Matt Bloomfield lauds Luke Leahy after helping Wycombe beat Shrewsbury

Posted Sunday, April 14, 2024 by PA

Wycombe boss Matt Bloomfield was full of praise for Luke Leahy after his side returned to winning ways with a 2-0 victory at Shrewsbury.

The hosts went down to 10 men with just over 20 minutes remaining when Tom Flanagan made a dangerous challenge on Joe Low.

The Chairboys found the breakthrough through ex-Salopian captain Leahy in the 83rd minute after he stroked home a superbly-worked free-kick from the edge of the box.

Wycombe doubled their advantage in stoppage time after Garath McCleary teed up Richard Kone to tap home and leave Shrewsbury six points above the bottom four.

Bloomfield said: “It was a fairly scrappy game, the pitch was playing quite slow and it has been a long and emotional week for us.

“The sending-off happened and sparked the game into life a little bit.

“I thought we took the two goals extremely well and it’s very fitting for Luke – it was always going to happen.

“We made him captain today because he puts so much into our football club in terms of his performances and his personality and character.

“It was his 500th appearance on Wednesday evening and today it just felt right he led us out and he scored a goal as well. I know how fondly he remembers his time at Shrewsbury.

“Kone has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. He hasn’t done that recently as much as I would of liked.

“It was a huge step up in terms of level and his performances have been very good.”

Shrewsbury boss Paul Hurst was left annoyed by his side’s performance.

He said: “I can see and hear the fans’ anger a little bit in the game but at the end of the game I can’t stand here and say I don’t agree with them.

“It is hard to put into words in truth what we have witnessed. As the game goes on, it was a nothing performance and I am not going to stand here and defend it or lie about it.

“People that were here have certainly seen what they witnessed and it was a performance far from good enough.

“It is a silly and ridiculous challenge and it’s a sending-off.

“The only bit I can say, and it still doesn’t defend it in the slightest and I am really not tempting to, is these sort of situations can occur when free-kicks are not given.

“That one (Leahy goal) which I thought was the important one again, we don’t seem to be getting the rub of the green with any referring decisions.”