Barnet 0

Wycombe 2.

 

GARRY Thompson’s stunning second half strike and his injury time penalty maintained Wanderers’ 100 per cent start to the League Two season in a bruising encounter at The Hive.

The veteran striker opened his Wycombe account in style with a brilliant left-footed effort in the 50th minute and then made the game safe with an injury time penalty to endear himself to the travelling hordes.

Last season Wanderers had the best away record out of all the other 72 Football League clubs and they served notice that they are in no mood to surrender that record easily as they won at the first attempt on their travels this time around thanks to their new man’s double.

And they had to show both sides of their game to do it mixing the ugly hard work with quality when it was needed and owing a debt of gratitude to keeper Matt Ingram for a fine one handed save when it was 1-0.

The keeper who manager Gareth Ainsworth hailed as the best in League Two afterwards produced an unbelieavable one handed save to keep out Michael Gash's overhead kick from almost point-blank range as Barnet chucked the kitchen sink at them.

For the third game running manager Gareth Ainsworth was forced to change his central defensive partnership. This time it was Anthony Stewart who failed to make it through injury so Danny Rowe, despite not being 100 per cent himself, retained his place alongside the returning Aaron Pierre who was relishing the chance to lock horns against with Barnet’s muscular striker John Akinde.

Luke O’Nien also returned to the side and was tasked with putting the yards in from box to box to enable Marcus Bean to rigidly patrol the area in front of his own back four.

Another change came up front with Aaron Amadi-Holloway dropping down to the bench as Blues went for the experience of Paul Hayes alongside the evergreen Thompson who more than warranted his place.

Wanderers had come to Barnet and won in the FA Cup last season. That day they fell a goal behind early on and then had to withstand a 20 minute bombardment before emerging with the win after the Bees had two men sent off.

And it should have been advantage Barnet early on again this time around. Akinde found himself in the clear from a deflected pass as Wycombe’s defence were all sea but with just goalkeeper Ingram to beat the former Wycombe man stabbed the ball wide of the post to the relief of the noisy 902-strong Wanderers contingent massed behind the goal.

Wycombe looked to get the ball forward as quickly as possible but their goal came under threat again on 14 minutes. This time it was Curtis Weston who broke free but Pierre raced back to save the situation with a goal-saving tackle on him deep inside his own box.

Immediately after that reprieve Wycombe had a great chance to take the lead themselves. O’Nien escaped down the left and cut back a tempting low ball right across the edge of the Bees box to the feet of Michael Harriman who lacked any composure as he smashed Wycombe’s best chance of the first half high and wide.

It was frantic and frenetic with the ball spending plenty of time in the air but Luke Gamblin’s quality cross from the left wing did catch Joe Jacobson in a pickle and the Blues defender was fortunate to get two chances to clear it with Akinde lurking.

Neither side had much time to settle on the ball but Blues skipper Hayes showed his craft in the middle of the battlefield to thread a glorious pass through to Thompson who was crowded out just when it looked like a chance might open up for him.

As the challenges continued to fly in, Jacobson needed his head bandaging on the pitch, but he was still able to do just enough to hurry Bees’ danagerman Gamblin into skidding a rushed shot wide.

The pace and commitment never let up but it was Gamblin that did most to inject quality and he shook the frame of Wycombe goal with a rasping rising drive which smacked the bar minutes before half time.

But there was still time for the high-energy Bees to knock on the door again and the first half ended as it began with Akinde kicking himself and the net after again finding himself clear in the Wycombe box and again sticking an excellent chance wide of the same post he had done almost 45 minutes earlier.

While he untangled himself from the rigging, Bees boss Martin Allen apologised to some female fans in the front row who caught the gist of his colourful language.

If the first half had been largely Barnet’s, Wycombe would have gone down the tunnel at the interval knowing that Barnet would do well to maintain their pace of the first half  having played half an hour’s extra time in their cup win at Millwall in midweek.

And it was Wycombe who began after the restart with greater intent. Hayes, Thompson and Harriman combined superbly but Barnet got back en-masse to block his shot and suffocate the space in front of him just as the Wycombe skipper’s eyes were lighting up.

Moments later, at the other end, Sido Jombati, produced an equally good block to thwart Gamblin.

The game was opening up and within seconds Thompson found himself with a clear run on the Barnet goal but his 34-year-old legs were no match for Bira Dembele who produced a perfectly timed tackle to rob him in the box.

Thompson wasn’t to be denied though and the former Capital One Cup finalist with Bradford City opened the scoring on 50 minutes with a stunning strike. There seemed to be nothing on  when he received the ball with his back to goal. But he moved the ball out of his feet and after creating a yard of space for himself took aim and bent a fierce left foot shot into the back of the net.

It was a goal worthy of winning any game but Wanderers knew they still had plenty of work to do because Martin Allen sides don’t lie down.

But Wycombe now had the bit between their teeth. Wood fed Hayes down the left and his cross was cut out on the penalty spot just as Thompson was sniffing a second.

Barnet’s frustration boiled over with Akinde’s nasty challenge on Ingram somehow escaping a yellow card.

Wanderers would have been glad to see the back of Gamblin when he was substituted before the 70-minute mark which was when Blues made their first change with skipper Hayes being withdrawn having run himself into the ground and being replaced with the fresh legs of Amadi-Holloway.

Wycombe needed to remain alert though and Ingram was caught by a late challenge from Ben Tomlinson which earned the Barnet man a yellow card.

Ingram remained on the ground for a while but Alex Lynch who had been recalled early from his loan at Wealdstone was not required.

O’Nien was next into the notebook for an equally poor challenge and with Danny Rowe also going down in a heap Wanderers had to make a change with Jason Banton replacing him. That neccesitated a switch to three at the back for Blues but effectively it was all hands to the pump as Barnet chucked everything they had at Wycombe.

As the tempers began to fray again Bondz N’Gala had a half hearted appeal for a penalty turned away as Barnet launched wave after wave of attack.

And they were denied an 84th minute equaliser by a spectacular save from Ingram which was as good as you will see. Michael Gash threw himself into a stunning bicycle kick which Ingram could not have seen until the last minute but the Wycombe stopper dived to his left before flicking out a strong glove to keep the ball out.

With Wycombe now under the cosh Amadi-Holloway will know he should have done much better than softly poke a shot towards the Barnet goal after Banton had played him in on an increasingly rare counter attack.

Barnet were getting increasingly desperate and in the first of the seven minutes of injury time that were added on they sent keeper Graham Stack up for a corner before his opposite number Ingram was not surprisingly booked for timewasting.

But it was Wycombe who made the most of those extra seven minutes extending their lead from the penalty spot. Thompson was felled by Dembele in the box and the striker dusted himself down to send Stack the wrong way with the penalty and double Blues lead.