Wycombe Wanderers 1-0 Lincoln City: FLW reports as Chairboys win keeps pressure on Wrexham | OneFootball

Match report, player ratings and reaction from Wycombe Wanderers v Lincoln City.

Wycombe Wanderers won on a Saturday at Adams Park for the first time since November, defeating Lincoln City 1-0 at Adams Park thanks to a Cameron Humphreys winner.

The first half left a lot to be desired, as the match was very bitty and frustrating at times. Wycombe came out of the opening 45 minutes as the better side, but couldn't break the deadlock as they once again looked too flat.

After being robbed of one of the most blatant penalties you'll ever see, Wanderers took the lead in the 66th minute thanks to some excellent work from Cameron Humphreys. He muscled Sean Roughan off the ball before taking it around George Wickens and rolling it home.

Right in front of the travelling fans in stoppage time, Imps captain Paudie O'Connor was sent off for lashing out at Joe Low - a needless piece of aggression which really summed up Lincoln's afternoon. Wanderers ran out 1–0 winners, keeping them right in the mix for automatic promotion and three points behind Wrexham in second position.

Wycombe Wanderers 1-0 Lincoln City - All the action as Chairboys secure priceless win

The first chance of the game went to the visitors, who started the brighter of the two sides. Hackett with some nice control on the edge of the box flashed a shot just wide of Will Norris' far post.

There really wasn't much at all to take from the opening quarter of an hour, as Wycombe opted for a more direct approach which saw the game become very scrappy in the middle of the park.

Wanderers put together a really nice passing move just after the 20-minute mark when Humphreys pressed aggressively to win back the ball in a high area from Darikwa. The ball into the box was cleared for a corner, and Josh Scowen smashed a long-range effort well over the bar from the corner.

Referee Scott Jackson was having an absolute howler and was quickly losing control of the game. Plenty of shoves and late challenges were flying in which he was missing, frustrating both sets of supporters.

Wycombe had the best chance of the first half via Adam Reach. Luke Leahy kept a ball in play for the ex-Sheffield Wednesday man whose cross was deflected onto the crossbar. It fell down in front of goal, but nobody was there to tap it home.

The half drew to a close with the scores level. After an even first half-hour, Wycombe were firmly on top and unlucky not to lead into the interval. Once again, the Chairboys found some openings but that cutting-edge was missing.

Erik Ring nearly made it a miserable start to the second-half for Wanderers, skipping away from Sonny Bradley and attempting to curl an effort past Norris, who was equal to it with a great two-handed save.

Jackson made one of the worst calls seen all season to deny Wycombe a penalty. Leahy's free-kick drifted in towards the back post. Wickens came to punch it clear, but instead caught Xavier Simons right in the face. Somehow, the officiating team missed this and gifted Lincoln a goal-kick.

The frustration was soon turned into joy around Adams Park as Humphreys gave his side a lead that they deserved. He bullied Roughan off the ball and was released one-on-one with Wickens. The Ipswich loanee took it around the keeper and slid it home.

Wickens was almost punished for fumbling the ball when coming off his line once again. Ten minutes after the goal, the young keeper tried to gather a high ball again, but could only punch. The ball came back to Wycombe and Caleb Taylor unleashed a thunderous half-volley towards goal, but Wickens was back in his net just in time to prevent it from going in.

With the clock ticking towards the 90th minute and a first Saturday win on the horizon for Mike Dodds, Wycombe kept the pressure on their opponents and tried to find a second. Fred Onyedinma was excellent off the bench, bringing a late livewire to the right flank.

In stoppage time, Imps captain O'Connor was sent off for a needless piece of aggression when Low shepherded the ball out of play. The ball was out of play, but the Irishman lunged in and received a straight red card.

That was all that was written for the sunny afternoon in Buckinghamshire, as Wycombe kept the pressure on the top two with an important three points. Dodds spoke about wanting to win back-to-back League games before the fixture against Wrexham, and despite losing that game, he did just that in his next two.

W. Norris - 6

J. Grimmer - 6 (F. Onyedinma 69'(6))

J. Low - 7

C. Taylor - 7

S. Bradley - 7

A. Reach - 7 (G. McCleary 69'(6))

X. Simons - 6

J. Scowen - 6

C. Humphreys - 9

L. Leahy - 7

R. Kone - 6

Unused substitutes: F. Ravizzoli, S. Vokes, G. Kodua, J. Berry, A. Lowry

Lincoln City player ratings

G. Wickens - 3

T. Darikwa - 6 (J. Gardner 78'(6))

T. Hamer - 6

P. O'Connor - 6

S. Roughlan - 4

C. McGrandles - 6 (S. Clucas 82'(6))

T. Bayliss - 6 (E. Hamilton 82'(6))

J. Makama - 5

R. Hackett - 5

E. Ring - 6 (D. Jefferies 61'(6))

B. House - 6 (J. Collins 78'(6))

Unused substitutes: Z. Jeacock, A. Jackson

Match attendance

Benji Walker (@benjiwalkerphoto)

The attendance for the match on Saturday afternoon was 4,939, with 341 travelling from Lincoln.

Mike Dodds feels weight has been lifted after first back-to-back wins as Wycombe boss

Speaking to the press after the game, Wycombe head coach Mike Dodds accepted the fact that the performance wasn't the most flashy, saying: "Was that vintage? Probably not.

"What I have to do as the captain of the ship is stay really balanced and level. I can feel we've got something to play for, I can feel it a little bit in the players. I said to them at half-time, 'just relax a little bit.' I'll be honest, that's the first time since I've been here in the best part of two months I could feel a little bit of anxiousness.

"My responsibility at this point in time is to be really calm and be really clear on what we're trying to achieve, whether that's a result or trying to do something on the pitch that gets us that result.

"But, what it will read come the end of the season is back-to-back wins, which we haven't done in the league since November. That was prior to my time coming into this football club. Internally, that was something that I was really conscious of in terms of putting back-to-back wins together, and it's taken longer than I'd like.

"I've done that now, and hopefully, if we stay focused - relax a little bit, we'll put a run of games together."

Michael Skubala feels Lincoln City loss at Wycombe Wanderers is harsh

Speaking to the club's official website after Lincoln's 1-0 defeat to Wycombe, a disappointed Lincoln City head coach Michael Skubala said: “Both sides defended well in the first half, but we started the second half well and came out as the better team, and for a spell we looked like we were on top and having better territory.

“We swopped a few things around at half-time to have more control of the game, and I thought we did that but were done on the transition. We didn’t do enough to win the game, but it also feels harsh to have lost - we just didn’t test their keeper enough to get back into the game.

“We want to test ourselves against these good teams, to see how we can develop and grow. We kept their good forwards like Richard Kone quiet, but we need more threat ourselves."