Wycombe Wanderers faced off against Leyton Orient tonight in the first round of the Carabao Cup, beating the East London side 1-0 thanks to an own goal from the hosts. The Chairboys’ starting XI featured academy forward Cam Stones, Fred Onyedinma also captaining the side. Richard Kone was absent tonight following reports that Wanderers and Queens Park Rangers had agreed a fee for the striker. Former Wycombe midfielder, Tyreeq Bakinson featured in the home side’s starting eleven after leaving the blues earlier this summer.
Following a far from ideal start to their 25/26 campaign, Wycombe looked to return to winning ways and secure their place in the second round of the Carabao Cup. It also gave players who usually don’t get the chance to feature in the league some minutes on the pitch, such as Will Norris and Alex Hartridge, as well as the aforementioned Cam Stones, with Arthur Gregory featuring on the bench.
The hosts kicked off tonights match under East London’s setting sun in still sweltering 27-degree weather, and it didn’t take long at all for the referee to get his yellow card out as Tyreeq Bakinson was booked for tripping Tilley. Soon after, Wycombe were through on the attack but Fin Back’s effort was denied, and they were close once again after a corner was cleared off the line by Demetri Mitchell.
Will Norris was lucky to get away as a bad pass was intercepted by Mitchell but his effort was wide.
Debutee Cam Stones was found by Fred Onyedinma not far from goal, but his shot was kept away, already some impressive play.
Wanderers seemed to be dicing with danger as their usual passing out the back strategy seemed to have some issues, with Orient players intercepting passes every so often and seemed to find themselves in a dangerous position, but nothing came of it. However, their press proved to be a thorn in the side of Wycombe Wanderers as the hosts constantly forced them off the ball and tried to cause mistakes.
Norris once again made a mistake as he practically gave the ball to Demetri Mitchell but was lucky to get off the hook as Orient failed to capitalise.
The first half was brought to an end after a minute of additinal time with the game still goalless despite opportunities from both sides.
The second half began with an opportunity wrapped in gold for Wycombe with an Orient defender attempting a backpass which ended up at Westergaard’s feet but his shot hit the side netting, a chance which should have been the opening goal of the game.
Wanderers made changes on the hour mark as George Abott made way for Junior Quitirna, who instantly caused problems for the hosts with a nice run down the wing, finding Stones, the play ending with a corner for Wycombe.
Further changes were made for Wycombe nine minutes later, Alex Lowry and Arthur Gregory, making his senior debut for Wycombe, replacing Cameron Stones and Fred Onyedinma.
Orient got very close with only four minutes left, with a shot hitting the side netting, the goal, if it came, surely would have won it for the hosts.
Six additional minutes were added, the game still at a stalemate, the hosts taking hold of the game with chance after chance, testing Wycombe.
Despite this, Wycombe Wanderers found the net in the 93rd minute of the match, even though it was an own goal with the ball deflecting off Orient’s captain and into his own net, with only three minutes left to play.
A yellow card was shown to Alex Hartridge for delaying the restart of play, with seconds ticking away.
The full time whistle was blown just short of 98 minutes played and Wycombe’s name has been cemented in the draw for the second round of the Carabao Cup, this game being Wycombe’s first win in a competitive match since April in which they beat Bolton Wanderers.
Even though it was quite a jammy goal, Wanderers did look the better side tonight and a cup run is always welcome among the Wycombe faithful. Hopefully, this is a sign our fortunes are turning around and the Chairboys can finally find some form.
