Looking Back: Wycombe Wanderers – 1999 Final Home Game of the Season

Wycombe Wanderers, on the last home game of the season, always seems to mean something.

In 1988, it was. must-win to make sure we get ourselves out of the GMVC. We did.

In 1999, 11 years later, it was a must-win to give ourselves a chance of surviving in the third tier. Isn’t it slightly ironic that they were the last team we played in the third tier until the recent promotion, and they’ll be the last team we play at home this time? Remember, they were also the last team we played in the GMVC, and the first we played when coming back into the EFL in 2017.

Of course, when people look back at games, they often find it’s a chance to talk about positives, but I wanted to go back to May 8th, 1999. I remember it well, sitting in the Family Stand to watch having been Poacher, knowing the odds were against us.

The situation was this. We started the day second bottom, 46 points. If we were to beat Wycombe, we’d move onto 49, one more than them, so they’d go down with Macclesfield Town. We would then need Oldham to lose against Reading (a draw would see them stay up on goal difference) and Northampton to draw with Burnley.

City didn’t look all that bad on paper, with John Vaughan, Kevin Austin, Stuart Bimson, Jason Barnett, Dave Phillips, Steve Holmes, Lee Philpott, John Finnigan, Lee Thorpe, Paul Miller, and Gavin Gordon. Subs: Grant Brown, Dean Walling, Terry Fleming.

From the outset, it was the visitors who looked sharper, despite us having won three in five to give as a chance of staying up. Within the opening exchanges, they forced the first meaningful opportunity, Andy Baird rising to meet a corner and sending a powerful header narrowly wide. It was an early warning that Wycombe were not there to simply play their part in Lincoln’s script.

City, perhaps burdened by the knowledge that their fate was not entirely in their own hands, struggled to settle. Wycombe continued to press, Dave Carroll testing John Vaughan from distance, while the forward line of Baird, Sean Devine and Paul Emblen posed persistent problems whenever they advanced.

Lincoln did threaten in moments. Lee Thorpe attempted an ambitious overhead effort that failed to connect cleanly, while Paul Miller tried his luck from range. Yet clear chances remained elusive, and even when Carroll fired wide from close range at the other end, it felt as though the game’s decisive moment would require something more clinical than anything either side had yet produced.

At half-time, news filtered through that Oldham were winning 2-0 against Reading, and had led as early as the fifth minute. The Royals were clearly on the beach, and that would have relegated the Imps. Northampton also led, and even Macclesfield were 2-1 up against Bristol Rovers, putting City bottom.

As the second half began, the tension only deepened. Lincoln needed goals and, realistically, a swing in results elsewhere, while Wycombe knew that victory alone would guarantee their own safety. The match became increasingly stretched, both sides committing forward, yet finding the decisive breakthrough stubbornly out of reach.

In midfield, the battle grew scrappy. John Finnigan and Dave Phillips worked tirelessly, but struggled to impose themselves against a resolute Wycombe unit. Changes came, with Terry Fleming and Dean Walling (pushed up front) introduced in an attempt to force the issue, but the pattern remained unchanged. Lincoln had possession, but not the incision required.

The decisive moment arrived with seven minutes remaining. Devine broke down the left and delivered a cross into the area, where Emblen reacted quickest, guiding the ball beyond Vaughan and into the net. It was a goal that carried weight far beyond the scoreline.

Wycombe’s bench erupted, their supporters spilling onto the pitch in celebration, while Lincoln were left with the sinking realisation that their fight was over. The match itself had been finely poised, but the outcome, both on the day and across the division, confirmed what had long threatened.

Even victory would not have been enough. Oldham Athletic’s win over Reading ensured that Lincoln’s fate was sealed regardless. Northampton ended up drawing, Macclesfield losing, but it didn’t matter. City could have won 20-0 and not stayed up.

After the game, manager John Reames refused to hide behind circumstance.

“What I think is most disappointing is that we have not performed.”

It was an honest assessment of a campaign in which City had often controlled matches without delivering the goals needed to turn performances into points. The inability to find a consistent cutting edge had followed them to the very end.

Reames also acknowledged the challenges ahead, with key defensive figures out of contract and limited resources available to reshape the squad.

“What I will be concentrating on is bringing in more youngsters. We’ve brought in a new scouting system and we’ve got a number of names we’ve been working on.”

And so, just one year after climbing out of the basement division, Lincoln City found themselves heading back there once again. The final day had offered hope, but as so often throughout the season, it ultimately delivered only frustration.