Stoke City 2-0 Wycombe Wanderers: Defenders strike to give Potter win
- Published
Rhys Norrington-Davies opened the scoring against Wycombe
Goals from defenders Rhys Norrington-Davies and Harry Souttar gave Stoke City a deserved win over Championship strugglers Wycombe Wanderers.
Left-back Norrington-Davies slotted the ball low past David Stockdale to break the deadlock after a clever one-two with Steven Fletcher carved open Wycombe's defence shortly after the hour mark.
Souttar headed home his first goal for the club minutes later after meeting Jack Clarke's curling corner.
Wycombe failed to create any clear-cut chances, with Michael O'Neill's side dominating throughout and wasting several earlier openings to kill the game.
Nick Powell's header clattered off the crossbar after five minutes before Fletcher fired straight at Stockdale as the Potters failed to find their clinical touch in the first half.
Gareth Ainsworth's side did not register a shot on target before the interval, with striker Uche Ikpeazu heading well wide from a free-kick.
Joe Allen failed to convert two good chances provided by Norrington-Davies before the attacking full-back scored the opener.
The win leaves the Potters nine points off the play-off places, while relegation is looking inevitable for bottom-of-the-table Wycombe.
Reaction - Stoke 'were wasteful at times'
Stoke City manager Michael O'Neill told BBC Radio Stoke:
"Pleased with the result, I thought we started the game very well to be honest and should have been ahead. There was a period in the first half where we were getting really involved in a battle.
"It's a good goal from Rhys (Norrington-Davies), we probably should have scored before that as well.
"There's no doubt about that we should have scored more goals today, we were wasteful at times.
"The final ball has to be better. I thought the young players were a little bit inconsistent in the team so they have to work on that."
Wycombe Wanderers manager Gareth Ainsworth told BBC Three Counties Radio:
"A couple of moments of quality for them and that's the difference.
"We more than held our own. Just before they scored their first we had a fantastic opportunity. Those are the moments than can change games.
"It's hard, there's some serious quality on the pitch. We are getting there but we are still learning, still enjoying it and the body language was fantastic.
"They're never going to stop us trying. They might beat us, but they'll never stop us trying and working and learning. That's important to me."
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