177 days! That is how long it has been since we last heard “Rockin’ All Over the World” over the Tannoy at Brisbane Road after a league game. Since that 2-0 victory, ironically over Saturday’s opposition Wycombe Wanderers on the 21^st of March, we have lost to Huddersfield, Rotherham, Sheffield Wednesday, Barnsley and now Wycombe, and also drawn with Mansfield and Burton. In those 7 matches we have scored 7 goals and conceded 14. 

Even more depressingly, Saturday’s defeat means that we have lost 9 home league games in 2026, which is the most (joint with Northampton) by any side in England’s top 4 tiers. Hardly the definition of “Fortress Brisbane Road”!

Going into Saturday’s match Wycombe were winless in their opening 5 league matches and had just sacked their manager, Michael Duff, as a result. Maybe the alarm bells should have started ringing then, as we all know how footballing sod’s law works. 

To be fair, we actually started the match fairly brightly, winning a corner in the opening minute with Joseph Olowu glancing Charlie Wellens’ in-swinging delivery just wide of the post. Moments later the centre back had another good opportunity from another corner, only to once again head just wide of the goal. Then Idris El Mizouni saw a clipped shot from the edge of the area bounce back off the crossbar. 

In hindsight we really should have taken advantage of those early opportunities, as quarter of an hour into it skipper Isaac Hayden made a complete hash of trying to control a simple pass from Fin Stevens and gifted the ball to Wycombe just outside our penalty area. They worked it quickly to Jayden Wareham who made no mistake in slotting it home. Another warning sign unheeded: a former loanee scoring against us for the second week in a row. 

With just over 10 minutes to go to half-time, Wanderers defender Jack Grimmer headed Yusuf Akhamrich’s cross into his own net and we were back on terms. Parity wasn’t to last long however, as in added time at the end of the first half Fred Onyedinma was left unchallenged to nod a cross from the right beyond Nathan Baxter and inside the far post. You could feel the sense of deflation all around the ground as we headed into the break. 

Two minutes after the restart Daniel Harvie made it 3-1 to the visitors when he was seemingly the only one to react to a corner from the right and powered his header home. Honestly, I have lost count of the number of times we have conceded from straightforward balls into our penalty area over recent seasons. 

Five minutes later we pulled it back to 3-2 when Akhamrich powered down the right wing and worked his way inside before playing the ball into the box. Jaze Kabia got the slightest of touches on it, diverting it home for his fourth league goal of the season. 

A deflected looping shot from Armando Dobra forced Wycombe goalkeeper Conor Hazard to tip the ball over his bar late on, but that was about all we could muster in terms of further threat, and we fell to yet another frustrating home defeat.  

Speaking to Dave Victor after the match, Richie Wellens suggested that it was a game of “moments”, and that “[while] we didn’t take our moments, they did”. A fair assessment of course, but for me it is our constant ability to give away sloppy, avoidable goals through basic errors and ineffective, or indeed non-existent(!), marking on balls into our goalmouth that is the real issue here.  

As we have said on several occasions previously, this isn’t something new that has reared its head recently. It has been an unwelcome feature of our game since being promoted to League 1, if not before. 

On top of our fallibility at the back, we just don’t seem to move the ball crisply or incisively enough when we are in possession. For the most part our forward players are lively and have proven they are capable of both creating and scoring goals, but it takes us so long to move the ball up the field to them that it allows the opposition to get back and to get set. Maybe that is why we are faring better in our away games and struggling so much at home, as we are able to play a more transitional game on our travels? 

Richie went on to emphasise that it is a new team (again), and it will take time for it to settle. While that is undoubtedly true, it has been a key issue in each of our four seasons back in the third tier. 

Obviously, yet another huge turnover of players cannot be helpful in trying to establish a settled team and pattern of play, but are we really sure that the manager and his coaching staff are getting the best out of the players that we have? 

Personally, I think there is enough talent and ability in the squad for it to all start to come together in the shorter term, but it has to start happening soon. The longer things carry on like this, the more I fear that this season is going to unfold in a similar manner to the last: one of consistent inconsistency.

On Tuesday night we hosted Arsenal U21s in the EFL Trophy. Rather surprisingly the gaffer opted for a relatively strong side featuring the likes of: Joseph Olowu, Will Forrester, James Morris, Idris El Mizouni and Armando Dobra. I am fully aware that this is a competition that doesn’t rate too highly on many fans’ priority list, at least in the early stages. However, suffice it to say that the performance and subsequent defeat to a depleted Arsenal youth team will have done little to convince anyone that we are heading in the right direction in terms of the development of our squad. 

Next up of course we face old foes Stevenage, who we know are very much set-piece specialists. It could be an excellent opportunity to show that we are putting things right with regard to our defence. On the other hand, more soft goals conceded and another defeat at home could make things tetchier around E10. 

Up the O’s!