Wycombe Wanderers withstood a spirited display from Fleetwood Town on Monday night to seal their place in the 2019-20 League One play-off final.

After ruthlessly punishing a disjointed and out of sorts Town at Highbury in the First Leg, Wanderers had a commanding 4-1 lead and it would have taken a remarkable turnaround to stop Gareth Ainsworth from leading his side out at Wembley for the second time in five years.

Yet it was a turnaround that could easily have occurred. Wycombe may have hit the ground running on Friday, but the Cod Army were a different proposition at Adams Park, carving out openings for Callum Connolly and Paul Coutts in the opening ten minutes. It was just what Joey Barton would have wanted and the away side got the goal they both deserved and required when Danny Andrew volleyed home superbly mid-way through the half.

Wycombe had barely strayed into the final third but none the less, Fleetwood goalkeeper Alex Cairns had to be alert after his low clearance found its way to Nnamdi Ofoborh who shot from distance, only for Cairns to recover and help the ball wide for a corner. From that corner, Joe Jacobson who has twice scored directly from corners against Fleetwood, tried the trick again, but his swerving kick clipped the top of the crossbar.

Moments later and there was a sign that this may not be Fleetwood’s night – Barrie McKay took aim from distance and Anthony Stewart turned it wide with his hand. It may have happened at pace and Stewart’s hand may have been near his side, but it should have been a penalty kick. Had it been given and converted, Wycombe really would have been on the ropes, even if they would have remained marginally ahead on the scorecards.

If that went Wycombe’s way, not much seemed to be. Matt Bloomfield went off injured and his replacement Curtis Thompson picked up a booking and then sliced the ball out for a corner whilst under no pressure. It came to nothing, but Wycombe knew they were taking on a very different team to the one that barely turned up three days previously.

It was perhaps expected that Fleetwood would have more of the ball – Wycombe’s football is far from possession-based – but Wanderers passing was scratchy, they weren’t getting it to stick up front and were not utilising the pace and trickery of Fred Onyedinma nearly enough. That said, despite Town’s dominance, Ryan Allsop hadn’t had much to do besides pick the ball out of the net and Wycombe’s one foray forward had seen them come close to levelling the game on the night.

Gareth Ainsworth opted to bring on Adebayo Akinfenwa at the start of the second half, but it was the aforementioned Onyedinma who would have the next big say.

With a minute of the second half gone, he ran at pace towards the Fleetwood defence. Harry Souttar recovered well and dispossessed the Wycombe man. As the ball rolled towards the dead-ball line, Souttar, perhaps not too keen on seeing Jacobson whip in another corner, rolled it back to Onyedinma who finished well to seemingly kill off any Fleetwood hope.

None the less, just before the hour mark Jacobson brought down McKay in the area and the tie had a third penalty. Ched Evans, who scored in the first leg from twelve yards, went for the opposing corner this TIME but with the same result and Fleetwood had 30 minutes to find two goals and force extra-time.

The game continued in the same pattern thereafter – Fleetwood had nearly all of the ball but were struggling to create anything clear-cut with Wycombe’s formidable defence doing their job. And it was Wycombe who nearly grabbed the games next goal on 75 as the next big opening fell to the big man. Akinfenwa utilised his strength to make space in the box, but his effort was straight at Cairns.

It was a let off for Fleetwood, but when Allsop saved superbly from an Evans header with seven minutes remaining, the game looked to be up.

Wycombe could have run the clock down yet with a two-goal cushion in the tie, they could afford to go in search of a defining moment to avoid defeat on the night. Onyedinma was the man to provide it in injury time as he set his sits from twenty yards and with one swing with his right boot, collected a set of keys to Wembley Stadium before heading for the corner flag where he was duly mobbed by all and sundry.

It capped the end of another remarkable chapter in Neil Harman’s upcoming book, and means Wycombe are now just one game away from English football’s second tier, for the first time in their history.

Ainsworth’s men had by no means played well on the night, but with just 21% of the ball had registered more shots on target (4) than their opponents (3). It’s not the size of the possession, it’s what you do with it.

As for Fleetwood, they’re left to rue what might have been. The damage done in the first leg was irreparable and Joey Barton can only wonder what might have been had they performed closer to the levels they’re capable of in the first leg.

WYCOMBE WANDERERS 2 (Onyedinma 47, 90+4)
FLEETWOOD TOWN 2 (Andrew 22, Evans 60pen)

Wycombe win 6-3 on aggregate.

ATT: Tyson Fury, Derek Adams, Buster the Dog, a fine display of flags and Bill Turnbull on vocals.

words Phil Slatter, D3D4 Wycombe correspondent