A PAUL Emblen winner on 69 minutes was enough to give Wycombe a win against a previously impressive Brentford side in an extremely dull match with the atmosphere of a night out at the opera.
A practically empty Adams Park watched a Lawrie Sanchez team that had several changes made from Saturday's 1-1 draw with Bournemouth. Mark Osborn, Dave Carroll, Gavin Holligan, Paul Emblen, Ben Townsend, Martyn Lee, Dannie Bulman and Keith Ryan were all brought into the starting line-up to play an also largely under strength Brentford side, who currently top Division 2.
The first 15 minutes had only one attempt on goal of note, a good passing Wycombe move fell to Dannie Bulman just inside the area but he sliced his shot well wide of goal.
Wycombe had a very good reason to ask for a penalty on 16 minutes when Martyn Lee seemed to have been fouled inside the box by a Brentford defender. But the referee gave the free-kick two yards outside the area, much to the anguish of the Wycombe fans and players.
It took Brentford until the 20th minute to have their first attempt on the Wanderers' goal, and it was Lloyd Owusu who blasted a the ball over when faced with just Mark Osborn to beat.
On 28 minutes a dubious decision from the referee to give an indirect free-kick to Wycombe inside the area because of a back pass, led to Martyn Lee stepping up to take it.
It was a brilliantly executed shot with pace and power and it was heading straight for the top left hand corner of the net until Brentford's second choice keeper, Paul Smith, stuck out his left arm to claw it behind for a Wycombe corner.
Martyn Lee continued to impress and prove to the Wycombe crowd that he really is an excellent prospect for the future.
The rest of the first half, it has to be said, was dour with very little incident and the teams went in for the break at 0-0.
Two minutes into the second half, Martyn Lee had another brilliant shot. After being played through by Carroll, he turned on to his left foot and hit a scorching shot that smacked into the post.
On 58 minutes Ben Townsend was strechered off with a broken tibia after falling awkwardly on his ankle. He now faces three months at least on the sidelines.
He was eventually replaced by Roger Johnson, making his first appearance of the season.
It took only a further 10 minutes for Wycombe to get the goal.
A move between Emblen and Bulman ended up at the feet of Bulman, who put in a low cross across the face of the goal. Emblen turned on to his left and blasted the ball past Smith to mildly ignite the Wycombe fans for the first time on the night.
Wycombe had one more chance before the end of the game and it fell to substitute Leeyon Phelan, who went through one on one with the keeper after a Roger Johnson through ball. But he slipped at the vital moment on the damp grass and scuffed his shot in to the waiting arms of Smith.
Wycombe will play Brighton away in the next round of the LDV vans trophy and fans will be hoping that the match is more exciting than this one.
Wycombe team:
Osborn, Senda, Townsend (Johnson), Rogers, Ryan(c), McSporran, Bulman, Lee, Carroll, Emblen (Phelan), Holligan.
Brentford team:
Smith, Anderson, Ingimarsson, Evans (Smith), Owusu (Gibbs), Hutchinson, O'Connor, Theobald, Hunt, Price, Burgess.
Attendance: 2,051
By Sean Bradshaw
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