Wycombe Wanderers 3 Exeter City 1.  

Boxing Day
Monday 26 December 2011

MATCH REPORT

Wycombe 3 Exeter City 1

With a fully fit squad to choose from, Tisdale had plenty of selection choices for this Boxing Day clash at Adams Park but he opted to make just one alteration to the XI that drew 0-0 with Scunthorpe with Bauza replacing Elliott Frear. 

Wycombe's pre-match talk centred around the extension of Trotta's loan deal from Craven Cottage and the youngster wasted no time in showing just why they were so keen to keep him. With just 30 seconds gone Anthony McNamee knocked the ball down the left-hand touchline and after beating three Grecians to the ball he whipped a cross into the box which was fired home first time by the Italian.

Exeter didn't let the early set-back get to them and went on to create plenty of chances. The first pair came when Troy was inches away from a teasing Hackett corner at the back post while Taylor was hacked out after dancing past his marker.

At the other end Marvin McCoy wriggled his way down the right hand flank and managed to get a right footed shot away that flew across Krysiak's goal and out of play. And Krysiak had to be alert on 16 minutes when a great reverse ball put Stuart Lewis through on goal but City's pole pulled off a fine stop with his feet.

Midfield duo Liam Sercombe and James Dunne both tried their luck from long range while Hackett's dangerous corners were causing chaos in the box and the second in quick succession resulted in City's equaliser. Coles rose to thump Hackett's delivery past Bull and the centre-back celebrated infront of the 502 travelling fans.

The game was flying from end to end and a City counter on 27 minutes involving Tully and Hackett created an opening for Noble but his
left-footed curler couldn't test the former Aldershot keeper.

Bauza had a fine first half and showed some fantastic touches to bring others into play. He also came very close to a goal on his return to the starting line-up on the half hour after a lovely mazy run resulted in a fine effort that Bull tipped over the crossbar. From the resulting corner Troy knocked the ball down to the Spaniard but he fired into the away end.

Four minutes later Bauza showed great feet before teeing up Sercombe who drilled a thumping effort wide and at the other end Krysiak did well to keep out Stuart Bevan.

City's failure to make the chances count would cost them when rock bottom Wycombe regained their lead on 40 minutes, Trotta showed some nifty footwork on the left-hand side of the box before rocketing a low drive past Krysiak.

The final chance of a frantic half saw Hackett try his luck from the right hand side of goal but he couldn't test the keeper.

Just three minutes into the second half this match took another twist when Bauza sent Jake Taylor one on one with Bull and after rounding the keeper the Reading loanee was fouled and the referee pointed to the spot.

But Bauza's spot-kick was almost straight down the middle and Bull kept it out. And when the ball rebounded the keeper flew off his line to dive at the feet of the Spanish forward, and got injured in the process.

City continued to look bright with Troy nodding over and Bauza heading wide when unmarked at the back post.

Tisdale reshuffled shortly after with Dan Nardiello being introduced for Hackett and Richard Duffy coming on for Tully but the chances dried up for the Grecians despite having more of the ball than the home side.

You sensed that a repeat of the 2-2 draw we saw here in the 2009/10 season wasn't out of the question. But those thoughts were extinguished on 88 minutes when Trotta was allowed time to run at the City defence and he made the Grecians pay for backing off with a low shot that flew past Krysiak at his near post.

BBC match summary and information 

Marcello Trotta's hat-trick lifted Wycombe out of the League One relegation zone after victory against fellow strugglers Exeter.

Danny Coles then levelled with a header from Chris Hackett's corner before Trotta struck again from a tight angle.

Nikki Bull denied Guillem Bauza from the penalty spot before Trotta completed his treble from close range.

Referee Graham Scott

Attendance  4904 with 502 City fans

VIEWS FROM THE DRESSING ROOM

Exeter City boss Paul Tisdale told BBC Radio Devon:

"The scoreline probably doesn't reflect how I think we played.

"Largely, I'm very pleased with the side and I think they were good value for a result today, but it wasn't the case.

"For all our good play, the reality is we conceded three goals. A large part of that is down to the exceptional talent of Marcello Trotta, but also I would've liked to have seen better defending."