Football Season Review

The season behind Wycombe Wanderers was very similar to the one they had the previous time they were in League One, two years ago. It was a case of the Chairboys trying to play proper football and scoring a lot of goals, but looking far too leaky at the back and eventually ending up being relegated. Since the very beginning of the season, the Chairboys' pattern was clear: they were completely unable to perform in their away matches, and only a rare home win was keeping them with some hopes of staying up. Survival only started to look like a realistic possibility in the second half of the season, when Gary Waddock strengthened his side with the loan signings of Charlton men Gary Doherty and Paul Hayes. The latter eventually ended up being prematurely recalled by the eventual champions, but the former remained with the club until the end of the season and was a key performer in Wycombe's push for survival late in the season. However, they eventually ended up falling short of their target; they looked set to take the battle into the final round, but conceded two injury time goals to Notts County, turning a win into a defeat. There is little doubt that the fans will look back on the final home games of the season and wonder what could have been. In addition to the Notts County game, there was the game against Oldham where Wycombe led 1-0 and missed a penalty before conceding an added time equalizer. All in all, while luck definitely wasn't on his side, it seems that Gary Waddock's approach once again turned out to have been a bit too naive for the third tier, and the Chairboys' boss might want to try and play a different style if he finds himself coaching in League One again. Top scorer Stuart Beavon was easily the Chairboys' Player of the Season, and it will be hard to persuade him to play in League Two after the season he just had.

Player of the Season: Stuart Beavon