I’m in Wycombe again tomorrow for the second game in one week to see whether the Chairboys can repeat the performance they gave against Orient.
Colchester are the visitors this time and they will also be in high spirits following an excellent 2-0 win at league leaders Charlton.
In fact the Us have only lost once in seven games and won the last couple so confidence will be high.
After Tuesday night’s game I asked Gary Waddock how he managed to get his players to perform as they did - in the first half especially – on the back of what was 'apparently' a real shocker at Scunthorpe. The Wycombe manager told me he had just asked his players to sit down and remember how they were feeling and what they were thinking before the 5-0 win against Hartlepool ... and then approach Orient in the same frame of mind. It obviously worked.
It would be easy to criticise and ask why Wycombe didn’t pick up where they left off at the break on Tuesday, but there were also eleven other pros on that pitch who had just been given the rollicking of their lives by Russell Slade ... and were in danger of being made to walk back to East London.
Personal pride will also have kicked in. I’ve known very few professional footballers in my time who have not tried to salvage some when they’re in that situation.
And so the second half was never going to be as easy, but credit to Wycombe, they showed they were going to scrap and battle to win that one.
It would also be easy for the club to panic and get shot of Waddock, but in my opinion that would be short-sighted and Chairman Ivor Beeks obviously feels the same and has told the Bucks Free Press:
"He continues to have our respect and support. There is no issue, he’s got a job to do."
When a football Chairman backs his manager these days it's often time to start checking the Situations Vacant columns in the League Managers Association newsletter, but traditonally, Wycombe are made of sterner stuff.
Beeks - and most fans - were aware that this was going to be a backs-to-the-wall season from day one.
Wycombe midfielder Bloomfield made a big point of highlighting the importance of the home support when he told the Bucks Free Press:
"The players care about the fans and the club. We want to win first and foremost for our points tally, but we want to give our fans something to cheer about on Saturday against Colchester."
Bloomfield is obviously one of those players who is very aware of the debt owed by players to fans as he also took time out to talk about them on Tuesday night (there's a sneaky clip below, but the full interview is probably on the cub's website). It seems as though some players pay lip service to their followers, but even off camera and off the record, I can assure you that Bloomfield cares.
In John Ward, Colchester have one of the lower leagues’ top football brains and so it will be an intriguing tussle between the two coaches.
Colchester’s leading scorer is midfielder Anthony Wordsworth who has found the net eleven times this season and he has certainly not given up on a play-off place – even if the boss is playing it cool.Wordsworth has said:
“I don’t see why we can’t make the play-offs. When you look back on the points that we’ve dropped in the past, it’s a bit frustrating. But after taking six points from our last two games, it’s definitely doable.”
I spoke to Ward a few times when he was managing Cheltenham and he is a likable and knowledgeable football man. Interesting to see that he also has a few old Robins players on the staff including Steven Gillespie who has made a reputation for himself as a dangerous lower league goal scorer.
It should be a cracking encounter tomorrow. A home win and maybe everyone in Adams Park will start to believe. An away win and maybe the visiting Essex boys (and girls) will, er, start to believe!
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