THE GAME
A changed Rovers lineup slipped to defeat at Wycombe and showed very little by way of an attacking threat throughout the match.
Inigo Calderon was forced to make changes to his side given that Matt Butcher, on loan at The Gas from Wycombe, was ineligible and Grant Ward was injured. Jack Hunt was rested,, so in came Joel Senior, Isaac Hutchinson and Jamie Lindsay.
On the bench there was a surprise recall for Jevani Brown, along with Kofi Shaw who had been called back from his loan spell with Yeovil Town.
The term slow burner was coined for this match, I believe! Certainly Wycombe looked the stronger of the two sides, but in terms of goalmouth action there was very little to cheer either sets of supporters.
A combination of Jed Ward and James Wilson kept the ball out of Rovers net on 15 minutes after a cross from Cameron Humphreys, while Ward kept out a powerful 20 yard effort from the same player just five minutes later.
However, the best goalscoring opportunity of the half fell to Rovers’ skipper Scott Sinclair who managed to get on the end of a wayward Luke Thomas shot and headed goalwards only to see goalkeeper Will Norris dive to his left to deny him a goal.
Caldron made two half time substitutions, sending on Taylor Moore and Sil Swinkels in place of Sinclair and Thomas. However, six minutes after the restart the home side took the lead when a low shot from Humphreys found the back of the net.
A second goal for the home side arrived on the hour mark when a long ball from Xavier Simons found its way to Dan Udoh and his low shot beat Ward’s despairing dive and nestled in the back of the net.
Things got worse for Rovers and for Shaq Forde with eight minutes of the game remaining. On as a 76th minute substitute for Ruel Sotiriou, Forde was shown a straight red card for a dangerous challenge on former Rovers defender Luke Leahy.
Overall, not a good night for Rovers in Buckinghamshire, and they travel to Northampton in their next game seeking points to stay ahead of the clubs below them.
THEY SAID WHAT?
‘Sometimes you wait to change in the second half and think, let’s wait 10 minutes, 15 minutes and see if we improve but we wanted to change a lot of things. Not the players, the players were not the problem, it was more everything. We wanted to change a lot of things and I prefer to do it half time because you have more time to talk to the players. You have 15 minutes to talk to the players and make sure we understand the new plan.
‘I spoke with Shaq, and he has to learn. He’s not having a good time, that’s football, that’s life but obviously he has to learn because I said to him, he’s young, he has to learn to deal with the bad situations because obviously doing that is not the way to learn. He knows it’s not good enough. He’s the first one, obviously he knows that. I said to him, in front of the boys, he has to learn. He’s having a bad time, he’s not performing, he’s a better player than the player we have seen at the moment but that’s football, that’s life. (Rovers Head Coach Inigo Calderon)
‘It was a frustrating evening and a tough game. Wycombe didn’t have a lot of chances but the ones they did have, they took but I don’t think there was too much to choose between the sides. It was a close game in the first half and quite competitive from both sides and we wanted to take that performance into the second half.
‘I think we started a bit slowly in the second half. We changed shape as the gaffer made a couple of changes and wanted us to get us forward a bit more and be more aggressive. Doing that left more gaps and more space as we played higher up the pitch. That’s a risk we were willing to take but unfortunately we were punished for that. It carried a little bit of a risk which we were willing to take.
‘It was always going to be tough tonight but I think the form we are in and the confidence we have we showed in bits tonight. We know we can compete with the teams at the top of the table and I thought we did well tonight. On a personal level I have to keep the momentum going. I’ve got the shirt at the moment and have to keep doing what I’ve been doing and try my best every game. I still have a lot to learn and a lot to do.’ (Rovers defender Lino Sousa)
‘We spoke at half-time about having a little bit more of a threat and being more direct, and we did that and the game was put to bed. We were in control for the whole game regardless of the scoreline. We were very strong in possession and I don’t remember them having a shot at Will Norris’ goal.
‘I have got the best job and the worst job as I am going to have to look at some players in the eye and say they’re not playing. I had to do that with Sonny (Bradley), who has been terrific in the last two games. But I felt in this game, the pairing of Joe Low and Caleb Taylor was probably the right choice.
‘Thankfully, I have been vindicated for it. That’s my role and sometimes I get it right, sometimes I get it wrong and if I do, I will have to eat some humble pie.’ (Wycombe Manager Mike Dodds)
