Wycombe Wanderers v Aston Villa: FA Cup third round - as it happened

The League Two side hold the Premier League strugglers to a deserved draw.

2.38pm GMT

There’s time for one last Villa corner, Ayew applying pressure down the left and earning something from nothing. It’s hit deep. Lyden tries to salvage it, but it’s no good, and the full-time whistle goes. Wycombe celebrate a brilliant draw - a fair result on balance - and the teams will be going back to Villa Park for a replay. That’s something for Gareth Ainsworth to celebrate - and he does, in the expansive style, on the pitch - but more frustration for Remi Garde, who has now gone 10 games without getting that precious first win as Villa boss. The replay, perhaps. Meanwhile the last word to Jonny Mills, who has a message for Mac ‘Fisheries’ Millings: “He may be interested to know that, in Serie A, Carpi have just scored.”

2.36pm GMT

90 min +2: Villa press and press, but Wycombe are holding firm on the edge of their own area. The Premier League side don’t have the wit to open them up.

2.35pm GMT

2.35pm GMT

90 min +1: Harriman is booked for tugging Richardson’s shirt.

2.34pm GMT

90 min: It’s all Villa. Ayew, Gueye and Bacuna combine well down the left. Eventually Ayew breaks into the area and reaches the byline, but his chipped cross is plucked from the sky by Lynch. There will be three added minutes.

2.32pm GMT

88 min: Ayew, who has looked purposeful since coming on, bombs down the right but is brushed off the ball by Pierre, who shepherds it out of play to great cheers. Meanwhile there’s a suspicion that Mac Millings hasn’t been totally gripped by this afternoon’s action. “Steve Guppy used to play for Wycombe. Here’s my all-time Fish XI:

Bert Troutmann
Jody Haddock
Herring Berg
Johnny Metcod
Gareth Barrycuda
Stingray Parlour
Marlin Skrtel
Leandro Batuna
Nii Lamprey
Basstian Schweinsteiger
Zinsardine Zidanchovy.

2.30pm GMT

86 min: Veretout burns down the left, but his low cross is hacked clear by Pierre. Then Gueye has a shot from 25 yards, but it’s easily gathered by Lynch. Villa are pressing hard.

2.28pm GMT

84 min: Lyden comes on for his Villa debut, replacing Richards. Pierre has injured his head, and gets it wrapped in a Terry Butcher tribute bandage.

2.27pm GMT

83 min: On the left-hand edge of the Wycombe D, Gestede takes a snap shot. His effort clips off Stewart’s boot, loops over Lynch, and off the crossbar! The ball flies out for a corner, from which Gestede sees another effort deflected over the bar, this one a header. The second set piece comes to naught, Ayew flashing the ball harmlessly out of play.

2.25pm GMT

81 min: Bloomfield is replaced by McGinn.

2.24pm GMT

80 min: Ayew drives down the right wing, twists Harriman this way and that, enters the area, then drags a shot across Lynch and inches wide of the left-hand post. A decent run, and not far away at all.

2.22pm GMT

78 min: Gueye strides down the middle of the park and slips a pass right for Bacuna, who batters a shot goalwards from 25 yards. It’s deflected out for a corner on the right, from which Gestede flashes a header meant for the top-right corner wide of the target.

2.20pm GMT

77 min: Villa have certainly rediscovered the concept of energy, though. An increase in the tempo of their passing appears to be unsettling Wycombe a little. Problem for Villa is, some of that high-tempo passing isn’t that accurate, and a couple of decent periods of possession peter out harmlessly when simple balls fly into touch.

2.19pm GMT

75 min: Richardson bursts with some vigour down the left and earns Villa a corner off McCarthy. Villa load the box. Richards flashes a header goalwards but it’s blocked and cleared easily enough. A bit better from Villa, though.

2.16pm GMT

73 min: Villa have quelled much of the energy shown by Wycombe since the restart. Most of the play now is in the Wycombe half. But the men in yellow are doing very little creatively with the ball. For all Villa’s possession and territorial advantage, Wycombe are very comfortable right now.

2.15pm GMT

71 min: Amadi-Holloway is replaced by Ugwu. Meanwhile a double change for Villa: Sinclair off for Ayew, and Gil swapped for Veretout. That’s a very strange decision by Garde: Gil has been Villa’s star turn this afternoon. Time for the away fans to dip once more into the Great Villa Songbook: “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

2.14pm GMT

2.13pm GMT

68 min: Sinclair dribbles into the Wycombe box from the right. He nearly works space to shoot, but Stewart and Pierre both close him down. Wycombe go up the other end, Wood shoved to the floor by Okore. A free kick, which Wood swings onto Stewart’s head. A powerful effort from the edge of the box flies over the bar.

2.11pm GMT

66 min: Gil has been Villa’s best player by a long chalk. Busy left, right and centre, he looks for a one-two with Richards down the right wing, but the pass doesn’t come back where he wants it. The pair gesticulate at each other in the wake of a simple misunderstanding. The pressure showing.

2.07pm GMT

63 min: A gorgeous back-flick by Thompson very nearly releases Amadi-Holloway into space down the left. Not quite. But they come again to win a corner down the same flank. Jacobson’s delivery isn’t quite so good this time, which isn’t to take anything away from Okore’s clearing header.

2.04pm GMT

60 min: A much rowdier atmosphere at Adams Park in this second half, reflecting the home side’s performance and the resulting change to the scoreline. Villa haven’t done much since the restart.

2.03pm GMT

58 min: Harriman very nearly powers past Richards down the right. He can’t do enough to break into the box, but does win a corner. From the set piece, Wycombe work some space on the right. Harriman crosses. Bunn comes out and clatters into Pierre, and is ludicrously awarded a free kick, the pressure relieved. Had the referee not blown his whistle, Wood had a free shot at an unguarded goal.

2.01pm GMT

57 min: Aston Villa look a little rattled here. A lot of frowning going on. Wycombe are first to most of the balls in midfield. Bunn launches a drop kick down the park, miles over everyone’s head, and out of play for a goal kick to Wycombe. Quite a bit of ironic cheering. The confidence gained by a decent first half already looks to have gone south.

1.59pm GMT

55 min: Bacuna gets a fine effort up and down, over the wall, the ball heading towards the bottom left. Lynch gets down to grab, which he does at the second attempt, Sinclair sniffing around at the loose ball. Fine keeping from the young man.

1.58pm GMT

54 min: Gil tries to burst down the inside-left channel and is blocked by Bloomfield. A free kick in a fairly dangerous position, 25 yards from the Wycombe goal in a fairly central position.

1.56pm GMT

52 min: An over-eager Amadi-Holloway is quite correctly booked for a high knee on Richards.

1.55pm GMT

51 min: How are Wycombe not ahead?! Thompson tears down the right and scoops a brilliant cross to the far post. On the left-hand edge of the six-yard box, Wood creams a volley towards the bottom right. Bunn is beaten, but Okore clears off the line. Wonderful play all round.

1.54pm GMT

Jacobson has fired some delicious corners into the mixer today. He’s dead-eyed from the spot, too, blasting confidently into the left-hand portion of the goal with Bunn diving the other way. This is on!

1.52pm GMT

48 min: The home side have come out with renewed vigour. A high ball down the right. Just inside the box, Westwood goes up with Bloomfield. He’s all over the Wycombe man’s back, and clatters his arm into his face too. The referee instantly points to the spot. Villa argue quite a lot, but they’ll not be changing his mind. Westwood is booked, too.

1.51pm GMT

47 min: Wood whips a cross in deep from the left. Bloomfield, at the far post, opts to head back inside towards Harriman instead of taking the ball down and blootering goalwards. Wrong choice. Villa mop up.

1.49pm GMT

After warming up with some elaborate high kicks, Wycombe get the ball rolling for the second half. Bloomfield very nearly bustles his way clear down the right, but Okore puts a stop to his gallop.

1.35pm GMT

Half-time entertainment: That third round, huh?

Related: A brief guide to … the FA Cup third round, where even the minnows have their day

1.34pm GMT

A flurry of activity at the end of the half. Gil, Bacuna and Gueye take turns to dribble across the front of the Wycombe area. None of them can work an opening for a shot. O’Nein blocks and clears. Then there’s a free kick for Villa down the right, but Gil sends the ball harmlessly out of play to the right. And finally Bloomfield has a chance to release Wood clear on goal down the inside-left, but plays the pass too strongly and too far ahead of his team-mate. The whistle goes at the end of an entertaining half. Villa deservedly in front, but the League Two side have done enough at a couple of corners for a little succour. It should be a cracking second half!

1.30pm GMT

44 min: It’s really quiet at Adams Park. A result of Villa being in control of this game, a couple of set pieces apart. But those set pieces will give Wycombe hope for the second half.

1.28pm GMT

42 min: From the retake, Jacobson - whose delivery has been consistently excellent - finds the head of Pierre, six yards out. He should score, but blasts a horrible effort over the bar. Pierre has the good grace to look utterly livid with himself as he trots back upfield.

1.27pm GMT

41 min: Blooomfield and Amadi-Holloway combine well down the right to earn another Wycombe corner. Jacobson takes. Stewart skies a shot from six yards, but they’ll get another go because there’s been a bit of tugging before the referee blew his whistle.

1.26pm GMT

39 min: It’s lashing down. Gana jigs down the left and earns Villa a corner. The ball’s hit deep. Gestede flicks on. Richards tries to connect at the far post, but he’s tugged back by Stewart. It’s only a light yank, but you’ve seen them given. However, Richards doesn’t really claim the penalty kick, and the referee waves play on.

1.24pm GMT

37 min: Wycombe have picked up the pace a bit. Wood whips a low cross into the Villa box from the left. Harriman, coming in from the right, should meet it and shoot from 12 yards out, level with the right-hand post. But he decides to shuffle his feet before taking the shot, and the over-elaborate set-up allows Richardson to slide in and batter the ball clear. What a chance spurned. Brilliant sliding tackle, mind; if he’d got that wrong, Wycombe would be looking to equalise from the spot.

1.22pm GMT

36 min: A long ball hoicked forward by Lynch. Pierre flicks on from the edge of the Villa box. Stewart very nearly latches onto it down the inside-left channel. Bunn gathers. That would have been a route-one classic, beautiful in its brutal simplicity.

1.20pm GMT

34 min: Villa pass it around the middle of the park for quite a long time. This way, then that. A sign of some confidence returning, perhaps. First steps. Acorns and mighty oaks.

1.18pm GMT

31 min: A game of head tennis breaks out. Tok, tok, tok, tok. Suddenly, Bloomfield bursts down the right and loops a dipping cross into the middle of the Villa box. Wood, running in from the left, connects sweetly, but volleys over the bar and right of the target to boot. That would have been one for the picture book.

1.16pm GMT

29 min: Pretty much every outfield player is in the Villa six-yard box, in anticipation of this corner. Jacobson delivers well yet again, but the winner of the melee is unquestionably Bunn, who punches the ball powerfully away from danger.

1.15pm GMT

28 min: Okore should easily shepherd a bouncing ball out of play down the Wycombe right, but allows Bloomfield to nip around him and play the ball off his body. Terrible defending, wonderful persistence, a corner.

1.12pm GMT

26 min: Corner for Wycombe down the right. Jacobson whips a fine one into the six-yard box. McCarthy, zipping towards the near post, nearly gets his head to it, but can’t get there and Bunn comes off his line to punch clear with great purpose.

1.11pm GMT

24 min: The Villa fans are now singing about a return to Wembley. Whatever will be, will be. Richards needs a little treatment having taken a whack on his ankle when slotting that goal away, Jacobson sliding across in a futile attempt to block the shot.

1.09pm GMT

Bacuna takes a crack from the right of the Wycombe D. It’s blocked, and springs wide right to Gil, who hovers awhile before sliding a pass back inside for Richards. The Villa captain threads a fine low first-time shot into the bottom-left corner from the right of the D. He doesn’t celebrate it, considering it nothing more than a job done in the circumstances.

1.08pm GMT

1.08pm GMT

21 min: The busy Gil scoops a pass down the right, Richards very nearly powering his way past Pierre. The defender clears, but Villa are soon coming back at Wycombe. And ...

1.06pm GMT

19 min: Gil sways and sashays down the right, reaches the byline, and threads a rather good pass back to Gueye on the edge of the box. Gueye has time to shoot, but opts to take a touch to the right and is hounded out of it.

1.04pm GMT

17 min: Gueye has a dig from 25 yards down the inside-left channel. The shot’s deflected to Richardson, who is in the box in acres, but hesitates and instead of shooting opts to dink a cross towards Gestede. Lynch flaps a little when intercepting, and the ball’s only half cleared to Westwood, who looks for the top right from 20 yards, but doesn’t keep his shot down. It’s not the highest quality fare, but it is good fun.

1.03pm GMT

1.03pm GMT

16 min: Wood is afforded time and space on the left edge of the Villa box, Richards having gone walkabout. Wood’s low cross is gathered well by Bunn, with Amadi-Holloway waiting in the middle for something a little better. Richards walks off shaking his head sadly.

1.01pm GMT

15 min: Richards finds a little space down the right. His low cross nearly finds Gil in the box, but the Villa man is denied by a sliding Stewart.

1.00pm GMT

13 min: Gil cuts in from the right, and tries to set Richardson running into space down the left. His diagonal pass is hellishly overcooked, and flies out of play, Richardson with no hope of keeping it in. A common-or-garden pass made to look awfully difficult. It’s a hard game when confidence is low.

12.57pm GMT

11 min: It’s end-to-end still, without anything particularly dramatic unfolding. Harriman bustles down the Wycombe right, then Gil makes good does the Villa left. Both rambles end in a goal kick.

12.56pm GMT

9 min: To be scrupulously even-handed to the away fans, who were earlier heard giving the team pelters as they got off the coach, they’re now belting out a loud rendition of Villa ‘Til I Die. A time and a place for everything, which is fair enough.

12.54pm GMT

7 min: Wood stops Richards scampering down the right, and really should be in the book, but the referee makes do with a stern word. From the free kick, Sinclair is sent free down the right, enters the area, drops a shoulder to skin Stewart, and fires a wonderful low cross into the box. Gestede is waiting to tap in, the keeper having been beaten, but Pierre has anticipated well, and sidefoots powerfully clear. This could easily be 1-1 already. A highly entertaining start, with both teams looking up for the battle.

12.52pm GMT

5 min: ... Thompson shold score. The corner’s hit deep, and there’s a comedic rumble on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. Richards spins around like a teenager after four cans of Special Brew. He hasn’t a clue what’s going on. The ball drops to Thompson, who whips a leg out but lashes his effort wide left from close range. What a chance.

12.51pm GMT

4 min: Amadi-Holloway opens his legs and tears off down the right wing. He very nearly breaks into the Villa box but is hounded out of it by Richardson. No matter, from the throw, Thompson earns a corner. From which...

12.49pm GMT

2 min: Gil swings the corner into the mixer. Jacobson gets a defensive head to it with a couple of yellow shirts swarming towards the near post. A crucial intervention. Clark tries to keep the danger alive with a header straight up into the air but - apologies to Dominic O’Donnell - young Lynch deals with the situation confidently.

12.48pm GMT

Villa get the ball rolling, and win a corner down the right through Richards. “All I want is an unjust red card for the Wycombe keeper, followed by a fantastic save by 46-year-old Richardson, and plucky Wycombe hanging on for a 1-0 victory,” writes Dominic O’Donnell. “Or am I just stating the obvious?”

12.46pm GMT

The teams are out! Wycombe are in their beautiful two-tone blue quarters, while Villa are in not-so-gorgeous all-yellow garb. The famous claret and blue wouldn’t have clashed that much, would it? Bah. Anyway, a fine atmosphere at Adams Park, the green fields poking over the top of the stands, slight shades of the 1967 European Cup final at the Estádio Nacional, if you ignore the car park atop one of the otherwise verdant hills. We’ll be off in a minute!

12.42pm GMT

A little pre-match reading. A bit of Singaporean nuance to our MBM, courtesy of Sazali Abdul Aziz of The New Paper, who has spoken to Wycombe’s Luke O’Nien, a man with ambitions of representing Singapore.

12.36pm GMT

And now his opposite number Remi Garde, who despite it all is looking very relaxed. He’s asked whether today represents an opportunity or a headache for him and his under-pressure side, and he smiles warmly and modestly like the gent he is. “It could be both! We will see at the end of the game. But we have a lot of respect for every team, and especially Wycombe. We just have to play our football, and play it the best we can. Three games in a week is a tough schedule. We are not prioritising league over cup, it’s just a matter of numbers. Our starting line-up is a good line-up, I have no worries about that.”

12.33pm GMT

The very cheerful Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth speaks! “It’s a fantastic opportunity. But I want to put the record straight. If there’s a giant killing today, it’ll be a Wycombe win, not an Aston Villa win. The amount of people who have said ‘you’ve got a right chance’ ... but this is Premer League versus League Two, whichever way you dress it. However, on our day, I believe we can match anyone. Villa have changed their team and formation ten times in the last 12 games, so it’s very difficult to prepare for anything. But Villa have shown us respect by playing some big names. Tactics won’t win the game today; it’ll be togetherness.”

12.27pm GMT

Only two changes to the Wycombe team that recently lost at home to Morecambe. One is the enforced swap of suspended goalie Matt Ingram for Alex Lynch. The other is up the other end of the field, where Aaron Amadi-Holloway comes in for Max Kretzscmar.

Villa make six changes to the starting XI swatted aside at Sunderland last week. Most notably, Mark Bunn takes over from Brad Guzan in goal, Ashley Westwood returns from suspension, and Scott Sinclair injects a bit of pace and dynamism to proceedings. Incidentally, the entire team were serenaded by their own fans as they traipsed off the coach.

12.10pm GMT

Wycombe Wanderers: Lynch, McCarthy, Stewart, Pierre, Jacobson, Harriman, Bloomfield, O’Nien, Wood, Thompson, Amadi-Holloway.
Subs: Jombati, McGinn, Richardson, Kretzschmar, Rowe, Ugwu, Udumaga.

Aston Villa: Bunn, Richards, Okore, Clark, Bacuna, Sinclair, Gana, Westwood, Richardson, Gil, Gestede.
Subs: Guzan, Lescott, Veretout, Ayew, Kozak, Lyden, Cissokho.

3.08pm GMT

Oxford University. Royal Engineers. Clapham Rovers. Old Etonians. West Bromwich Albion. Preston North End (twice). Sheffield United. Manchester City (twice). Manchester United (twice). Arsenal (twice). Liverpool. Only 11 clubs, on 15 occasions in the FA Cup’s 134-season history, have bounced back from losing the final to win the famous old pot the following year. That works out at a success rate of 11.28 percent. God speed, then, Aston Villa!

That’s not all this grand old club has to worry about right now. They’re a grand old shambles at the moment, rooted to the bottom of the Premier League, having won only three of their 23 competitive matches this season. Since the joy of beating Birmingham City in the League Cup in September, they’ve failed to win a single game. You wouldn’t bet much of your own cash money on these lads successfully accomplishing even the simplest of tasks right now - e.g. making a cup of tea without putting the electric kettle on the stove, boiling an egg without setting the pan of water on fire - so a visit to Wycombe Wanderers in the third round of the FA Cup looks far more daunting than it usually would for the seven-time winners.

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