Fleetwood Town suffered a 4-1 defeat to Wycombe Wanderers, as the Cod Army returned to home action in Sky Bet League One.
Jack Marriott’s third goal in as many games wasn’t enough to cancel out a first-half Dale Taylor double, and goals from Freddie Potts and Luke Leahy earned the away side all three points.
After a cagey opening five minutes, Wycombe came close from a couple of chances; the first saw Jay Lynch stretch low to parry Harry Boyes’ shot wide before Chris Forino shaved the post with a curling strike from the edge of the area.
Then, it was Fleetwood’s turn to ask questions of the opposition as Marriott latched onto the end of a long ball through towards goal but bundled his effort narrowly wide of the post. The game began to open up then, which saw the away side open the scoring.
Wycombe forward Taylor nipped in at the front post and lofted a header behind him and into the far corner. Time seemed to stand still at that moment, as the winger’s effort caught everyone by surprise, including Town keeper Lynch who remained rooted to the spot.
With 30 minutes on the clock, Lee Johnson’s side were punished for the second time as Wycombe doubled their lead. It was a brilliantly worked goal, which saw a number of quick passes exchanged, resulting in Potts calmly lifting the ball past Lynch to finish off the move.
But things were set to get even better for the visitors, as they would go into half-time with a commanding three-nil lead. Potts and Taylor linked up on the edge of the area once more before the latter slotted his second of the day into the far corner.
In search of a second-half comeback, Johnson made a triple change during the interval, as Shaun Rooney, Danny Mayor, and Kabongo Tshimanga were all introduced and, with half an hour left to play, those changes paid off as the Cods found a goal back.
A marvellous mazy run saw Tshimanga beat his man out wide before the striker excellently pulled the ball across the penalty area for Marriott to slot in and continue his impressive goalscoring run.
But as soon as Fleetwood found their groove, they were hit with a hammer blow, when Ben Heneghan was shown a second yellow card for bringing Hanlan down. Up stepped Luke Leahy, to expertly restore his side’s three-goal lead with the resulting free kick.
A flurry of late chances for Fleetwood followed as Town looked to reduce the deficit once more; Junior Quitirna continued to cause problems for Wycombe, but the damage to the scoreline had already been done in the first half, as the score remained 4-1 to the Chairboys.
Town XI: Lynch (GK), Johnston, Lawal (Rooney 46’), Vela (C) (Robertson 84’), Broom, (Mayor 46’), Marriott (Stockley 90’) Quitirna, Heneghan, Omochere, (Tshimanga 46’), Nsiala, Earl.
Unused subs: McMullan (GK), Simons.
Chairboys XI: Stryjek (GK), Scowen (C), Forino, Leahy, Boyes, (De Barr 89’), Low (Tafazolli 89’), Hanlan (Vokes 65’), Potts, Taylor (Sadlier 77’), Phillips (McCleary 65’), Pattenden.
Unused subs: Ravizolli (GK), Keogh.