No second striker gives Gorman the blues

Last updated : 21 April 2005 By Alistair Murray

The former Reading striker, who has attracted interest from other clubs including Luton Town, has scored nine goals in Wycombe's last eight games, and is just one away from equalling Sean Devine’s club record of 23 goals in a season. Since he scored three times against Kidderminster at the start of the month, the Chairboys have only managed a point from two games, whereas Lincoln City, against whom Tyson scored his first Blues hat trick at the beginning of March, beat two sides above them in the table.

The points-gap between the Chairboys and the Imps is now too large to close with only three games of the season remaining, and Gorman has fingered the blame at his team’s recent firepower shortage.

"We spend the majority of time in training working on putting the ball in the back of the net.

"But sometimes the final ball has been missing in games and although our crossing has been good we’ll keep doing finishing drills and crossing drills until we get on the end of things," said Gorman.

Since Adam Birchall's loan from Arsenal ended - the Wales Under-21 forward stated Tony Adams decision to quit as boss was his reason to head back to Highbury - Wycombe have struggled to find a player to chip in with regular goals.

Meanwhile, claims made by veteran striker Steve Claridge he was on the verge of signing a new one-year contract have still to be disclosed by the club; and former Wycombe schoolboy Michael Malcolm scored for Tottenham’s reserves in midweek. The youngster enjoyed a short trial back at the Causeway in February, but 12 goals (Tyson 5, Claridge 2 (1 pen), Stonebridge 2, Uhlenbeek 2, Johnson) in four first team games made Gorman think twice about taking another striker on loan at the time. He probably doesn't need reminding of that now.