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Well it's things I had posted before, but the other thread apparently got deleted so I'm just restarting it. Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to do so

shannon2007

Ah right, had you left it for a while? Was probably deleted in the clean up, good job you have a copy

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Fresh off a draw with Darlington in their previous match, Wycombe weren’t exactly confident heading into their home affair against MK Dons. It wasn’t for lack of ability or faith in themselves to win the match, but more because of the fact that their squad list looked more like an infirmary rather than a football team. Most notably heading the list of Wycombe’s walking wounded was goal keeper Ricardo Batista, who picked up a heel injury during training earlier in the week and as such was ruled out of the afternoon’s contest.

It was a gigantic blow to the Wanderers, that fact was undeniable. Yet it was Wycombe’s manager, Andy Martin, who had instilled in players a sense of undying loyalty to the club, an unquenchable thirst for victory, and an unquestioned passion for the game of football.

The old adage goes “Sometimes you have to be good to be lucky, and lucky to be good.” Wycombe were lucky enough as just nine minutes in, a Chris Palmer shot deflected off of Dons defender Leon Crooks and into the back of the net.

‘Sometimes it’s better to be lucky rather than good’ whispered Andy to his assistant.

Wycombe kept the pressure on, with Chris Palmer leading Wycombe in their efforts to pick up a second marker. The midfielder went close on several occasions in the first half but to no avail as the score remained 1-0 for the home side as the half-time whistle blew.

During the half-time team talk, Andy reminded his men to keep the pressure on when the had possession, but not to get careless to the point where it could cost them giving up a goal. It was a worry that was always in the back of his mind, especially considering the squad he was forced to field including a young keeper.

But the Wycombe boys set out in the second half to put their manager’s worries at ease, controlling the possession and barely allowing their opponents a sniff of the ball. This pleased Andy immensely, yet he could not help but worry that the worst was yet to come.

Yet as the second half wore on, it appeared that the worst was not going to come for the Wanderers on this day. They were keeping up steady pressure in the attacking half, and defending well on the rare occasion MK Dons did happen upon possession in the Wycombe half of the park.

Andy’s worst fears were confirmed with just a minute to go before injury time, but not without controversy. In the eighty-ninth minute, substitute Oliver Platt broke into the penalty area and appeared to be in an offside position as he fired the ball into the back of the net. The referee would have none of the home sides protests and Wycombe were forced to come away from the game with just a single point rather than the full three points they deserved.

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The story of England’s 3-0 thrashing of Andorra at Old Trafford in Manchester during qualifying for the 2008 European Championship was plastered all over every newspaper in the country. Andy always had a soft spot in his heart for the English national team. Growing up as a neighbour to a man who had roomed with George Best when they were both in the Manchester United system and having a friend whose fathers love for the Red Devils was so deep, he asked for his ashes to be spread across the pitch at Old Trafford. That type of love was something that Andy could really appreciate.

The funny thing about that was that despite being around Man United fans, Andy was actually a Chelsea fan. It started off with Andy just trying to be different from his mates, but as time wore on, his devotion towards the Blues grew greater with each passing week. That team seemed more like a family than a football team when they headed into battle.

A family. That’s something Andy hadn’t had in a long, long time. Twelve years in fact.

“Boss. You alright?”

The voice of his assistant, Ian Culverhouse, snapped him back into a reality.

“Yeah, man. I’m fine, I was just thinking about my parents.”

“Oh, I see.” Culverhouse replied, “Come to think of it, you never actually explained what the deal was with your parents.”

Ian had struck a nerve but perhaps talking about things would ease his pain a little. It was time to rip open wounds that never seemed to heal.

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“You’re sure you want to know?” Andy asked Ian before starting to tell his story.

“Sure, why not? It can’t be that bad, can it?” Culverhouse replied.

“The painful part of my story begins at a training ground in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada twelve years ago.” Andy began telling his story and his assistant sat there intrigued with what could be so terrible.

“You see Ian, when I was eighteen years of age, I was a standout for the Canadian under twenty side. I had representitives from clubs in Europe in one ear trying to get me to commit to their club, while I had my parents in the other ear trying to tell me what to do. All I wanted to do was play soccer.”

“Tough life Pele.” Ian replied in a sarcastic tone.

“Do you want to hear the damn story or not?” Andy snapped back.

“Sorry boss.” Ian replied, “Carry on.”

“Anyways, we were training for the under twenty world cup when I went to go make a run off the ball. Of course, I blew out my Achilles tendon and the rest is history.”

“Alright so you didn’t go on to become an international footballing superstar. Why would your parents disown you over something that wasn’t your fault?”

A look of sadness came across Andy’s face at this point. Ian shifted uneasily in his chair.

“I’ve been asking myself the same question for the last twelve years.”

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Heading into their game against Macclesfield, Wycombe were riding a four match unbeaten run. The problem with that is that they also hadn’t won a game in three successive run outs. On the one hand, Andy was pleased because his team were picking up some points. He also knew that it was a very realistic possibility that the dropped points at this point in the season could come back to haunt his club at the end of the season.

On the bright side of things for Wycombe, Sergio Torres returned to the team after serving his three match ban. Ricardo Batista was also fit enough to be named to the substitutes bench and both players would be looking to make a much needed impact for their team.

As the game got underway, however, it was Macclesfield who was playing Wycombe’s game. They were the one domination possession and getting several chances at goal, none of which yielded the first tally of the match and the score remained 0-0 heading into the changing rooms at the half-time

During his team talk, Andy downright begged his men to get back to playing their style of game. They were getting picked apart by their own game and were lucky not to have gone in after the first forty-five minutes behind. Changes were certainly in the cards for the second half. They wouldn’t come immediately, but if things stayed the way they did in the first half, something needed to be done.

The major change came in the seventy-first minute, with the introduction of the returning Sergio Torres. Torres nearly made an immediate impact, coming agonizingly close to putting Wycombe in front with a shot that whistled just over the cross bar.

Since bringing Torres on, it was Wycombe who were pressing the issue and looking the much better of the two sides. They had listened to their manager’s half-time pleas and went back to playing their style of game and it was nearly paying off for them in spades. Jermaine Easter came close to putting his side in front on a couple of occasions in the last ten minutes, but failed to slot the ball in the back of the net.

The game ended in the same manner in which it started, a 0-0 draw. The unbeaten run had now stretched itself to five games. Unfortunately, the winless streak also expanded to four games on the trot. Something needed to change, and quickly, if there was to be any hope of Wycombe fulfilling the prophecies telling of promotion to league one at the end of the season

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Wycombe headed into their away day with Wallsall on a five game unbeaten run and were looking to extend that number to six. More importantly, Andy Martin’s men would be looking for their first victory over that span.

Things got off to a very good start for Wycombe when Will Antwi cooly slotted home a penalty kick just ten minutes into the game. The goal was the defenders first tally in a Wycombe shirt. The usually emotionless Antwi wheeled away after scoring to celebrate jubilantly with the rest of the side.

The 1-0 lead would be short lived, however, as Hector Sam would notch the first of what would be two goals in the match in the twenty-second minute as he raced into the penalty area and put the ball into the back of the net The Trinidad and Tobago international’s speed was something that came up as a possible problem to the Wycombe defence and it was certainly put on display with that effort on goal.

The home side would pull in front just five minutes before the half time whistle when Tony Wrack took a nice crossed that was whipped in from the left side by Hector same and headed it past a diving Ricardo Batista. The Wycombe defence was hanging their goalkeeper out to dry and it was making Andy very, very unhappy with his squad.

It remained 2-1 until minute number fifty-eight when Hector Sam picked up his second of the match, making a nice little move around Will Antwi before blasting a low shot into the corner of the goal. The sloppy play of his defence during the match had Andy having flashbacks to earlier in the season when his defence looked like Swiss cheese and he was a man with a strong dislike for that variety of cheese.

Jermaine Easter made the score 3-2 during injury time as he ran onto a beautifully played diagonal ball off the foot of substitute Ian Stonebridge and getting in behind the Walsall defence and slotting the ball into the back of the net. Easter, along with his manager, could manage merely manage a weak fist pump. Both men knew that this was most likely a consolation goal.

That was until a controversial moment came about on what turned out to be the second to last kick of the match. Jermaine Easter broke threw the Walsall defence off a excellently placed diagonal ball from Ian Stonebridge. Much like the first time this happened, Easter slid the ball in the back of the net. The Wycombe side and their supporters were overjoyed, they had seemingly come back to snatch a point after being down three goals to one.

They thought this until they noticed that the linesman had his flag raised.

The final score wound up being 3-2 for the home side. The unbeaten run of Wycombe had come to an end, but not for a lack of trying. After the match, Adam Yuill, a reporter from Sky Sports news approached Andy looking for his take on the match which had just taken place.

“Well Andy that was a tough one to take, wasn’t it?”

Andy held back the urge to call the short, scrawny reporter retarded. He knew the censors and the PC brigade would be all over him if he did that.

“It certainly was. Bit of tough luck there at the end but I guess that’s how the game goes sometimes."

The reporter went to ask Andy another question but the fiery Canadian would have none of it. He quickly walked towards the Wycombe changing rooms. There was no more time for questions on this day in Andy’s mind. Now had to be a time for action.

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Wycombe returned home to Adams Park looking to start fresh and anew. Despite being tipped for promotion and even hopes of a league two title at the beginning of the season, the Chairboys weren’t off to the start everyone had expected them to have. In fact, Andy’s men were currently riding a five game winless streak and lying in fourteenth place in the league two table.

But Andy Martin remained in an optimistic mood despite his sides recent run of results. He remained in such an upbeat mood because he knew that if there was one side for them to turn things around in time enough to fulfill the hopes of everyone who watched Wycombe Wanderers, it would be the team that lied in twenty-second place in the league two table, Hereford.

Things got off to the start that Andy liked to see from his team, even if it didn’t result in any goals. They had gotten back to playing there possession style of play while looking to create chances for the five men in the midfield and the two brave souls up at the front.

The first half yielded no goals for either side, however. Yet Andy went into the changing rooms for the team talk as a pleased man up to this point. He knew one goal, if not more, would be on it’s way for his side if they kept up the style of play from the first half.

The breakthrough came to Wycombe in the fifty-eighth minute when a poor attempt at a clearance header from a Hereford defender fell directly into the path of a charging Sergio Torres. The Wycombe midfielder made no mistake, unleashing a powerful blast into the top corner which the keeper had absolutely no shot at getting to.

The goal sent the almost thirty-six hundred fans that packed Adams Park through the roof. It was Torres’ first goal of the season and he seemed to be more excited to get that monkey off his back than the Wycombe supporters. Andy couldn’t help put give an emphatic set of fist pumps when the ball struck the back of the net.

Now it was Hereford who were pressing hard for the equaliser. This, of course, worried Wycombe’s manager immensely. Everyone who followed League Two had to know that Wycombe’s defence was one of the most suspect in all of England. Andy most definitely was not a religious man, but even he was on the verge of getting on his knees to pray if it meant snapping the five game winless streak.

That suspect Wycombe defence drove Andy to the verge of a massive heart attack during second half injury time. Hereford seemed to equalise late in the match thanks to a complete lack of marking from his men. But thanks to the grace of God, the Hereford forward was ruled to be just a hair offside. Maybe Andy should start praying more often?

The final whistle blew just a few seconds later. The game had ended 1-0 in the favour of the home side. Andy was happy to walk away with the three points, but he was happier to be back on the winning side of things. As he was making his way off the pitch, he looked up into the stands and something caught his eye. Or rather, SOMEONE caught his eye.

He was a large man who was sporting a Wycombe shirt and was cheering along with the rest of the Chairboys supporters to a new song they decided to unveil. It was their own version of “There’s only one Andy Martin”. Andy couldn’t help but chuckle a little, he had turned into something of a cult icon at Adams Park already. He also had to give his head a shake, the man in the stands couldn’t be who he thought it was. Besides, he had more important things to worry about, like a trip to Cardiff for the second round of the Carling Cup. He couldn’t be bothered to speculate on mystery men in the stands who happened to look like his father.

retired_shaneltolbert

This is a good start Handi :thup:

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There was a buzz in the air as Wycombe travelled to Wales to take on Championship side Cardiff City in a second round Carling Cup tie at Ninian Park. Heading into the match, everyone with any sort of interest in the match had Cardiff coming away with a sound victory. One reporter said the match was going to be merely a warm-up for the team from Wales on the way to the third round.

Andy Martin could not honestly blame anyone for thinking this way. After all, there were two leagues separating the two sides and everyone knew that usually resulted in a large gap in the talent levels of teams. Of course, it was Wycombe Wanderers, a League Two side, who disposed of Birmingham City, another Championship side to get to this point. THAT was the main reason why Andy Martin knew his side had the ability to get a result against the team from Cardiff.

The game got underway and it started much like many people expected. Cardiff were dominating in every facet of the game. The had almost seventy-five per cent of the ball and were generating chances seemingly at will. Wycombe were penned inside their own half for most of the first half. One thing that the home side were not able to generate during the first half of play, however, was a goal. The two sides went into the changing rooms at half-time all square despite the flat out domination from Cardiff City. Perhaps it was going to be Wycombe’s lucky day once again.

“One goal,” Andy said quietly to himself as he made his way through the tunnel towards the dressing rooms, “One goal is all we need.”

As the second half got underway it looked as if Wycombe were going to find that goal they were looking for. First, Sergio Torres went just over the crossbar after catching Cardiff off guard from the restart. Just a couple of minutes later, it was Jermaine Easter who sent a shot just inches to the wrong side of the post. It looked as if the small side from High Wycombe was going to have another day in which the football gods were going to smile upon them.

But those hopes and dreams were dashed in the fifty-third minute when Joe Ledley turned and hit a nice little volley which managed to find the back of the net. It seemed to Andy that the gods seemed to be sleeping off a hard night of partying rather than giving them a helping hand in their time of need.

Now Wycombe was throwing everything they had towards the Cardiff goal. They simply had to if they had any desire to advance into the third round of the Carling Cup. And the chances to draw level were certainly there for the taking. Again, it was midfielder Sergio Torres leading the charge to try and nick a goal, going close no fewer than three times including striking the wood work on two consecutive attempts at goal.

It was not meant to be for the visitors, though. Joe Ledley added the brace with his second of the match in second half injury time. The game finished 2-0 for Cardiff City, not a surprised to anyone really. Through it all, though, Andy couldn’t say that he was displeased with his teams performance. He knew that they would have their backs against the wall for the majority of the match and he felt that they performed well under those circumstances.

Before making his way off the pitch Andy, along with the rest of the squad, made their way over to the away stands and applauded the Wycombe supporters for making the journey to Wales just to be entertained. As he was applauding, Andy scoured the stands and noticed something quite peculiar.

He looked up and saw the same man in the stands who he had seen a couple of matches ago. He was wearing a Wycombe shirt and singing along with the rest of the Wycombe supporters. Next to him was a woman. It wasn’t just any woman, however. That woman was his mother. There was no way that couple could be his parent. Or could they be?

“You alright boss?”

A voice snapped him out of the trance he was in. It was the voice of his assistant, Ian Culverhouse.

“Yeah, yeah mate I’m fine. Just thinking about some things is all.” Andy replied.

“Oh alright, let’s do your thinking on the way back inside though. We’ve got some things we need to talk about with the lads.”

So the two of them made their way off the pitch and towards the dressing rooms. But the vision of that couple in the Wycombe shirts was one that Andy just could not seem to shake. Was that really his parents in the stands?