Cod Almighty | Diary

Business as usual

15 August 2016

Miss Guest Diary writes: Super Saturday, followed by stupendous Sunday, at the Olympics with world records and medals galore for Team GB – including two golds and two silvers in my favourite 'armchair' sport of cycling – has almost eclipsed the mundanity of Saturday's visit to High Wycombe.

Almost but, unfortunately, not quite. The return to Adams Park after an absence of seven years had some good omens attached in the shape of a recently purchased new car for my other half and a stop for lunch at exactly the same pub on the way through Chorleywood. The hot and sweaty trudge down Hillbottom Road – always slightly further than expected – followed by a queue at one of only two turnstiles open killed the mood somewhat. Then the match started and that good feeling vanished entirely.

Though it was very pleasant sat high in the stand with a warm breeze playing around, the most entertainment I got in the first half was watching some red kites wheel over distant trees. On the pitch there was a desultory struggle between two mediocre teams to see which one could manage a shot on target. Wycombe won that battle, with Jamie Mack having to make a save from a free kick – a warning of things to come.

Town perked up in the second half, but not until Wycombe had scored from another free kick. Is this going to be a thing this season? Will Town only start to really 'give it a go' after we've fallen behind? It's certainly what happened at Derby on Tuesday and again on Saturday. As a tactic, it seems a little foolish to me, but it did result in a scrappy equaliser with about 10 minutes left.

That Town should go down in the 90th minute after failing to deal with a long throw, and after squandering a number of well-worked chances of their own, seemed almost inevitable. A return to the League means a return to business as usual. No longer the big fish in a small pond, quite a few of our players seem to be playing right on the limits of their capabilities. The last time Town played Wycombe, the centre-halves were Rob Atkinson and Ryan Bennett and we still managed to finish the season in 22nd place. If we are going to survive in this division the team, especially the defence, need to buck their ideas up.

The only improvement on previous visits to Adams Park was the atmosphere. Once again there was a large Town contingent – nearly 700 – singing and cheering for pretty much the whole game. I had wondered whether our return to the League would mean a return to the days when the away crowd comprised the faithful 200 rattling around behind the goal. A mixed blessing: not much atmosphere but also no queues at the turnstiles or the refreshment stand or – particularly important at grounds like Wycombe where they have only two cubicles – the ladies' toilet. And, of course, no smoke bombs. Please tell me someone spotted and reported the idiot who threw that one on Saturday so that he could be banned.

I can't be bothered to put up a link to Paul Hurst's post-match comments. Suffice it to say that they included mumblings about being "disappointed" and that Town "deserved something from the game", that it was "an opportunity missed… to ask some more questions of Wycombe". He seemed surprised that it took the concession of a goal to jolt Town to life, when many among us see his 'keep us shape' tactics as the very reason for the apparent reluctance to go all out for a win from the start.

He is now demanding a response to the defeat at Colchester tomorrow night. My response might well be to stay home and watch some more Olympic cycling. You never know – by the time the clocks go back, we might once more be down to the Town 200 at away games.