REPORT: Wycombe Wanderers 3-3 Cheltenham Town
Wycombe and Cheltenham played out a 3-3 draw in an action-packed League Two match at Adams Park.The Robins raced into a two goal lead early on thanks to Billy Waters and Harry Pell, but a Jordan Cranston red card inbetween a Carl Winchester own goal and a Garry Thompson strike meant it was 2-2 at half time.
In the second half Joe Jacobson briefly put Wycombe ahead from the penalty spot, but Waters then equalised through his second goal of the game.
Despite 11 minutes of injury time and plenty of pressure from The Chairboys, Cheltenham held on to claim an important point.
The Robins' first chance came after just four minutes when Will Boyle’s header from James Rowe’s free kick was saved well by Jamal Blackman.
But it didn’t take long for The Robins to go in front as, on seven minutes, Pell’s powerful free kick was parried by Blackman straight into the path of Waters, who had no problem tucking it away from close range.
And six minutes later that lead was doubled when Rowe played the ball into Pell on the edge of the box, and his low shot crept into the bottom right corner.
It didn’t take long for Wycombe to get themselves back in the game though as Thompson’s cross seemed to be directed in by the unfortunate Winchester.
With 10 minutes to go before half time Dan Holman created a good opportunity as he found some space on the edge of the box, but his effort just about went wide.
In the 40th minute The Robins were reduced to 10 men when Cranston received a second yellow card, and not long after Thompson scored with a great volley at the back post to send the sides in level at the break.
After the interval Jack Barthram seemed to collide with Rob Lainton and the right back received treatment for around 10 minutes before he was stretchered off to a good reception from both sets of fans.
Just before the hour mark Cheltenham went close to re-taking the lead when Kyle Storer’s free kick was headed towards goal, but it went straight at the goalkeeper.
As the game went on Wycombe were heaping on more pressure and dominating the game, and it took a fantastic save from Lainton to keep the scores level after Adebayo Akinfenwa turned and shot on the edge of the box.
In the 80th minute Wycombe earned a penalty when Wright fouled Thompson inside the box, and Jacobson stepped up to give the home side the lead.
However, just a minute later Wright then earned Cheltenham a penalty after a good run, and even though Waters’ initial effort was saved he was on hand to score the rebound and make it 3-3.
Wright almost grabbed a winner in injury time when he cut inside from the right hand side and shot, but it went just wide of the far post.
Wycombe Wanderers: J Blackman, M Harriman, J Jacobson, W De Havilland (P Hayes, 88), A Pierre, D Gape (A Akinfenwa, 45), M Bloomfield (C), S Wood, N Freeman, D Southwell (S Kashket, 65), G Thompson.
Unused Subs: B Richardson, S Jombati, M Bean, L O’Nien.
Cheltenham Town: R Lainton, W Boyle, E Onariase, J Cranston, C Winchester (T Plavotic, 47), H Pell, J Rowe (J Barthram, 44, A Downes, 55), K Storer, B Waters, D Holman, D Wright.
Unused Subs: R Lovett, J Munns, J Dayton, K Wootton.
Attendance: 3596 (281)