Stockport County 2 Wycombe Wanderers 0

Last updated : 10 January 2004 By Footymad Previewer

Stockport spared no sympathy for basement club Wycombe Wanderers with a much-needed 1-0 home win in their own bid to avoid the drop.

The Hatters were given the perfect start when midfielder Rickie Lambert scored from the penalty spot in the eighth minute having only seconds earlier seen his teasing corner handballed by Wycombe defender Stuart Nethercott.

And when Simon Lynch forced Steve Williams, the Wycombe keeper, into a horrible mistake in the 43rd minute, the visitors were always going to find it hard to come back from two goals behind.

Lynch chased down a hopeful long ball before the interval and, in desperation, Williams fired the ball at the striker's feet. The young keeper could only watch with dismay as the ball cannoned off Lynch's boots and into the empty net behind him.

Wycombe did have their own chances to score but James Spencer, the teenage keeper, refused to be beaten in the County goal.

Jermaine McSporran saw a left-footed shot go wide and also a first-time drive from 25 yards well saved.

But, however hard Tony Adam's team tried, they just could not find a way through Stockport's defence.

Though Spencer was the busier of the two goalkeepers, at least early on, he was not unduly troubled by Michael Simpson's volley and a good chance from Darren Currie.

Ian Simpemba may have spared the erratic Williams' blushes just before the half hour when his air kick gifted Stuart Barlow an open goal, but the goalkeeper was punished for dallying over one of many clearances, which cannoned off Lynch and over the goal-line.

Williams went some way to making amends with a near-post save to deny Ali Gibb in first-half stoppage time, and was called upon 10 minutes after the interval to keep out Fraser McLachlan's diving header.

McLachlan was thwarted by the crossbar in the 70th minute, while Aaron Wilbraham was only inches off target with a fizzing left-foot strike within seconds of coming off the bench.

Welsh and Lambert went close to grabbing a third for Stockport late on, by which time Wycombe Adams had finally summoned the energy to rise from his set in the dug-out.