Wycombe Wanderers earned their place in the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup Final as they beat National League South side Slough Town at Arbour Park on Tuesday evening.
While it was a fairly young side named for the clash, experienced names such as Josh Scowen, Alex Lowry and Bradley Fink were also named in the starting XI for the semi-final, alongside academy players.
Cameron Stones was also named on the bench.
For the opposition, former Wycombe Wanderers loanee and current player-manager for Slough, Scott Davies was named in their starting eleven.
Wycombe vs Slough was once an intense rivalry when the Chairboys were a non-league club, but it has faded since Wanderers moved up into the EFL.
A notable fixture would be way back in 1993, when Wycombe led the league, in front of a second-placed Slough Town by three points, the game ending 1-1, Wanderers later going on to win the League.
Before this week’s cup clash, the last time the two sides had met was in a pre-season friendly, which ended 0-0. It’s definitely fair to say the rivalry isn’t as heated as it used to be, but it was a nice opportunity to go to an away game that was only a 15-minute drive away.
Wanderers made the perfect start to the match with Fink finally finding the net for Wycombe after only a minute played. While it was against a non-league side, it definitely won’t do his confidence any harm, as he had been absent since Wycombe’s loss to Luton earlier this month, only managing 171 minutes on the pitch this year.
However, the Chairboys were not in front for very long, as it was only nine minutes later when the hosts netted an equaliser through Tyrese Dyce, formerly of West Brom.
The rest of the first 45 minutes played didn’t have much to report on. However, there were a few times in which Wycombe could have found themselves in front again, the most dangerous of which came when Slough’s goalkeeper was off his line with Fink on the attack, but he failed to find the back of the net on that occasion, unfortunately.
Early on in the second half, Wycombe made their first substitution of the match, as Cameron Stones came on for Mekhi Savage. It was pretty shortly after this that the home support decided they were bored with the match and turned their attention toward winding up the travelling Wanderers fans.
Each team had a few good chances here and there throughout the second half, but neither could find the goal to put themselves in front. Slough thought they had scored to make it 2-1, but the offside flag was raised, and the same happened for Wanderers later on. The weather became increasingly difficult as the clock ticked on.
After seven minutes of additional time, the full-time whistle was blown, and the game was to be decided by means of a penalty shootout.
Fink stepped up first, but his effort was saved. Scott Davies then skied for the hosts.
Lowry was next for Wycombe and scored. Roth’s penalty flew over the bar again for the hosts.
Scowen found the back of the net, and the hosts scored their first from the spot through Walker.
Things began to get intense as Gregory missed his penalty for Wycombe, but Drakes-Thomas’ penalty hit the woodwork.
It was Stones who stepped up to score the potential winner for the visitors, and he did just that.
It will be Hungerford Town who face Wycombe in the final, as they beat Reading 4-3.
Overall, it was a great experience to watch Wycombe’s potential future league starters play against what turned out to be a tough opposition.
It was also good to see Scowen, Lowry and Fink get some minutes as they have struggled as of recently to find time in the League for Wanderers.
