Wycombe Wanderers vs Queens Park Rangers. Sky Bet Championship.
Adams Park.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Wycombe and QPR at Adams Park as 19-year-old Anis Mehmeti's first professional goal secured a point for the Chairboys but could not prevent them dropping to the bottom of the table
Saturday 19 December 2020 19:49, UK
Wycombe fell to the bottom of the Sky Bet Championship despite Anis Mehmeti's first senior goal snatching a 1-1 draw at home to QPR.
The visitors had gone ahead thanks to Jason McCarthy's second own goal of the season but substitute Mehmeti's strike from the edge of the box two minutes from time secured a share of the spoils for Gareth Ainsworth's side.
The hosts had been preparing to welcome 2,000 fans to Adams Park but Buckinghamshire being placed into Tier 3 this week saw the match played behind closed doors once more.
Both teams were looking for a winning start to their festive fixtures and the two goalkeepers were in action early.
QPR's Seny Dieng got down well to save Scott Kashket's second-minute effort and, at the other end, Ryan Allsop clawed away Rob Dickie's header before pushing the same player's long-range effort out for a corner.
Rangers looked the more threatening as the half progressed and they broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark.
Ilias Chair's cross from the right looked to be covered by Jason McCarthy but his skewed clearance flew towards goal and went in off the hand of Allsop.
Wycombe had chances either side of the break, with Adebayo Akinfenwa heading over and Dieng on hand to parry David Wheeler's long-range header out for a corner.
The hosts were furious after seeing penalty appeals waved away five minutes into the second half, with Joe Jacobson booked for dissent, and this spurred Wycombe into a flurry of chances through Daryl Horgan.
First, his shot was saved by Dieng, with Kashket's header from the rebound narrowly over the bar, then Horgan beat the offside trap but saw his effort diverted into the side-netting by Dieng.
QPR had second-half chances of their own, with Yoann Barbet's header from a Chair free-kick pushed behind for a corner and Niko Hamalainen and Todd Kane missing with opportunities from distance.
Wycombe brought on a series of attacking substitutes, with Kashket replaced by Uche Ikpeazu, who had impressed at Bournemouth in midweek.
But it was his fellow replacement Mehmeti, also introduced in the 76th minute, who had the most telling impact, finishing a surging run with a low shot that Dieng could only bundle into his own net to silence the small number of away fans in the woodland surrounding Adams Park.
There were no signs of a late winner during four minutes of added time as both sides were forced to settle for a point.
Wycombe are now winless in 10 games, while QPR have not won in seven themselves.
What the managers said
Wycombe's Gareth Ainsworth: "I thought we created enough to win the game and just couldn't stick one in. We actually stuck one in for them, which was disappointing. But we're not on the end of a 4-0 or a 5-0 as we were earlier in the season. Now we're hugely competitive and I felt we could have nicked it at the end.
"Anis (Mehmeti) will definitely be in line for international caps in the future (he has represented Albania Under-19s) and it's been great to welcome him to Wycombe. To see him get his first goal today was fantastic."
QPR's Mark Warburton: "We got the goal and we got our noses in front. We dealt with the onslaught fairly well and to give away a goal of that nature is more than frustrating. We showed a lack of quality in that final third and we've got to be better.
"I just wanted the players to keep the football. They can't score if we've got the ball. We had enough of the ball in the second half and we were in good areas. You hope for a scrappy 1-0 but that late goal really hurts us."
