Football: Fulham wanderers

Wycombe Wanderers 1

Baird 25

Fulham 1

Symons 33

Half-time: 1-1 Attendance: 7,538

TOO MANY more days like this and Kevin Keegan might just be inclined to reconsider his chosen vocation as Messiah of Craven Cottage. Fulham were given an uncomfortable ride at Adams Park by relegation-threatened Wycombe who seemed inspired by the arrival of Lawrie Sanchez in his first game in charge.

Having declared during the week that he was "a thousand per cent certain" that his future lay with Fulham, Keegan does seem likely to turn his back on the chance of managing England for the second time in three years. But as the clamour for the "people's choice" looks set to grow, even he must be wondering if the opportunity will ever present itself again.

Yesterday Keegan was keeping his counsel as far as that was concerned, refusing to elaborate, slightly tetchily it must be said, on his earlier message to Fulham's clubcall line in which he referred to players like John Salako (not picked yesterday) and Philippe Albert (on loan from Newcastle) who are likely to feel let down if Keegan were to leave Fulham.

Of more immediate concern to Keegan, however, is next Sunday's visit to Old Trafford in the fifth round of the FA Cup. After yesterday's events at the City Ground that is already beginning to look more like a damage- limitation exercise than an opportunity for further glory. This will certainly be the case if Fulham play like they did yesterday.

After their reserves had lost 9-0 to Fulham three days earlier, Wycombe might have been forgiven for viewing the visit of the Second Division leaders with a certain amount of trepidation, but the home side's bright start belied their status as the division's second from bottom club and will have given Sanchez some cause for optimism.

They were rewarded for their efforts midway through the first half when Mark Taylor, the Fulham goalkeeper, fumbled Jason Kavanagh's cross and Andrew Baird was on hand to poke home the loose ball. As it turned out, they only held the lead for eight minutes as Steve Hayward's free-kick was met by the head of Kit Symons to bring Keegan's team level.

But there was little for Fulham to shout about after the break and it was Wycombe who came closest to winning it. All more food for Keegan's thought processes, but you would imagine he is finding it hard to keep his mind on this particular job at the moment.