5:08pm Saturday 20th March 2010
By Alan Feldberg
WANDERERS 2, EXETER 2.
WYCOMBE Wanderers' season is on the verge of dying on the operating table after they let a 2-0 lead slip at Adams Park this afternoon.
Goals from Gareth Ainsworth and Stuart Beavon had put Blues in control after an hour but Exeter hit back with a stunner after 65 minutes before Richard Logan stuck the knife in two minutes from time.
It's the second time in row Blues have chucked three points away in the dying moments – Oldham scored a 90th-minute equaliser last week - and six points that could have revived their campaign have been whittled down to two.
At this stage of the season, Wanderers simply haven't got the points to spare.
There are must-win games and there are mustn't-lose games. After what happened at Oldham, this was definitely the former but after failing in such painful fashion Gary Waddock and his players will do very well to keep the faith over the remaining nine matches.
It was the visitors who made the more composed start, stroking the ball around Adams Park with assurance while Steve Tully on the right was a constant outlet and twice in the opening ten minutes he got behind Craig Woodman to deliver into the area.
Exeter also had the first two shots of the game. After two minutes Adam Stansfield fired low to Tom Heaton's right but without sufficient power and eight minutes later the Wycombe keeper dealt comfortably George Friend's direct free-kick.
Wycombe meanwhile, looked stilted and were playing like a team terrified of making a mistake. Neither of the central midfield pair of Mousinho and Dean Keates were prepared to put their foot on it and dictate and from front to back the home players appeared edgy on the ball.
Matt Harrold glanced a tame header wide after 21 minutes and Ainsworth headed past the same post from a 28th-minute corner, but besides that they posed little threat and it was Exeter, with another Tulley cross that bent dangerously between keeper and defenders, who looked the more likely in the opening half hour.
The visitors couldn't manufacture a genuine chance though, and Wycombe finally raised themselves a little bit before the interval to create openings after 37 and 40 minutes.
The first fell to Beavon when the ball bounced for him on the edge of the area but his volley flashed high and wide, but the second opportunity was Harrold's and it was by far the best of the half.
Exeter played their part in it's creation with slipshod defending that allowed Blues to steal possession in their opponent's half, and Beavon tried to exploit the mistake by slipping a neat ball through to his strike-partner.
Harrold, all bustle and brawn, held off his marker well to make it his but his left-foot shot from the penalty spot could have been struck sweeter, and Exeter keeper Paul Jones pushed it wide for a corner.
That was it during a first half that was only lit up by the colourful band of noisy away fans, although the home support did respond at the start of the second period by raising the volume inside Adams Park and it clearly lifted their team.
Dean Keates fired a 25-yard drive wide after 49 minutes and Exeter were fretting when Harrold got his head to another deep cross shortly afterwards.
It was a goal the fans wanted though, and the player who sat among them two weeks ago finally delivered it after 54 minutes.
Again they needed a hand from Exeter as Liam Sercombe's miscued volley from the half-way line went backwards instead of forwards, but there was nothing fortunate about Ainsworth's finish as the veteran outpaced the Exeter defence before poking the ball under Jones' body.
Although Ainsworth will take the headlines, Waddock also deserves a huge amount of credit.
He had swapped Beavon and Ainsworth at the start of the second half in what turned out to be a tactical masterstroke, and the manager struck gold again when he switched them back following the goal - within minutes Beavon was racing onto Craig Woodman's diagonal ball and, while the Exeter defence stood like statues appealing for offside, the striker slid home number two.
From nothing Wanderers had soared into a 2-0 lead and the game looked over.
It might well have been had Sercombe not attoned for his earlier error with a quite stunning goal after 65 minutes.
The midfielder received the ball in space 30 yards from goal and Wanderers fans would have been quite confident urging him to shoot from there.
But he did, and his rasping drive cannoned in off the underside of the bar before Heaton had even turned his head.
Suddenly there was a game on.
Marcus Stewart nearly made it 2-2 with a poke over the bar, Beavon nearly made it 3-1 with a deflected drive from 12 yards and then Exeter's Richard Logan went close with a firm header that Heaton did well to hold on to low down.
With time ticking away it was getting excruciatingly tense inside the ground and the home players were throwing their bodies in the way of everything to make sure there was no Oldham deju vu.
But there was. With less than two minutes left Wycombe's defence was caught square, Logan raced unmarked onto a through ball and, as Heaton came out to meet him, the substitute finished with real class in front of the ecstatic away fans.
Blues might still have snatched it with a late Mousinho shot that was well-saved but their relegation rivals from Devon, who also snatched a late equaliser in the home fixture, could well have applied the knock-out blow to Wanderers' survival hopes.
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