Wycombe Wanderers Monthly Review - October

As the season began to get into full flow, Wycombe opened a crucial October month with an away tie against Fleetwood Town. Despite going a goal down and being under some serious first half pressure, the Blues equalised in the second half thanks to a brilliant Akinfenwa volley from the edge of the area and held on for a hard earned point.

This game was followed by a home fixture against fellow strugglers Burton, which brought the Blues first home league win of the season. A first half penalty was calmly struck into the corner by Joe Jacobson before Akinfenwa doubled the lead with a trademark bullet header. Burton did manage to pull a goal back, but it was not enough to rob the Blues of a much needed win.

The month had started well for the club and they would have been hoping to keep this good run of form going when they were faced with an away day at the Ricoh Arena, home to Coventry City. The deadlock was broken when Coventry's Connor Chaplin scored a late header but the game almost ended in a footballing fairy-tale. Ryan Allsop had come up for a last minute corner and saw the ball fall at his feet with the goal gaping. Unfortunately, he lacked the killer instinct of an outfield player and skewed his volley high and wide.

The following weekend’s home game against Scunthorpe brought memories reminiscent of last year's heroics. After going 2-0 down in the first seven minutes, it was looking grim for Wycombe. A change in shape to a more traditional 4-4-2 system looked to have been exposing some defensive frailties. However, in true Wycombe Wanderers style, that was far from the end of the story. A 27th minute screamer from Dom Gape gave the Blues some hope going into the break, before Fred Onyedinma produced a sublime curling effort into the top corner to level it up.

Many would have thought this would be our day after this comeback, but this was thrown into doubt when goalkeeper Ryan Allsop was sent off with 10 minutes to go. It was going to be a back to walls job to protect a point, or was it? A long ball wasn't dealt with by the Scunthorpe defence and Craig Mackail Smith nipped in and slotted home to send the fans into raptures and earn the Chairboys all three points.

Wycombe went into the midweek league fixture at home to Rochdale with some serious momentum and this was clear to see throughout. Bryn Morris opened the scoring with a goal of the season contender of a free kick, before Akinfenwa added a second from just inside the box. Onyedinma scored the third, heading home after great work on the wing by Samuel to earn the Blues a thoroughly convincing 3-0 win. This was Wycombe’s third home win running and left them seven points clear of relegation and sitting pretty in 14th place.

The month ended with an away day at Walsall. A goal either side of half time put The Saddlers 2-0 up before a late own goal gave Wycombe hope, but this was short lived as a Dom Gape own goal re-established the two goal deficit. A late penalty provided some short lived hope and although unusual penalty taker Scott Kashket missed from 12 yards, Samuel was on hand to tuck in the rebound for his first Wycombe goal. That's how the game ended and we again fell to a narrow defeat.

Summary/My Verdict

October was a great month for the Blues. Three wins from three home games helped propel them up the table and has provided a bit of a breathing space between themselves and the relegation zone. Two narrow away losses will not provide too much cause for concern and the goals are beginning to flow.

There may be a slight concern over the amount of goals being shipped and the constant five goal thrillers can’t be doing the fans or anyone’s heart rates any good. However, those kind of games are what made last season so special and if we can be on the right side of those score lines the majority of the time, it will all be worthwhile.

The return of captain Adam El-Abd is crucial to the defence and once Ainsworth finds his preferred back-line I think the amount we concede will begin to drop. The emergence of Alex Samuel as an option up front is providing some healthy competition, as is the return to form of Akinfenwa and Onyedinma. I also felt Curtis Thompson put in some brilliant performances throughout the month to give Ainsworth a real selection headache. The next month will be a tough one for the Blues with us facing three of the top six, but I for one am feeling optimistic going into November!