Wishaw Wycombe Wanderers - Playing Football With Style

The build up to the game couldn't have been much worse. Danny Leonard ruled himself out of the match when he injured himself at a youth club on Thursday night. Then on Sunday morning, influential midfielder Cammy Smith phoned in sick after being laid low with some kind of sickness bug. That bug appeared to have spread as the team travelled along the Clyde Valley as Euan Woods was physically sick in Grant McLarens car.....good luck cleaning that one up Grant.....and Andrew Gillespie turned several shades of white and green during the match as he started to feel the effects of the bug working on him too. 

Perhaps, given all those set backs, it wasn't surprising that Wishaw struggled a bit in the early stages of the game. I didn't witness the first period but by all accounts Wishaw had most of the ball and were creating chances, but Milton were more direct with their approach and their finishing more clinical. It was 3-0 by the time I made it to the pitch and I'd missed Martin Wards inspirational words however whatever he said must have worked even if it did have an delayed effect 

In the second period Milton added to their advantage - I was there to see the fourth goal. The Wishaw defence struggled to deal with a high ball and as Christy Pearson came off his line the Milton striker cooly lifted the ball over his head and into the net. 

Heads looked as though they were going down - but some brilliant work down the right hand side from the superb Josh Payne saw him feed the ball to Euan Woods, he cut the ball back from the bye line to Colin McLaren who made no mistake from close range. 

Seconds later Keiran Simmons was fouled on the left hand side of the Milton penalty box. For some reason Milton didn't form a wall and Declan Wedlock punished them with a stunning shot into the back of the net. 

Wishaw had their tails up now and a third duly followed. This time Aidan McRoberts beat the Milton goalkeeper to a 50/50 ball and gently touched the ball past him into the net. I say net but actually the ball didn't make it that far. In all honesty I wasn't totally convinced it even crossed the line before the Milton defender slid in and cleared it away, however the referee was better placed than me and he awarded a goal much to the annoyance of the defender who was booked for his protests. 

The equaliser came soon after. A quick throw taken by Keiran Simmons found Declan racing through on goal and he applied a superb finish to put the match back on even terms. 

The performance in the second period had been exceptional. The football wasn't always pretty but the adapted game certainly suited the condition of the pitch and by now Wishaw were threatening with every attack. Stephen Dickson floating in a super cross from the left hand side which found Colin McLaren only for Colin to be closed down quickly. 

However a momentary loss of concentration and some poor positioning by the Wishaw central midfield meant that when Christy Pearson scuff a kick out the ball fell to the Milton midfield with loads of time without being closed down and they punished Wishaw with yet another fine strike to make it 5-4 at the end of the second period. 

In the last period Ross Bowman was introduced for Keiran Simmons and he quickly showed his quality with a fantastic cross from the left which picked out Josh Payne coming in behind the defence at the back of the area. Josh took his time, picked his spot and Wishaw were back on level terms again. 

At the other end Christy Pearson was having his best spell of the match too. First he pulled off an extraordinary double save, and then a brilliant acrobatic save to palm away another net bound shot. 

Milton were tiring and starting to lose their shape. Their defence were clearly struggling against the pace and ability of the two Wishaw wide men and when Wishaw finally took the lead through a Euan Woods strike it looked like Wishaw would go on and seal their victory, however it wasn't to be. Milton attacked down their right wing and when their player cut inside George Wilson caught him and the referee had no hesitation to point to the spot. Their penalty was well executed and Christy was sent the wrong way. 

The game wasn't over just yet though. Wishaw managed to carve open two more chances. Josh Payne was unlucky with his lobbed shot that just went inches wide, and then Declan broke through from midfield but he missed his hat trick with his shot just going marginally wide. 

At the end of the game Martin Ward praised his players saying that they responded well to his tough talking to at the end of the first period and they showed great character to get themselves back into the game having gone four down. 

In a team where there were excellent performances all round, I thought young Declan Wedlock and Josh Payne were the two stand out performers, but the contribution from all over the park was excellent and a special word of praise has to go to Aidan McRoberts who has clearly worked on his stamina and is reaping the benefits. He was one of the star performers last week and this week he was again superb, always willing to chase, close down and to drag opponents out of position with his off the ball running.