Jones enjoys cutting big boys down to size

The acid test after last week’s great display at Gillingham was backing it up at Valley Parade against the best travellers in League Two.

Job done again. Two down and Darlington tomorrow to follow – Bantam tails are firmly up.

Michael Boulding calls it a “nice” pressure to have at the top end of the table and Jones thinks City can’t get enough of the promotion six-pointers.

“The big games suit us,” said the winger after notching his second goal in successive home games. “We’ve been dominating teams before but they were coming here playing five at the back and it was hard to break down.

“But we know what’s at stake and the crowd were magnificent again. They were like having an extra man on the pitch.

“It was so important to follow up the Gillingham result with another win and we’d worked all week on how to break Wycombe down. We had to win to claw the deficit back on them and the lads were brilliant.

“We’re on a high and the confidence is maximum because of the recent results. You can see why Wycombe are up there but it also shows what a good side we are.”

Saturday was a cracking advert for League Two. Without getting presumptuous, it wouldn’t be a bad game the next level up either.

Wycombe had lost only twice on their travels beforehand. Even given their recent wobble, they presented a major obstacle to City’s newly rediscovered belief.

Once again, City finished up at Valley Parade against ten men, although Chris Zebroski’s straight red card with 20 minutes left for going all Jackie Chan on Matt Clarke did not impact on the result.

Wycombe will feel hard done by not to get anything from a display Peter Taylor called their best since the turn of the year but then City were equally aggrieved to leave Adams Park with nothing in November.

But this was chalk and cheese compared to that sterile affair.

On that day you could count the number of chances from both sides on one hand. This time you could not take your eyes away for fear of missing something.

Encouragingly, City once again came bursting from the blocks. Like the week before, they forced a couple of immediate corners and David McCracken had to be alert to turn away a dangerous cross from Peter Thorne.

Fellow centre half Leon Johnson nicked another cross from Omar Daley off City’s captain for the day and Nicky Law fizzed one just wide.

Law and Dean Furman had their hands full against experienced Wycombe pair Tommy Doherty and Gary Holt but what they may have lacked in game know-how, the young duo once again made up for in sheer endeavour and drive.

Their infectious influence is growing with each game and was never more evident than Furman’s outstanding clearance off the line to defy John-Paul Pittman a debut goal. The striker’s header from Wycombe’s first corner was spot on, downwards and hard, but Furman managed to stretch across far enough to get a leg to it and avert the danger.

Once again, all those hours his manager had spent watching Rangers TV had been justified.

Stuart McCall said: “I saw Deano eight or nine times for Rangers reserves last season and he always stood out for me because of his tenacity, enthusiasm and energy.

“He showed that in abundance against two good midfielders in Doherty and Holt and I thought the legs and energy of Law and Furman just about got on top of them.”

Lifted by that close call, Wycombe came back into the game and the next 20 minutes belonged to the visitors.

They should have had a penalty when Clarke bundled into Pittman but only Matt Bloomfield will know how he missed a gaping goal from 12 yards after the striker’s cross had pinged straight to his feet.

Pittman, who looks a real coup from non-league, was also inches away with an instinctive overhead kick which flew past the left post with Rhys Evans motionless.

It was a tough examination for a back four minus suspended skipper Graeme Lee. The fact they came up with a third successive clean sheet – and seventh in the last ten games – was testament to their hard work.

Evans almost paid for a bizarre lapse of concentration when he took too long to clear his lines and suddenly found Matt Harrold in his face. Cue a madcap scramble to the touchline to elude the Wycombe front man.

But that apart, he had another rock-solid afternoon. The cut-up pitch made kicking a minefield for both keepers but Evans’ handling, particularly from corners, was exemplary.

In front of him, the Lee-less back four stood firm under pressure. Luke O’Brien was back from illness on the left and slipped smoothly into the groove again. The left back was keen to go on bombing raids upfield and one led to City’s goal two minutes before the break.

Doherty lost the ball in midfield and O’Brien’s first-time cross from the left was worked on unselfishly by Thorne into the path of Jones. He left fly with a flashing left boot, smashing the ball inside the near post.

A half-time lead was a huge bonus for City but the game was far from won and Evans made an important save from Holt soon after.

But the home side, roared on by the fans, continued to ask their own questions. Gone were the doubts of a month ago, you could sense the positivity about City – both on and off the pitch.

There were less of the grumbles that too often accompany them at home and the game was much better for it.

Law drilled over after good work from Jones and Daley twice tried his luck, slicing one so much that he took out the corner flag!

At the other end, Bloomfield’s miserable time in front of goal continued with another costly miscue and, as Wycombe’s frustration grew, they lost Zebroski to a straight red card.

Wycombe had no complaints about Zebroski’s dismissal for a ridiculously high boot which studded Clarke on the top of his shoulder.

Another six inches higher and the big defender would have been cancelling his Valentine’s dinner with the missus.

Clarke said: “I could see him lifting his boot as I went to head the ball. I was about 70-30 towards it so knew I’d get there a little bit before him. These days you can’t go in with your foot so high. Maybe it’s a bit harsh to get a red card but if you’re going to do that, you will pay the penalty.”

Clarke went down right in front of the dug-outs and Taylor did not argue with referee Carl Boyeson’s actions. The Wycombe chief said: “What Chris did was stupid. If he was a bit smaller, I’d beat him up.”

Wycombe’s ten men nearly conjured an equaliser seven minutes from time with the luckless Bloomfield’s cross-cum-shot rolling past the far post when it just needed a nudge from Harrold.

But City had two glorious opportunities to double their advantage at the death. First Law was denied by a desperate tackle from Johnson, then substitute Joe Colbeck’s shot was parried up in the air by keeper Scott Shearer, who managed to scramble back and hook the ball off the line.

McCall said: “I don’t know how it only ended up 1-0 because both teams had a lot of chances but I’m delighted it did. We’re on a run we’d like to be in and that was a big result for us.

“The next game can’t come quick enough and it just happens to be another massive one.”