Cheltenham Town 0 Wycombe Wanderers 0 <i>(Cheltenham win 2-1 on agg)</i>: Mooney blues as Cheltenham have final word

Graham Nickless
Thursday 18 May 2006 19:12 EDT
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Cheltenham resisted a vigorous Wycombe onslaught to book their place in the League Two play-off final against Grimsby on Sunday week. The Robins went through by virtue of their first-leg 2-1 victory but Wycombe will be rueing the many chances they missed.

Steve Brown, their caretaker manager, taking charge with John Gorman on compassionate leave following the death of his wife, said: "That was the biggest one-sided 0-0 draw I have seen for a long time."

The Cheltenham manager, John Ward, sympathised. "We had to defend throughout against an excellent team but it just happened to be our night," he said. "I feel for them because they have a very good manager in John Gorman and the club has faced a lot of personal difficulties and I have nothing but praise for them."

Tommy Mooney, who scored Wanderers' late goal to keep the tie alive in the dying minutes of the first game, saw a close-range volley blocked and then just failed to convert Kevin Betsy's cross at the far post.

The Robins, who went up via the play-offs four years ago, nearly scored when Ashley Vincent tested Steve Williams, the Wycombe goalkeeper, but it was the visitors who continued to impress. A Danny Senda centre beat the defence but once again the unfortunate Mooney missed the target, when his outstretched leg sent the ball over the bar from just five yards out.

Cheltenham Town (4-4-2): Higgs; Gill, Caines, Duff, Armstrong; Vincent (Bird, 79), Finnigan, McCann, Wilson; Guinan, Odejaye (Spencer, 67). Substitutes not used: Brown (gk), Gillespie, Bell.

Wycombe Wanderers (4-4-2): Williams; Senda, Johnson, Antwi, Easton (Williamson, 88); Betsy, Bloomfield (Oakes, 79), Lee, Martin; Easter, Mooney (Griffin, 71). Substitutes not used: Talia (gk), Burnell.

Referee: N Miller (Durham).

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