Wycombe Wanderers 2-2 Fleetwood Town: Joey Barton's men bow out of League One play-offs despite courageous effort

Despite a brave, gutsy and at times dominant display, Town bowed out 6-3 on aggregate after being given too big a mountain to climb from their nightmare first leg defeat.

Instead it is Wycombe who go on to the Wembley final to face Oxford United, who overcame Portsmouth on penalties in the other semi-final clash.

Fleetwood, meanwhile, face another season in the third tier.

Barton opted to make one change to his side from the first leg, Danny Andrew coming in for the suspended Lewie Coyle.

Paddy Madden, who was also shown a straight red having come off the bench in that horror defeat at Highbury on Friday, joined Coyle on the sidelines.

Trailing by three goals, Barton’s men knew an early goal would be key if they were going to have any chance of clawing back the deficit.

They had a good chance to do exactly that after just four minutes, but Callum Connolly - playing higher up the pitch - squandered a presentable opportunity when he skewed over from Wes Burns’ right-wing cross.

The Cod Army kept up the early pressure, Andrew volleying narrowly over from Paul Coutts’ deep corner before Connolly scooped an effort over the bar from another Burns centre.

Fleetwood finally got the breakthrough they desperately needed on the 22nd-minute mark, coming from the unlikely source of left-back Andrew.

The defender rifled in a well-struck effort 20 yards from goal after Wycombe had only half cleared their lines from a Barry McKay cross.

Buoyed by their crucial lifeline, Fleetwood ramped up the pressure looking to reduce the deficit further.

The hosts, who had been kept incredibly quiet in the opening half an hour, almost drew level when Alex Cairns was almost caught out.

The goalkeeper, who was at fault for at least three of Wycombe’s four goals on Friday, came rushing out of his goal before clearing to safety - or so he thought.

Instead, his clearance fell straight to the feet of Nnamdi Ofoborh, whose long-range effort was clawed away to safety by the retreating Cairns.

Joe Jacobson, who scored direct from a corner in the first leg, almost repeated the feat from the resulting corner when he struck the Fleetwood crossbar with his inswinging delivery.

At the other end, Fleetwood had strong penalty appeals waved away when McKay’s goal bound shot appeared to be blocked by the hand of defender Anthony Stewart.

With six minutes added on at the end of the first half, there was still plenty of time for Fleetwood to find a second to make life even more nervy for the Chairboys.

But, other than a spurious penalty appeal from Connolly, the half - in which Fleetwood dominated - fizzled out.

Nevertheless, Barton and his troops could be extremely satisfied with their opening 45 minutes’ worth of work, having reduced Wycombe’s advantage and kept things watertight in defence.

But all their hard work was undone within 60 seconds of the restart when Harry Souttar gifted an equaliser to Wycombe.

Instead of ushering the ball out of play, the on-loan Stoke City man cleared the ball straight to the feet of Fred Onyedinma who punished the mistake by slipping the ball underneath Cairns and into the back of the net.

Onyedinma almost completed an unlikely brace a few minutes later when he rounded Cairns only to shoot straight at the Fleetwood keeper with the angle looking incredibly tight.

Wycombe, boosted by the introduction of Adebayo Akinfenwa at the break, continued to play on the front foot - searching for a second goal that would have certainly put the game to bed for good.

Fleetwood were presented with a huge opportunity to restore their lead on the night when they were awarded a penalty when Jacobson brought down McKay in the box after a clever flick-on from Connolly.

Ched Evans, who netted from the spot in the first leg, sent Ryan Allsop the wrong way to calmly slot the ball into the bottom corner.

With half an hour left on the clock, there was still plenty of time left for Fleetwood to launch the most unlikeliest of comebacks.

Now full of confidence, the Cod Army were picking up on every loose and second ball and the home side were left chasing shadows.

As the minutes ticked by, Wycombe inevitably turned to game management in an attempt to wind the clock down.

The hosts had a priceless chance to make it 2-2 on the night when Akinfenwa opened up space for himself with a supreme show of strength, only to shoot straight at Cairns who made a comfortable stop.

Kyle Dempsey, off the bench for Fleetwood in place of Connolly, spun and turned at goal only to see his dangerous effort deflect over the Wycombe bar.

Barton’s men threw the proverbial kitchen sink at their play-off adversaries and they came within a whisker of making it 5-4 on aggregate when Evans’ header was clawed around the post by Allsop.

Had that gone in, Fleetwood would have had every chance of levelling the tie overall in the dying minutes, but it proved to be the final chance for Barton’s side.

Wycombe put the tie to bed for good in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Onyedinma added his second of the game with a superb solo effort.

The midfielder fended off the attention of two Fleetwood players before curling a lovely effort beyond Cairns and into the bottom corner.

Down but not out, there was still time for Souttar to blaze over the bar at the back post in what proved to be the last action of the game - bringing a cruel and disappointing end to Fleetwood’s season.

TEAMS

Wycombe: Allsop, Jacobson, Gape, Stewart, Wheeler (Pattison), Bloomfield (Thompson), Grimmer, Charles, Onyedinma, Samuel (Akinfenwa), Ofoborh (Freeman)

Subs not used: Stockdale, Kashket, Smyth, Phillips, Parker

Fleetwood: Cairns, Souttar, Andrew, Gibson, Connolly (Dempsey), Burns (Southam-Hales), Whelan, Coutts, Morris, McKay, Evans

Subs not used: Gilks, Crellin, Biggins, Sowerby, Saunders, Hill, Holgate