Beaten At The Last

And so it finished. Objectives for the game read: win to finish the season in style; at least draw to keep the unbeaten run intact through to the end; hold on to 16th place in the league; and have May confirmed as the division’s leading scorer. Perhaps it was fitting that we secured just two of the four, perhaps even also that we couldn’t remain unbeaten, just so that there are no illusions about the size of the task ahead. Nathan Jones came in and saw us avoid relegation, job done. But unbeaten in 14 actually only returned 22 points (now 22 from 15), which extended over a full season wouldn’t get you into the play-offs. We end up in 16th place thanks to a second goal from Blackpool after another performance which ended up falling just short.

The team and squad contained modest surprises. Coventry was given a rest, put among the subs, while Gillesphey, Edun and Wickham dropped out of the starting X1 and the squad. In came Ness, with Edmunds-Green kept on the bench, Ramsay, Bakinson and Kanu. Still 3-5-2/5-3-2 but with different personnel, it remaining to be seen how Anderson and Bakinson would combine. Among the subs a spot was found for Fiorni. I think you would have got long odds on that before the game.

We went behind early on, in the 6th minute, with just another case of inadequate defending. We made a mess of clearing our lines and of keeping shape and when the ball was put back into the danger area Thomas – who had already over-elaborated and given the ball away in a dangerous position – made an ill-considered lunge from the side which felled their guy. About as clear a penalty as you can get and one confidently tucked away.

Through the remainder of the first half Wycombe seemed content to play within themselves, sitting on a lead, and quite frankly very seldom looked capable of adding to it. By the same token we struggled to get anything going where it mattered, with May and Kanu well controlled and nothing much coordinated from midfield. We did get some joy down the flanks, with Small prominent, delivering some decent balls in which were well defended. We probably should have equalised from a corner, with Thomas adding to his sins by failing to even get his head to the ball when it came his way in space unchallenged in the box, it coming off his shoulder.

You can add in a slightly clumsy challenge on Kanu inside the box, which was a long shot for a penalty, and a decent break which ended with Anderson opting to play a pass wide rather than take the shot. But bottom line was we had no efforts on target in the first half (and just four efforts in total), their keeper not tested at all.

Jones rang the changes at half-time, taking off Ness, Anderson and May, replacing them with Fiorini, Campbell and LuaLua, switching it seemed to a sort of 4-5-1. But before they had time to break sweat we were almost two down, with Isted saving a shot from a free kick and then the effort from the rebound when it looked as though their guy would score. Then it was out turn for a half-chance as a Campbell cross from the right required their keeper getting a touch before it could run through for Dobson at the far post. Isted saved another shot, Aneke came on for Kanu, then just after the hour it took a terrific Ramsay intervention to prevent their guy converting.

On 73 minutes I thought we should have had a penalty this time. Ramsay went on a storming run down the right and kept going into the area. Their defender came across and tackled late, getting nowhere near the ball and sending Ramsay over, although he tried to stay on his feet to get to the ball. It wasn’t stone cold, but confident it would have been given by VAR. And just after that we came within a whisker of equalising. Campbell was fouled, the free kick in a decent position outside the box and fairly central. Fiorini’s moment had come and he curled a beauty over the wall only for it to come crashing down off the bar with their keeper beaten.

That proved to be pretty much it. Wycombe in the remainder of the game did a good job of messing things up, disrupting play, defending well, feigning an injury when it suited – all the things to see out a game which we have failed to be able to do through the season. It became rather fractious (we ended up with six yellow cards, including one for Jones for expressing his dissatisfaction, to their two). There was really just one more chance for us, in the five minutes of stoppage time, as Aneke headed down in the box for Campbell, only for his fierce and possibly goalbound shot to be blocked.

There was no Jones post-match interview on CharltonTV but I’d imagine he was yet again disappointed by the result, felt we deserved something from the game. Like so many of late we might well have got more than we did, in a pretty even game of no clear-cut chances. The stats show we had nine efforts on goal to their 11, just one on target (I think there were two, if you include Campbell’s blocked shot) to their four. Isted was the keeper called on to make saves, they had a stonewall penalty, we had two shouts and none given. Fine margins as usual.

There will be time now to reflect. I don’t much care that our final position is our lowest for over 90 years. Every season in this division is a mark of failure and another failure if we don’t get promoted. We’re well aware both of what Jones has done since his arrival - for which he deserves all the plaudits (along with May, the only question being whether he has secured the Player of the Season award, to go with his League One Golden Boot trophy, with 100% of the votes) – and the size of the restructuring task ahead if we are to mount a serious promotion challenge next season.

To end on a positive note, it was confirmed on CharltonTV that live streaming of games will continue next season, “in some format”, for international subscribers, including myself. That is very welcome news, hopefully the format will be much as before.