The area quarter final of the Football League Trophy is the ‘almost but not quite taking it seriously’ stage of the competition, where going out isn’t a complete disaster but going through definitely sees Wembley hove into view on the horizon. The trip to Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday night has a touch more significance for the Rovers however, as following Saturday’s painful Cup exit to Darlington it’s our last stab at a distraction from a league campaign which hasn’t managed to hit any sort of momentum.
In fact, you could argue that this is the most important knock out competition we enter given that it’s the only one that offers any realistic hope of actually winning the thing, even if crowds in the early stages are pretty dismal. Memories of 2007′s two legged victory over They Who Shall Not Be Named and the early setbacks, heroic fightback and extra time disappointment of the final in Cardiff are fading but still golden tinged and another stab at claiming the silverware for the first time in the club’s history would be welcome.
Looking back to the 2006/7 Trophy run, Rovers travelled to Adams Park at the second round stage on Hallowe’en night and won 2-0 in front of 1,314 with goals from Jamal Easter (getting one over on his brother Jermaine who was in the Chairboys’ side that night) and Sammy Igoe. Wins against Peterborough and Shrewsbury followed before that momentous two legged Area Final took us to the Millennium Stadium, a run which kick started our league form in the miraculous spring of 2007. I’m not saying that a run this year would have the same effect necessarily but it surely couldn’t hurt given that we currently appear to be going nowhere.
Wanderers reached this stage of the competition after, like us, receiving a first round bye and then scoring an impressive win at their old rivals Colchester United in the second round. The Chairboys’ record on the road this season has been consistently impressive, remaining unbeaten so far in all competitions, and they fared better than us at Conference opponents in the FA Cup on Saturday by scoring a winner in the fifth minute of injury time at Hayes & Yeading. Their home record has been a bit patchier with only two wins from eight league and cup matches in Buckinghamshire and hopefully we can take advantage of any uncertainty on their home turf, especially as reports suggest they’ll be resting one or two players including club captain Gareth Ainsworth.
Assuming Stuart Campbell – whose absence in the closing stages at Plymouth and for the game at Darlington proved very significant – passes a fitness test, he’ll be one of four participants in the 2007 final on show – Chris Lines came off the bench in extra time that day while Byron Anthony was an unused substitute. The other will be Andy Sandell, another extra time substitute in Cardiff who joined Wycombe from Aldershot in the summer. Andy was considered unlucky not to get more than a single season at the Mem after joining us from Bath City in 2006 and it’ll be interesting to see if he’s inspired to turn it on against us. Another Rovers connection is manager Gary Waddock, who spent two seasons at Twerton Park between 1992 and 1994, while pantomime villains from across town are Kevin Betsy and assistant manager Martin Kuhl.
This game isn’t quite a must win season changer – though you never know – but as things stand it’s our last chance of a little glory this year unless things change drastically in the league. Win and we’re three games from Wembley, a defeat and we’re staring at a long hard winter’s slog with no respite. With few options for sweeping changes in the team, I’d imagine we’ll only see the return of Campbell and Mikkel Andersen with John Akinde starting up front for what must surely be a run of games where he has the chance to turn some people’s opinions of him around.
Wrap up warm then. Up the Gas.
