It all looked so good for Wycombe on Saturday.
Their attacking play, led by Ebere Eze, was a joy to behold, especially after the break where the Blues scored three goals in 14 minutes.
However, Cheltenham were always a threat but were no doubt aided by the officiating in the build-up to the equaliser two minutes from time.
In the press box, even though the view was slightly obscured, you could see a clear four on Eze by Cheltenham forward Mohamed Eisa.
Worse still, the linesman was two yards away from the incident! In the end, Eisa crossed for Brian Graham to head home, and the old cliche ‘two points dropped’ was very much the feeling after the game.
Gareth was as usual very upbeat afterwards but called for referees to become professional at this level. I have to agree with Gaz’s comments on this.
Decisions like that could ultimately costs team promotion, or a chance to stay up. At the end of the season, we will see how much that equaliser will have hurt Wycombe, or not, as the case may be.
However, jobs and money hang on the line in football. I know referees have such a difficult job at any level of football but I have to be frank and say that it was an absolutely blatant foul on Eze, more so than some of the decisions that were given during the game itself.
It is frustrating, but am sure Gareth is more concerned with the news that Adam El-Abd went of injured in Tuesday’s Checkatrade defeat to Swindon.
He is hopeful that Dan Scarr and Anthony Stewart will be fit to face Solihull Moors on Sunday and that would certainly ease some of the pressure on the backline ahead of their first round FA Cup match.
You think of the stability that Wanderers have on and off the pitch these days and that everyone is pulling in the same direction.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a bit of a crisis at Solihull at the moment. Richard Money resigned earlier this week as manager after just 26 days in charge and the club have announced that their assistant will be in charge against the Blues.
Such upheaval can only hinder a club and Solihull are struggling at the bottom of the National League. However, with a capacity crowd likely, a game like this could galvanise the squad and Gareth will, I am sure, have the team on red alert and mindful of avoiding an upset.
We saw last season how a team like Stourbridge gave Wanderers a real fright before the Blues edged through their third round clash.
I am predicting a 2-0 win for Wycombe but they will have to be 100 per cent on their game.
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