Matt Bloomfield believes draw at Oxford proves Wycombe’s quality

Posted Sunday, October 29, 2023 by PA

Wycombe boss Matt Bloomfield believes the 2-2 draw at Oxford confirmed what a good team he has after a week of three tough matches for the club.

He felt the Chairboys probably deserved more than just two points from their fixtures against Peterborough, Bolton and Oxford.

A dramatic clash between local rivals at the Kassam Stadium featured three second-half penalties.

Luke Leahy converted two for Wycombe after Marcus McGuane unluckily slipped and handled the ball, then when James Beadle brought down Brandon Hanlon.

Oxford, who had taken a 25th-minute lead through Ruben Rodrigues, snatched a point deep into stoppage time as sub Cameron Brannagan converted from the spot when Leahy tripped Mark Harris.

Bloomfield was not prepared to criticise Leahy, a summer signing from Shrewsbury, for conceding the late spot kick.

Bloomfield said: “Luke is so disappointed in the dressing room but I’ve said to him to get his head up.

“To take that responsibility and have that calmness and surety – and especially with the second penalty to be able to repeat it again on what was a big occasion for our supporters and ourselves – is tremendous.

“Luke has been an unbelievable signing for us – both as a player and his influence as a leader and as someone who can contribute at both ends of the pitch.

“I’m really pleased that we’ve got him at our football club.”

Bloomfield added: “We wanted to come to Oxford and press and impose ourselves and we did that.

“It changed the balance of the game when Oxford scored and they then had a 10-minute spell where we had to hang on a bit.

“I thought Oxford’s penalty at the end was a bit soft. But it’s not easy for the referee in that situation with so much emotion in the stadium.

“We wanted to be on the front foot and play in attacking areas. I’m so proud of my players.

“We’ve played three top teams this week and we’ve been the better team in the second half in each of them.

“We’ve come away to top sides that have started the season well and we’ve shown that we’re a good team.”

Oxford boss Liam Manning was shown the red card for angry comments when Wycombe were awarded their second spot kick.

Under Football League rules he was not allowed to talk to the media after the match.

U’s assistant head coach Chris Hogg said: “It was a topsy-turvy affair. We’ll take a point at the end of the game and we were really happy with some of the play from the boys.

“And credit to the boys for the energy and attitude in getting back into it.

“But I think in general it’s quite sad now that, at every level we’re having to talk about key decisions rather than the football that was played.

“Both sets of players probably feel aggrieved at the end.”

Hogg felt it was important to have key midfielder Brannagan back in the fold after he had missed two games with illness.

“It’s been great to have Cameron back in the building again – he’s only been back in for a couple of days – and they were important minutes for him today.

“One thing you know about Cam is his enthusiasm and personality is big for the group, and big for the club.

“He’s definitely lifted the place the last 48 hours. I never had any doubt when he stepped up for that penalty – I had full faith in him that he’d score.”