St Andrews was sold out once again for this year’s final League One top of the table clash. The early kick-off would more or less decide whether Blues can run away with the title, or if Wycombe could challenge for a little while longer.
At this stage, almost nobody would bet against Blues lifting the League One title this season. In fact, debates and discussions have moved past that to looking towards various points records. Wolves currently hold the League One record with 103, and as that looks quite achievable, some are even looking at Reading’s EFL record of 106. You wouldn’t bet much against us beating both, as we’re now projected to finish on 109.
That being said, before the match Blues were 9 points clear of Wycombe with a game in hand. A win would take us 12 clear, a draw kept us at 9 and a defeat would tighten the gap a little down to 6 points. Wycombe knew that to have any hope of taking 1st place off us again this season, they had to win. It also must be said, regardless of the outcome, Wycombe have done a fantastic job this year to push Blues as far as they have in a season where almost nobody had them even competing in the top 6.
Despite the fixtures still coming thick and fast, Chris Davies knew we’d have to be at our best to secure the 3 points and he went with an unchanged 11 from our win over Leyton Orient midweek. Allsop, Laird, Klarer (C), Davies, Cochrane, Paik, Iwata, Dowell, Willumsson, TGH and May all started. Emil Hansson retained his place on the bench following his cameo against Orient, as did Jukey, filling in for the injured Stansfield and Dykes.
Mike Dodds, the former Blues academy coach infamous for developing a certain Jude Bellingham, lead the visitors after Matt Bloomfield left for Luton in January. He had selection issues of his own, including star striker Richard Kone being limited to the bench during his return from injury. His side boast the best away record in the league.
First half:
Blues dominated the first half. Wycombe did not look at all up for the occasion and Blues took full advantage, swarming Wycombe whenever they had the ball and limiting them to long balls to Udoh, which Klarer and Davies can deal with all day long. In possession we were patient, wearing Wycombe out and frequently switching the play looking for an opening.
13 minutes in, we got one. Davies played a long pass from defence to Laird, who chested it down and laid the ball off to Willumsson. The Icelandic giant’s touch was good and he slotted through Alfie May one-on-one against the goalkeeper. His shot was low and hard across goal, but Norris got down well to keep it out.
Davies would again start a dangerous attack minutes later. His long ball in behind found Dowell, who’s first touch took him past the defenders and he slotted it home past the goalkeeper – but the offside flag denied Kieran the opening goal. Sitting in the GML, I had the worst possible view for an offside, but it didn’t look it to me and none of the Wycombe defenders appealed to the linesman.
We’ll never know if it was really was or not, but it didn’t matter anyway. Blues continued our onslaught, and this time the playmaker himself Ryan Allsop picked out Taylor Gardner-Hickman who had made a run into the middle. He took one touch with his chest and didn’t let the ball bounce before unleashing a venomous volley towards goal. Norris got a hand to it but the power proved too much, as the ball bounced upwards and towards his own goal. Nobody could prevent it from reaching the back of the net, and just like buses, after waiting all season for his first Blues goal, Gardner-Hickman scored twice in two games to put Blues deservedly ahead.
Long gone are the days where Blues would go 1 goal ahead and try to see the game out. Wycombe did have a few minutes after conceding where they got on the ball and tried to create a chance of their own, but to no avail, and Blues quickly re-took control.
Our next chance fell to Tomoki Iwata. Paik, picking up a wide position on the left, played through Kieran Dowell who lifted the ball to the back post. The cross evaded Laird, May’s shot from just behind him was deflected and it fell to the Japanese midfielder. His shot was low and on target, but Joseph Low managed to sort his feet out and clear off the line to prevent us from going 2 goals ahead. His clearance found Dowell but it came too quickly for him and his instinctive shot was high and wide.
Wycombe’s only chance of the half came shortly after. Udoh held off Ben Davies to secure a long ball forwards, he set Onyedinma on the edge of the box but his shot flew well wide.
The final action of the half came in a different manner. Blues picked up a second ball in our defensive third, Iwata dinked a ball to Dowell in the centre circle and he played a first time ball wide to the corner flag for Ethan Laird to chase after. He was in a foot race with Xavier Simons but was the clear favourite to win it. Laird got there first, but Simons came flying in and took the right back out in a high octane challenge which earned his dismissal, and saw us play 10 men for the remainder of the game for the second match in a row.
Half time: Blues 1-0 Wycombe (Gardner-Hickman)
Dodds switched to a 3 at the back following their red card, but unlike Orient, they changed their approach to go more aggressive instead of passive. And it worked, to an extent. The second half became a bit of a non-event, where Blues still dominated possession but were made to work harder for it, and Wycombe threatened a couple of times.
Wycombe’s main route to goal came from set pieces. Blues dealt with them fairly comfortably, Allsop in particular was brave and collected most of the balls into the box. He was challenged late on when tipping a ball over the bar, which caused him an injury that forced him off – hopefully he’s not out for long if at all, as I think every Blues fan has far less confidence when the struggling Peacock-Farrell is between the sticks.
The visitors did have a decent chance to equalise from one of their set pieces. The delivery from the right found Sonny Bradley, his flick on was seized by Joseph Low but Allsop made himself big and denied the centre back a goal.
Richard Kone was later introduced and despite recovering from injury, I thought you could see why he’s so highly rated. He didn’t get on the scoresheet nor did he have an involvement in any of the chances, but he moved well and showed good touches and strength when he got on the ball.
In the final 10 minutes, Adam Reach found himself in space on the left hand side and Laird couldn’t close him down in time to prevent a cross to Udoh, who perhaps should’ve done better with his chance from six yards.
Blues had plenty of the ball but Wycombe’s improved resilience meant we didn’t really create another decent opportunity.
As it turns out, we didn’t need to, as TGH’s first half strike was enough to get us the 3 points and put us 12 points clear of our opponents. The title is now surely a matter of “when” not “if”, but Davies and his squad will want to keep pushing and see if they can etch themselves in League One and potentially EFL history with what could be a record breaking season.
Blues have now taken at least 50% of points available from each side in the top six, with 6 points from Wycombe and Huddersfield, 4 from Wrexham and Stockport and 3 from Charlton. Looking lower to those who could still find themselves in the top 6 come May, we’ve also taken 6 from Orient, 4 from Reading and 3 from each of Barnsley and Bolton, the latter of which we play next on Tuesday.
Over 4,000 Blues fans will make the mid-week trip up north to the comically named Toughsheet stadium. Blues will be hoping to continue our unbeaten run (now extended to 18 league games) against a rejuvenated Bolton following the appointment of Steven Schumacher, who have only tasted defeat once in their last 5.
But the truth is, Blues are showing the rest of the league levels this season. Opposition fans have turned from suggesting we might be in for a shock to now saying we were always expected to walk it with the money spent. The ironic thing is that without the signing of Jay Stansfield (who has missed almost a third of our league fixtures this season), some suggest that Blues would probably be near breaking even on transfer fees. And even if that wasn’t the case, a 76 point return from 32 fixtures is a truly impressive achievement. Hopefully we can continue our form into the final stretch and write ourselves into history.
Keep Right On.
Full time: Blues 1-0 Wycombe (Gardner-Hickman)