Page 232 - 368603 LP250721 AWY AWY AWY Book (238pp A5)

of the pitch just inside their half and he ran forward before lamming in a terrific shot that glanced goalie Stockdale‘s left arm while he stood and looked at it (“Like one o’clock half struck” as my Dad used to say – usually about me actually.) It was exactly what we needed but Wycombe had to fight back and they did so to some extent but we still looked the more likely to get a goal.
Some stat came on the screen about ‘Scoring First and Losing’ but mercifully my fading eyesight failed to register it. Pritchard had a low shot on target in the twenty-second minute and with a quarter of the game gone things were feeling good. For them Obita was doing some tricksy stuff down their left flank but they hadn’t threatened at all yet. Stockdale did well to dive and block a Stewart shot and I felt we’d get another before half-time. The half-hour mark passed and we continued to look solid at the back, especially Patterson. We won our second corner shortly afterwards but Wright headed just over. Next we had a penalty shout but the assistant-referee had already flagged for offside – great back- heel by Stewart, though. In the dying minutes we gifted them a great chance in our box when a dodgy defensive header was begging to be smashed in but it went for a goal-kick. Wycombe were enjoying a rare mini purple patch without creating a shot of note. There was just a minute of stoppage- time before the half ended with us still 1-0 up. We’d looked much more incisive than them when we were going forward and apart from that one blooper, we’d looked safe at the back.
224