Hope you and your loved ones had a lovely Christmas Day! Talking of which, a belated Christmas gift arrived for every Grecian at around 5pm yesterday afternoon – three valuable points! In our first league victory since 16th September, a below-par Wycombe Wanderers were dispatched thanks to a goal from returning loanee Sonny Cox.

Cox put in a performance that belied his years, giving everything for the shirt and a will to win. It was hard for him being up top on his own, especially considering that he’s still quite a young player, but the loan spell he has recently had at Yeovil Town has obviously done him the world of good.

City made a few changes from Friday night’s defeat on the road at Cambridge United, with Pierce Sweeney, Ilmari Niskanen and Harry Kite dropping to the bench, and of course no Ryan Trevitt following his ankle injury. Will Aimson was back in the side, but without the captain’s armband, which instead was given to Reece Cole.

Wycombe’s starting 11 included ex-Wales international Sam Vokes and former Grecian David Wheeler, who rightly got a great reception from the home support for the efforts he put in during his time wearing the red and white of our club. Although we won at Adams Park 3-0 on the opening day of the season, I wasn’t expecting a lot from the game considering our current form.

Yanic Wildschut started the game on the left wing, but 10 minutes in, our never-ending injury crisis worsened as he had to come off, with Ilmari Niskanen replacing him. When Ilmari came on, he had a much better game than he had on Friday evening at Cambridge, and he wasn’t the only one showing notable improvement. Will Aimson, without the captain’s armband, looked like a different player with a weight lifted off his shoulders. Cheick Diabate as ever was a colossus at the back.

Despite the praise I’m giving here, the first half still left a lot to be desired. Numerous chances were created that we just couldn’t finish, when support was needed by other players it wasn’t forthcoming, and some of the passing at the back was very casual and it seemed like we were heading for more of the same. Wycombe didn’t really offer a lot, and in my opinion they were there for the taking.

I don’t know what was said in the changing room at half time, but we came out like a different animal, continuously peppering the goal as we attacked the Big Bank. As numerous opportunities came our way, the deadlock was finally broken in the 65th minute as Sonny Cox nodded in from close range following good work from both Reece Cole and Jack Aitchison. Talking of Cole, I was impressed by his leadership and wouldn’t be averse to giving him the armband going forward.

We were all over Wycombe until the final 5 minutes or so in which they started to apply some pressure in desperation. As we headed in to 6 minutes minimum of additional time, Wycombe were awarded a dubious penalty by referee Charles Breakspear when Dale Taylor barged into Harry Kite, knocking himself to the ground in the process. Desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose, but you’d expect the officials to spot things like that. Was our bad luck and our winless run going to continue after all?

Luke Leahy was the Wycombe player to step up and take the penalty, which he seemed to take a while to do. Once he did so though, he shot it to the left of Vil Sinisalo who heroically palmed it away. I haven’t heard a cheer quite like that at SJP for quite a while!

Not long after, the final whistle sounded and huge relief poured out of the players and coaching staff, who celebrated in front of the Big Bank for the first time in what seems like an eternity. Vil Sinisalo and Sonny Cox being the heroes of the day were duly pushed to the front to take the adulation of the Bank at full-time. It must have been a huge relief for Gary Caldwell too considering the pressure we’ve been under for a while now.

As I’ve said in the past though, one swallow doesn’t make a summer. I was concerned that with the players having Christmas Day off that we’d not be ready for the game, but thankfully I was mistaken. Yes it wasn’t perfect and yes there’s still work to do, even to convince me that a change of manager still isn’t needed going forward, but it’s a start that we can build on and a huge monkey off our backs.

We now have 22 points on the board and 24 games remaining. Out of those 24, we now need 9 wins and a draw to get to the 50 point mark which should ‘hopefully’ secure League One football again next season. I hope and pray that will be the case, but time will tell.

Table-topping Portsmouth are next up at SJP on Friday evening for our final game of 2023, having just lost to Bristol Rovers to cut their lead at the top to 4 points. It’ll be a tough game considering how they’ve been most of the season, but if we can somehow get a point out of that and build on the good work from the Wycombe game I’ll be delighted. After initially debating not going on Friday evening, I have now decided to do so following yesterday’s performance – can’t waste my season ticket can I?

Reading away on New Year’s Day will also be a tough test, as will Carlisle at home just after, especially considering they’re both in a relegation dogfight like ourselves. However, it’s an ideal time to get much-needed points on the board, and with the transfer window opening shortly we can but hope that suitable reinforcements will be brought in. I’m not overly hopeful considering our current situation, but if GC can prove me wrong and bring in players to this football club who can fit in well and get us climbing the table then I’ll happily hold my hands up. We all just want the best for our club don’t we?

Time will tell though. UTC

by Sums on City.