It was always a hard one to predict. After over four months of no football, injured players returning, match fitness questionable and the form book meaningless, nobody quite knew what to expect. Yet it’s fair to say that nobody expected what unfolded at Highbury Stadium on Friday night.

Wycombe Wanderers blew Fleetwood Town away with a remarkably dominant display as Joey Barton’s men pushed the self-destruct button, leaving them with an almighty mountain to climb in the form of a 4-1 deficit on Monday in the return leg.

The roller-coaster began with Wycombe’s first attack when the Cod Army defenders could only watch like scarecrows as Nnamdi Ofoborh volleyed a stunning opener from 20 yards into the corner of the net.

Fleetwood’s first attack came moments later, and when Anthony Stewart fouled Barrie McKay, the resulting free-kick presented a chance for the home team to get the ball into the box. The free-kick looked to have come to nothing, but as Lewis Gibson went to ground, referee Tony Harrington, eventually, pointed to the spot. Gibson had been caught by Wycombe goalkeeper Ryan Allsop. Was there contact? Yes. Was it soft? Possibly. Did Ched Evans care? No – he calmly stroked home the penalty for parity.

Like a coiled spring that had been unleashed, the game was alive and showed no signs of calming down. Wycombe were awarded the first corner on six minutes and Joe Jacobson scored from it. Shocked? You shouldn’t be – it’s the fifth time Jacobson has performed such a feat and the second time he’s done it against Alex Cairns in the Fleetwood goal.

The two would face off again just after the half hour mark when Wycombe were awarded a penalty. Coyle was again involved with a horrendous challenge on Jacobson for which he earned a red card. Jacobson stepped up but Cairns was equal to his somewhat tame spot-kick before composing himself well to block David Wheeler’s follow up.

Fleetwood may have gained confidence from that, not to mention the bizarre fact that every victory they’ve had over Wycombe has been done with ten men. If they did, it didn’t show. Or last.

For Wheeler wasn’t to be denied for long and after Town failed to clear the ball in injury time, he fired low past Cairns for 3-1.

It was a remarkable half and a lead that Wycombe thoroughly deserved. Could they add to it?

Yes, they could. Just before the hour mark, Cairns’ night took another turn for the worse when he flapped at a long free-kick from Ryan Allsop, leaving Alex Samuel with the simple task of turning the ball home.

Fleetwood finally managed a second effort on target when McKay fired goalwards from a free-kick, but Allsop turned it over the bar.

Town needed a response, and so turned to Paddy Madden. The forward came on to lead the charge, but nothing was going right for Barton’s men and when Madden went down in the box, he was incensed to see referee Harrington brandishing a yellow card for simulation. Replays showed that Darius Charles did have a hold of Madden’s arm and to that end his frustrations were understandable. Yet a lack of professionalism cost him and his team dear – he soon talked his way into a second booking resulting in an early shower and no trip to Adams Park on Monday.

That was largely it for the evening. Aside from a flare making its way onto the pitch in a behind closed doors game, but then in an evening this bizarre, such an incident is a mere footnote.

It was, by and large, a remarkable and close to perfect evening for Wycombe Wanderers who have one foot in the final now. Oddly, fans may be slightly disappointed that playing out the remainder of the season wasn’t a financially viable option for most clubs in League One, for with Wycombe in this sort of form they would easily have challenged for automatic promotion.

Yet there is no point in looking back. The second leg is to come on Monday and there is still work to do. Wycombe have twice taken a first-leg play-off lead back to Adams Park, in both 1994 and 2015 and on neither occasion did they sit back for a draw, winning both games 2-1.

Fleetwood have to go and attack and they will have to do it with both Coyle and Madden suspended so Wycombe really should have enough about them to see themselves through to Wembley. But this is the 2019-20 season. From being relegation favourites after not having a full team on the first day of pre-season training to being in the top six all season (and only dropping to eighth by virtue of not playing), to ending up third via a shift in the goalposts courtesy of a global pandemic to scoring four goals away from home for the first time after a four month lay-off.

If we’ve learnt anything, it’s that all bets are off…

 

FLEETWOOD TOWN 1 (Evans 4pen)

WYCOMBE WANDERERS 4 (Ofoborh 2, Jacobson 6, Wheeler 45+3, Samuel 57)

ATT: 2 scarecrows, 7 mannequins, 6 inflatables and some cardboard cutouts.

words Phil Slatter, D3D4 Wycombe Wanderers correspondent