Cod Almighty | Match Report

by Mat Hare

3 January 2004

Wycombe 4 Grimsby Town 1

Cod Almighty's usual match reporter Tony Butcher decided that he preferred the antique shops of Horncastle to the Causeway Stadium in High Wycombe so wasn't going to be able to write a record of proceedings. Instead you've got me doing it, mainly as a favour to my long-suffering editor. Pete, I'll try and make this better than the tips.

It was the day before the match that I realised I would be doing this report and on checking the Wycombe Wanderers website I saw that they suggest away fans should purchase tickets from their own club before attending. Did this mean I wouldn't be able to get in? I rang the Wycombe ticket office where a nice young lady told me there would be no problem with me paying on the gate, which was a relief. I didn't ask whether she puts the water or milk in when making tea though. Next was to check how long it was going to take to get there on the train and how much it would set me back. Just under £11 for a day return, with only two changes and a little over two hours each way. Marvellous. I shoved a notepad, pen, book and mp3 player into a bag ready for the next day.

Did I say two changes? Yeah, thought so. That turned into five because of South West Trains. At least it means I got to see quite a lot of the District Line and read quite a bit of my book. What more could I ask for? Anyway, I made it to Marylebone a few minutes before the next train to High Wycombe departed. I boarded a rather nice Chiltern Railways train and less than 40 minutes later I was there.

I had read on the Wycombe website that the ground was about three miles away from the station so I wandered through the town centre, past some very nice looking pubs, looking for the bus station. Unable to find it, I made my way into the tourist information centre. There I was pointed in the right direction by a lovely young lass who also gave me a little map and bus timetable. Armed with these I was able to find a bus that took me straight to the ground. And as second division grounds go, it's quite a nice one.

I hadn't realised until I was walking though the town centre that the ground is shared with London Wasps rugby union club. And yes, I did say London Wasps. But then London Irish play at Reading and London Luton airport is in, er, Luton. Madness I tell you. Anyway, I digress. For those who haven't been there, the ground has two nice, quite new stands - one of which was used to house the away fans - and two older stands, one of which is not unlike the Main Stand at Blundell Park and the other is terraced. The pitch looked in remarkably good condition bearing in mind the recent weather and the fact that it sees twice as much action as most.

Talking of the weather, as I entered the ground at about 2:20 there was a little flurry of snow that soon passed. The ground also gets into my good books because it has what many grounds lack these days, a scoreboard. In fact the Causeway Stadium had two.

The keepers, Davison and Hughes, were out to warm up a good 10 minutes before the outfield players, who seemed to be preparing for the match with a lot of passing and moving initially. A good sign. Some players formed little four- or five-man groups and knocked the ball about between them. Groves spent a lot of the warm-up running up and down, not bothering with the ball. Interesting that Pouton was the only one wearing tracksuit bottoms. A sign that he still wasn't match fit or was he finally admitting to being a bit soft?

The first team was announced as Davison, McDermott, Crane, Edwards, Cas, Campbell, Hamilton, Pouton, Jevons, Boulding and Onuora with Mansaram, Young, Ford, Anderson and Groves on the bench. No place for Bradley Hughes, Groves preferring to name a bench full of outfield players. Of the subs, Mansaram had proved perfectly capable of hitting the post, having done so several times in warm-up, while Iain Anderson just kept hitting the ball straight at Hughes in nets. Oh, and Jevons had grown some designer stubble to go with his white boots, all ways of making us remember that he really is a decent footballer.

The teams went in and came out again with all the Town players starting where you would expect, if you expected Macca to start at left-back and Cas to start at right-back. Campbell was playing right wing, with Jevons playing left wing, in a 4-4-2 formation, as has become the norm of late.

Wycombe were giving recent loan signings Stuart Nethercott and Nathan Tyson their debuts. The far end terrace was full with the side stands less than half full. The away end behind one of the goals had a few hundred Town fans in (377 out of a crowd of 4,519 I would later find out).

First half
Wycombe kicked off towards their own fans and in keeping with tradition the ball was out for a throw-in within five seconds. The start was scrappy with Michael Simpson going in quite hard on Pouton. Had Tony Adams marked him out as a danger man? Town's first attacking opportunity ended with the linesman raising his flag as Iffy was offside. Less than two minutes later the ball was in the net, our net. Only five minutes had gone and Pouton had been robbed of the ball, Tyson crossing from Town's left for Moore to knock the ball past Davison.

Shortly after the restart Michael Simpson decided to leave Pouton alone and went after Campbell instead, going in with a high foot that earned the Wycombe lad a booking. Town's attacks were breaking down as they reached the final third, characterised by poor balls in and no control by the forwards, which meant we were being hit on the break a lot. But things suddenly changed as Boulding went on a run into the box and couldn't find room for a shot, so laid the ball back to Jevons who stuck in a lovely cross which Onuora stooped to conquer at the far post, heading the ball across the keeper into the far corner. The Wycombe lead had lasted just three minutes.

Grimsby's next attack came from a Jevons dink out of midfield for Iffy to chase. Of course Iffy would have been last to the ball but Boulding made a darting run, just missing out as the ball ran through to Williams in the Wycombe goal.

Wycombe began to attack down the Town right more and more but their crosses were leading only to poor headers. From one such attack Campbell was able to break down the right, playing a great ball for Boulding to chase. Quick Mick broke the offside trap, the defenders running back with one arm raised - hmm, where have we seen that before, Mr Adams? - but the defender managed to get a leg on the centred ball, putting out for a corner. Town wasted the corner, which would become a rather too common occurrence in this game. Wycombe weren't wasting their corners like us though.

About midway through the half they had a dangerous looking corner swing in, which was headed wide of Davison's right post but it was a free header. The centre-backs seemed to be struggling a bit with the physical nature of the Wycombe attack, no more so than when Moore went in elbow first on Crane. The ref showed Moore the yellow card despite the Town fans calling for something a bit stronger.

The ref seemed to be favouring Town a bit in midfield, but having said that Wycombe were being very deliberately physical. Mr M Cooper did seem to be prone to changing his mind though, overruling his linesmen once or twice when they were in better positions to see. He also put his whistle into his mouth and puffed his cheeks out as if to blow for a foul on Boulding as he hit the deck just outside the left of the Wycombe box before waving away the appeals and indicating that Boulding dived. To be fair to the ref here Mick did dive a bit, much like he did against Oldham, but what wound the away fans up was the way he went 80 per cent of the way through giving the foul before changing his mind.

After about 25 minutes Mr Cooper had collected another name in his book: this time it was Steven Taylor for hacking down Jevons. But this didn't seem to dent Wycombe's attacking drive and on 28 minutes they scored a second. Darren Currie broke down the Town right and flicked the ball in towards the box where it was met by a brilliant volley from McSporran, the ball being guided past Aidan and inside the left post. It was met by a ripple of applause from the away fans. You had to give them that - it was a fantastic goal and a wonderful finish. I just wish teams would stop scoring great goals against us.

The game resorted then to the usual pattern of Crane and Edwards failing to cope with the Wycombe forwards and Town's attacks leading to nothing of any note. Except when some quick movement in the centre of midfield and a couple of lucky flicks led to Jevons being free on the left of the box but he fired his shot into the side netting. Currie again broke down the Town right swinging a cross in that pinged about as the Mariners' defence struggled to cope. Once cleared the Town attack was broken down by Ian Simpemba slicing down Des Hamilton, Disco's best contribution to the half.

It was nearing the end of the half but there was still time for more attacks by Grimsby. A Cas break down the right gave us a corner, which we wasted, obviously. Macca turned attacker down the left a few minutes before half time and was hacked down by McSporran, another promising raid on Wycombe territory ending with the ref taking McSporran's name. An attack down the right in stoppage time involved a lovely switch to Jevons on the left who stuck in another dangerous cross looking for Iffy again but the ball was well cleared by the centre-backs.

The first half had been disappointing for Town. There wasn't a lot they could have done about Wycombe's second goal but the Mariners had been slow going forward. When they did have the ball and a chance to attack Wycombe no-one was moving for the man on the ball, nobody giving him an option so moves frequently broke down early. Jevons, Boulding and Campbell had all made some good runs but the runs and through-balls from Campbell had been dragging Cas out of position and as a result Crane was having to cover right-back more often than Cas. On the other flank Macca was struggling, but then what do you expect from a seasoned right-back played out of position? Something had to change.

The popular opinion in the stands was that Hamilton had to be replaced by Young; Macca would revert to the right side pushing Cas up to right wing so Campbell could slot in the middle with Young in at left-back. It would have to be done at half time though; the fans felt giving it even 10 minutes of the second half would be too much.

Second half
Town were out of the changing rooms a couple of minutes ahead of Wycombe. Neither manager had made a change to their line-ups so it was as you were for Town, much to the annoyance of the away support. Town kicked off towards the Wycombe fans behind the far goal and the ball stayed in play until one of the Wycombe players gave away a free kick.

Two minutes into the half Crane missed a ball inside from the wing but the danger was swept away, much to Big Bird's relief. A few minutes later a switch to Campbell went back over to Cas, who swung in a good cross but there was no-one there to attack the ball. Wycombe came through the centre on the break and tapped the ball out to their left wing. It was centred and side-footed into the corner of the net by Moore again. The defence were appealing for offside but none was given. A bit of a soft goal really, with the back line not playing to the whistle.

With less than ten minutes of the half gone Wycombe had another promising attack. Cas made a mistake at right-back and gave Currie a good shooting opportunity, Davison diving to save the curling effort. This prompted Groves into a change and up went the board. The fans were expecting numbers 20 and 16 to be displayed, Young on for Hamilton, but it was Campbell who was sacrificed not Disco. Young trotted to left-back, Macca went to the right and Cas moved forward a berth. There was no sign of Campbell being injured and Des was playing awfully, so why it was Stu who made way for Young I don't know.

A couple of minutes later Crane found himself in the book for the umpteenth time this season. He fouled the lad and then gave the ref a load of verbal abuse so I guess he was booked for dissent rather than the challenge. Pouton was also having words with the ref and may have been lucky to escape a booking. After this Crane seemed to sulk, acting as though he'd been hard done by and nothing was fair. He thought he'd been fouled so stopped tracking his man back and it took a saving tackle from Young to prevent a shot on goal.

Then it happened. I couldn't believe it at first so I checked with those around me, but it was true. That fella in the striped shirt who just made a positive contribution to the match was Derrick Hamilton. He played a good ball wide to the marauding Cas but nothing came of the attack. This scared Tony Adams into taking action, and off went Tyson to be replaced by Stuart Roberts. Groves responded by bringing on Mansaram for Iffy, perhaps the only player thus far who had been really trying. The substitutions didn't really change the flow of the match.

Further Wycombe pressure ended in a shot over the bar and a good Pouton run led to a corner that Town failed to do anything with. After 73 minutes Mick tried to take the game by the scruff of the neck and attempted to round everyone in a Wycombe shirt before laying the ball out wide to Cas. The cross came in but nobody in a striped shirt attacked it. This was becoming an all-too-familiar scenario.

Then it happened again. Des did something of note for the second time in a game, this time pushing a good ball out to the left. This generated a bit of Town pressure, resulting in a corner. A low, flat, wasted corner. From the clearance Town won a free kick near the edge of the box. Jevons lined it up and clipped it in but as always it was cleared with ease. There was no movement again from the Town players, no urgency. Not what you need when you are two goals down with just 10 minutes of the game remaining.

The final period of the game followed a very similar pattern to the rest of the match. Town were standing off Wycombe, chasing shadows at times. When we did get the ball there was no movement and the attack failed. Wycombe were still playing very physically, Moore hauling down Crane as the two of them chased a through ball.

Shortly after this the Town fans began to trudge out of the ground. They'd had enough. The anti-Groves sentiment was there in abundance at this stage. There had been an undercurrent of it before kick-off but now it had most definitely risen to the surface. Groves wasn't the only one the fans were berating either; the players were given their fair share of abuse too. But the game wasn't over yet.

Mansaram had a chance out wide on the left but this one didn't hit the post like in the warm-up and was gathered easily by the keeper.

Just into stoppage time came what was the final insult. Moore again advanced down the right, beating players for fun before advancing into the box and curling the ball past Davo and into the far corner. There were no tackles of note in the build-up to that goal; Moore was just allowed to waltz through unobstructed.

So there we have it - outplayed by what can be described as an average side at best. Town made Wycombe look good. They're not, they are just physical and have a couple of quick players. They had been on the receiving end of a public roasting from Adams and it showed. Wycombe were keen, quick, wanted the ball and played as a team. Grimsby, on the other hand, showed none of the passion they displayed against Oldham. They didn't seem to want anything from this game. Oh, and not one of the players acknowledged the away support as they left the field.

The away stand was full of people calling for Groves' head. Is this the end of his reign? If it is then it will surely mean an end to his time at the club, as I can't see him staying on as a player if he is sacked as manager. Personally I'm not sure I would like to see him get the sack but I would like to see a different first-choice starting XI, one that doesn't include Hamilton. Move Campbell into Des' place in the centre, alongside Pouton, and play Cas or Anderson on the right. Jevons is doing quite well on the left but we need another striker to fight for places with Mick and Iffy, and I'm not including Mansaram. He's young and energetic but needs more experience.

Tony normally does a man of the match award and rates the referee, doesn't he? I'm finding it hard to come up with a man of the match - that's how awful the performance was. Davo should have done better on some of their shots; Macca struggled at left-back and was caught out at right-back a few times; Crane was all over the shop at times and sulked like a spoilt brat after his booking; Edwards was pretty anonymous; Cas was missing at right-back and lacked any attacking thrust on the right wing; Campbell was dragging Cas out of position first half; Hamilton was crap bar those two good passes; Pouton was OK, I guess; Jevons did all right at left wing; Boulding ran but didn't get much service; Onuora was as Onuora is; Manasaram had no effect on the game; and Young looked like a centre-back made to play left back.

If you combine the best bits of the game from Pouts, Jevvo, Iffy and Campbell you have your man of the match.

As for the referee, I thought he was all right. OK, he changed his mind a bit in the first half but he settled down. He didn't make any silly decisions and didn't send any one off, which was fair despite Wycombe's thuggish nature. To be honest I was too busy getting annoyed by the players to worry much about the ref. The game was stop-start but that was because Wycombe kept giving away silly fouls that the ref couldn't let go or that we just couldn't gain an advantage from. He was all right, maybe bordering on decent.