Wycombe 2-3 Imps 1993

Wycombe won promotion to the Football League in 1992/93, replacing Halifax Town. They had finished as runner up the season before, and were knocking on the door plenty under Martin O’Neill. The former Forest man was in charge at Adams Park the first time we visited there in the league, on October 9, 1993.

The Imps were on a bit of a run going into the game, With two wins and two draws. Fans were getting their money’s worth as well; those four games had seen the Imps back ten goals, but we’d conceded eight! There’s no doubt Keith’s team back then sought to impress, at least in the early weeks. It was helped with two loan players; Gary Jones and a player whose name didn’t go down in Imps folklore for the right reasons; David Flitcroft. Still, both players enjoyed undefeated loan spells with City, the last of which came in our 3-2 win at Adams Park.

We started badly; Dave Carroll gave them the lead as early as the fourth minute. These days, if you concede that early to Wycombe, you’re likely going to lose 1-0, but in 1993, that wasn’t the case. Dean West bagged on 23 minutes to restore parity, before Ian Baraclough blasted home from the spot on 39 minutes. Neil Matthews, a vastly underrated strike in my opinion, lofted a third over Paul Hyde in the dying embers of the half.

These days, if the Imps have a two-goal lead at half time, you’re tempted to worry, but back then it wasn’t the case. However, Wycombe did make a game of it, Steve Thompson (no, not that one) gave them hope late on in front of 5,623 fans. That was a good number; City’s home game with Doncaster the Saturday before only attracted 3,901. Later in the season, as the wheels came off the Imps charge up the table, Wycombe got their revenge, beating us 3-1. Keith admitted we played poorly in front of 3735, despite Steve Williams giving us a 1-0 lead. The Echo’s David Garland said we ‘folded tamely’ in the second half, with Tim Langford scoring twice and Terry Evans adding a third.