Wycombe Wanderers 0-1 Stoke City: Chairboys' first Championship game with fans ends in defeat
- Published
Nick Powell's header was his fourth goal of the season for Stoke City
Wycombe Wanderers supporters finally got to see their side play in the Championship for the first time as a 1,000-strong socially-distanced crowd watched their loss to Stoke City.
The hosts almost gave their fans the perfect start when Stoke's Nick Powell flicked a corner onto his own post after four minutes
Stoke had the majority of the chances and finally took the lead through Powell, who found himself unmarked at the far post to head home James McClean's cross from the left.
Tyrese Campbell brought a good save out of Wycombe keeper Ryan Allsop 10 minutes later while Anthony Stewart fired over from eight yards in stoppage time for the hosts.
The win keeps Stoke in eighth place in the Championship, a point off the play-off places, while Wycombe remain third-from-bottom and three points from safety.
The Chairboys, who beat Oxford United in July's League One play-off final to win promotion to the second tier for the first time in the club's history, were one of six EFL clubs to allow fans into their grounds after the Covid-19 lockdown in England ended on Tuesday night.
But while Wycombe hit the post, it was Stoke who created more first-half chances with Daryl Horgan clearing Jacob Brown's 12th-minute header off the line, while Sam Vokes twice headed over.
Horgan fired over after creating a good opening in the box with 25 minutes to go as Wycombe drew a blank for the ninth time in 15 games in the second tier, while at the other end Powell almost got on the end of a McClean cross shortly before his goal.
Wycombe Wanderers manager Gareth Ainsworth told BBC Three Counties Radio:
"I'm really proud of the boys, we have the Wycombe identity back, I think the fans helped with that, and if we keep playing like that there'll be no worries that this lot will be watching Championship football next year as well.
"We've made strides tonight, I know it sounds ridiculous, but I've just said to the boys that two months ago we were sat in a dressing room at Blackburn Rovers worrying about how we were going to compete, how we were going to do and are we good enough for this league?
"Tonight I think we've proved that we can compete with teams, we can compete with a big physical outfit like Stoke, we take that to the teams in this league and I'm sure we'll do well."
On the return of fans to Adams Park: "I will give nothing less than my absolute best for this club and they understand that.
"They're Championship fans, they deserve to be called Championship fans and I was really proud walking around the pitch before the game."
Stoke City manager Michael O'Neill told BBC Radio Stoke:
"We knew we had a tough game tonight, you have to deal with a promoted team that are playing to stay in the division from the first game and don't make any bones about that, you have to match their attitude to the game and their appetite for the game.
"I thought we did that very well and first half, we showed some real moments of quality, got down the sides, possibly could have done better with a number of the balls that we put into the box.
"Second half I thought we always looked like we were a pass away or a moment away from creating a clear-cut chance, which we did, and Nick takes the goal well. It's a well-worked goal, and I felt on the night we deserved to win the game."
Before kick-off Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth (left) received adulation from the club's fans for the first time since guiding his side to promotion to the Championship in July
Social distancing was in operation for the first crowd to watch a game at Adams Park in 284 days - the last game they saw was a 3-1 win over Tranmere Rovers on 22 February