Wycombe Wanderers manager has praised the performance of striker Dale Taylor following his brace in the EFL Trophy victory over Fulham U21s.
The Chairboys defeated the young Cottages 3-2 at Adams Park with the Northern Irish forward ending a goal drought that lasted 10 games.
Interestingly, the 20-year-old wasn’t due to start the knockout fixture but was drafted into the first 11 just two minutes before kick-off, following an injury to Lyle Taylor.
21 - GOOOOAALLLL!!!! DALE TAYLOR!!!
— James Richings (@James_BFP) December 5, 2023
🟦 1-0 ⬜️https://t.co/pCO7ZBKYnj
The latter was expected to lead the line but ‘felt something’ in the warm-up which led to his omission from the squad.
READ MORE: Wycombe Wanderers defeat PL development side to progress in the EFL Trophy
He said: “It’s funny how football works.
“I said to Tommo [assistant manager Richard Thomas], it would be interesting to see what will happen with Dale as he wasn’t supposed to play, but he goes and gets a brace.
“The plan was to give the boys who had been away on international duty a break.
“We sometimes forget that we have two weeks without a game but they go away and play two games, so that was the plan.
“That changed with Dale playing but his confidence will be up after getting two goals.
36 - GOOOAALLLL!!!! DALE TAYLOR AGAIN!!!!
— James Richings (@James_BFP) December 5, 2023
🟦 2-0 ⬜️#Chairboys #FFC https://t.co/pCO7ZBKYnj
“He is such an unselfish player, and a lot of work went into trying to get him here in the summer and he’s been good for us.
“There’s still more to come from him and the brace will do his confidence the world of good.”
On the injury to Lyle Taylor, who could be missing from this weekend's match against Shrewsbury Town, he said: “He picked it up in the warm-up and I didn’t realise.
“I was only told about it two minutes before we kicked off the game, so it was as last minute as you can get.
A 🍬 strike from @DaleTaylor92 to set @wwfcofficial on their way. #EFL | #BristolStreetMotorsTrophy pic.twitter.com/jPGwSGmg07
— Bristol Street Motors Trophy (@BSM_Trophy) December 6, 2023
READ MORE: 'Horrendous' and 'unrecognisable' - Jack Grimmer on Wycombe Wanderers' FA Cup exit
“It was very disappointing for Lyle as he’s desperate to do well for us, but we’ll assess it and see how long it’ll take.
"I don’t know how serious it is but we will find out in the next couple of days."
The result means Wanderers are in the round of 16 of the competition for the first time since the 2016/17 season.
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