For Wycombe there were 11 changes and an 11th successive win, for Wealdstone the consolation of a fine performance and forcing the League One leaders to bring on their heavy hitters to see out the game. The visitors did just enough to keep their bandwagon rolling, a goal in each half securing their place in round three and lending an unfairly serene sheen to an awkward tie during which they were blunted for long periods by the National League strugglers.
Both goals were outstanding in contrasting ways, Beryly Lubala opening the scoring with a beautiful free-kick and the substitute Richard Kone making the game safe in the 84th minute after capping a fine run infield from the left with a composed finish. But if they were always a bit sharper in mind and movement there was little sign of the ease with which Wycombe have disposed of so many League One opponents this season, Matt Bloomfield’s side creating little from open play until Wealdstone started to be gripped by fatigue and desperation in the final few minutes.
“There was always going to be a risk that it was going to be slightly clunky today with so many changes but they were excellent,” Bloomfield said. “It’s not easy to come in from not playing and produce a performance in tough circumstances. There’s a reason why it was live on TV, a reason why we had the early kick-off, all these things come with a reason – it’s because everyone was hoping there might be an upset and we might be the story.”
Perhaps they might have been, had the goalkeeper, Shamal George, played less impressively, or had Alex Reid not missed an open goal midway through the first half.
“That would have changed everything,” said Matt Taylor, the Wealdstone manager. “If that first goal would have gone in you’d have seen this place become quite intimidating, because the supporters were desperate.
On Saturday the Leyton Orient goalkeeper Josh Keeley scored a last-gasp equaliser to take their tie with Oldham to extra time then the striker Daniel Agyei ended the National League side' dream of a place in the FA Cup third round. Keeley’s header in the ninth minute of stoppage time cancelled out Manny Monthe’s 47th-minute opener for Oldham and set the stage for Agyei, who had earlier missed a penalty, to win it for the League One club in added time at the end of the extra 30 minutes.
Brackley of National League North gave a good account of themselves against League One high-fliers Stockport, but slipped to a 3-1 defeat. Will Collar and Kyle Wootton had the home side two goals to the good within 18 minutes of kick-off and although a Callum Connolly own goal gave Brackley hope, the substitute Isaac Olaofe’s late strike wrapped up the win.
It was left to Dagenham and Redbridge to fly the flag for the National League as goals from Junior Morias and Josh Rees were enough to get the better of the League Two side AFC Wimbledon, who had equalised through Matty Stevens.
Crawley squandered a 2-0 lead at home to. their League One counterparts Lincoln to go down 4-3. Jack Roles and Tola Showunmi looked to have put the hosts in the driving seat, but Paudie O’Connor, Jovon Makama, Erik Ring and Jack Moylan ensured it was the Imps who prevailed despite Jeremy Kelly’s late effort.
Peterborough scored three times inside the last 13 minutes to secure their passage with a 4-3 home win over Notts County. Cedwyn Scott had earlier cancelled out Ricky-Jade Jones’ opener before Matty Platt gave the visitors the lead, but late goals from Jones, Joel Randall and the substitute Abraham Odoh saw Posh over the line with George Abbott reducing the deficit in added time.
Bristol Rovers beat Barnsley 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw at Oakwell. Accrington went through 4-1 on penalties against 10-man Swindon after Tyler Walton’s injury-time equaliser had made it 2-2. Walton doubled his personal tally for the match late on after Grant Hall and Joel Cotterill had put the visitors 2-1 ahead despite Daniel Butterworth’s first-half dismissal to take the tie to extra time.
Jonny Smith came off the bench to fire Wigan to a 2-1 comeback victory at their League One rivals Cambridge in extra time after his teammate Thelo Aasgaard had levelled following Brandon Njoku’s 77th-minute opener.
Gassan Ahadme’s double and goals from Matty Godden and substitute Tyreece Campbell eased Charlton to a 4-0 win at Walsall, while Tristan Crama and Josh Magennis were on target in Exeter’s 2-0 victory over Chesterfield.
Francis Okoronkwo and Cole Stockton from the spot scored in Salford’s 2-0 success against Cheltenham, while Stephen McLaughlin’s strike secured a 1-0 win for Mansfield at Stevenage and Jordan Slew sent Morecambe through by the same score at home to Bradford, who had Neill Byrne sent off. PA Media
“It’s always going to be difficult when you play a team that’s from two leagues above you and sitting on top of the league. The biggest testament to our players is that they’ve had to put all their best players on to the pitch to see a game out at little old Wealdstone.”
Wycombe failed to create a single chance in the opening period but still took a lead into the break: the tall, commanding Wealdstone centre-back Jack Cook hared rashly out of the defensive line to trip Dan Udoh 25 yards from goal and Lubala curled the ball into the top corner from the resulting free-kick.
By then the Stones had carved out and horrifically missed the best chance of the game, a low cross from the left finding Reid unmarked at the far post, but with George nowhere and a yawning goal in front of him somehow he sidefooted over the bar.
Reid also missed their best chance of the second half, intercepting David Wheeler’s attempt to chest the ball back to his goalkeeper – when Wycombe finally created a chance it was for the wrong team – but hitting George with his shot. In the 73rd minute the Oldham loanee carried the ball to the edge of the area before sending in a shot that deflected off Ryan Tafazolli and was excellently saved.
By this point Wycombe’s creativity had scarcely improved, though Tafazolli had a header cleared off the line from Matt Butcher’s corner. But in the closing stages Tafazolli shot across goal and wide, albeit after the referee missed a clear pull on a defender’s shirt, before Kone’s 12th goal of an extraordinary first full season in professional football, 10 minutes after coming on, settled the tie.
