MATCH REPORT
Wycombe (0) 0-1 (0) Fulham
League Cup Round 01 1516 at Adams Park
Tuesday 11th August 2015 KO: 19:45
Referee: Gavin Ward
|
Fulham winger Alex Kacaniklic spared Fulham's blushes as he scored the only goal of the game against a spirited Wycombe side.
The Sweden international fired Kit Symons' side into the second round of the Capital One Cup with 20 minutes of the game remaining after good work from Ben Pringle.
Fulham have not played in the first round of the League Cup since 2000 - but Symons showed the competition plenty of respect by fielding a strong team.
And although the Championship side had the better of the game they were thwarted by a stubborn Wycombe side.
Fulham's first chance came when Pringle whipped in a dangerous cross from the left and the ball fell to Ross McCormack - but the striker pulled his shot wide of the far post.
Another of Fulham's summer signings, Tom Cairney, then found himself in a good position on the edge of the box, but as he lined up his shot defender Anthony Stewart dived in to make an excellent interception and clear the ball from danger.
It was not all one-way traffic though as Garry Thompson played a perfectly weighted ball into the area and Marcus Bean burst through but was unable to get his shot away.
| Match Stats |
Wycombe
|
Fulham
|
| Goals |
(0) 0 |
1 (0) |
| |
| Scorers |
|
Kacaniklic 69 |
| |
| Goal attempts |
8 |
8 |
| On target |
1 |
2 |
| Shooting Accuracy |
12% |
25% |
| Possession |
47% |
53% |
| Corners |
1 |
2 |
| Offsides |
2 |
3 |
| Crosses |
17 |
8 |
| Crosses Success |
100% |
100% |
| Saves |
1 |
1 |
| Fouls |
11 |
15 |
| Yellows |
2 |
2 |
| Reds |
0 |
0 |
| source: Soccernet/Fulham FC |
Fulham continued to press and Kacaniklic - who started out on the left and then switched over to the right hand side - cut in from the wing and fired a low shot just wide of Matt Ingram's goal.
Then against the run of play Wycombe had a fortuitous chance to take the lead when Joe Jacobson whipped in a dangerous free kick and it looked like a routine save for Marcus Bettinelli - but the England U21 keeper fumbled and the ball fell to Danny Rowe who struck just wide of the Fulham goal.
Fulham did have the ball in the net five minutes before half time but McCormack was ruled out for offside after a neat finish.
Wycombe looked lively after the break and Michael Harriman - on loan from QPR - looked dangerous on the right.
Fulham suffered an injury blow early in the second half when Jack Grimmer was carried off on a stretcher after a hard challenge from Thompson.
And then they went close again to breaking the deadlock when Kacaniklic fired a left footed shot from the edge of the area - but Ingram was able to make a comfortable save.
There was no disputing his effort midway through the second half though when Pringle made an excellent break down the left wing and cut the ball across to Kacaniklic, who was unmarked on the penalty spot and fired past Matt Ingram to give Fulham the lead.
Substitute Matt Smith almost doubled the lead when he rose highest to head just wide at the far post.
Wycombe threw everything at Fulham in the dying minutes and Gareth Ainsworth put last season's top scorer Paul Hayes on to try and get the Chairboys back into the game.
But despite having everyone in Fulham's half - bar keeper Ingram - they were unable to force an equaliser and Fulham held on to progress to the second round.
Wycombe Wanderers: Ingram, Jombati, Jacobson, Stewart, Rowe, McGinn, Bean, Woods, (79 Sellers), Harriman, Thompson, (74 Banton), Amadi-Holloway, (83 Hayes)
Subs not used: Richardson, Bloomfield, O'Nien
Yellow cards: Rowe, Harriman
Fulham: Bettinelli, Hutchinson, Bodurov, Voser, Grimmer, (62 Richards), Cairney, Kacaniklic, Pringle, O'Hara, (83 Mattila), Woodrow, (68 Smith), McCormack
Subs not used: Lonergan, Burn, Hyndman, Dembélé
Scorers: Kacaniklic 69 (left footed shot from the centre of the box to the top left corner. Assisted by Ben Pringle.)
Yellow cards: Kacaniklic (55,f), O'Hara (72,f)
Referee: Gavin Ward
Attendance: 4012