As Emiliano Buendía wheeled towards the nearest corner clenching his fists in celebration, in front of the bank of 1,848 travelling Aston Villa supporters, it was the kind of cathartic moment he longed for on the darker days of his recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament knee injury. Buendía, captaining a youthful Villa, headed in the opening goal before Jhon Durán continued his extraordinary run to score his fifth goal of the season, this time from the penalty spot on his first start of the campaign. The Wycombe substitute Richard Kone scored a late, late consolation.
For Buendía, these are all milestones. He scored twice for Villa’s under-21s at Fleetwood in an EFL Trophy win earlier this month and on his first senior start for 16 months he paved the way to the Carabao Cup fourth round. “It is a really special night, to come back to play again for this club,” the Argentinian said. “It is my fourth season here, to have the captain’s armband and to help the team with a goal and get through to another round is an amazing feeling.”
It would not have been quite so straightforward had the 37-year-old Wycombe substitute Garath McCleary buried one of the two chances that arrived in quick succession with about 10 minutes of normal time left. With the first McCleary malfunctioned as he went to sweep in his fellow substitute Cameron Humphreys’ zipped first-time cross on the edge of the six-yard box with his left boot, the ball instead cannoning off his standing right leg. From the second he forced the Australia goalkeeper Joe Gauci, one of ultimately seven Villa debutants, into a two-handed save after directing a long throw goalwards.
Villa’s second goal, from the penalty spot a few minutes later, gave Unai Emery’s side some welcome breathing space, albeit in contentious circumstances. Durán fell in the box with the defender Declan Skura and the goalkeeper Franco Ravizzoli in close company. Replays suggested the referee, John Busby, was duped by the 20-year-old, who stepped up to the spot to send Ravizzoli the wrong way.
“It is tough for referees but we come out of the game feeling slightly aggrieved,” said the Wycombe manager, Matt Bloomfield. “We had some really good opportunities to make it 1-1. Woulda, coulda, shoulda – on another day one of those goes in. I’m sure Aston Villa know they’ve been in a game.”
The Leicester manager, Steve Cooper, is "even more committed" to succeed following negative fan chants during the penalty shootout victory at League Two Walsall in the Carabao Cup.
Leicester made 10 changes before the goalless draw and had to rely on goalkeeper Danny Ward saving spot-kicks from Taylor Allen, David Okagbue and Liam Gordon in the shootout to advance to the fourth round. Charlie Lakin and Albert Adomah missed big chances for Walsall in the 90 minutes as the hosts held their own.
Chants of "Cooper sort it out" and "this is embarrassing" were heard from the 2,000-strong travelling fans, who have only seen their side win once in all competitions this season. Cooper, who took over at the King Power Stadium in June, said: "I obviously heard the chanting from the crowd, I'll own it and you'll never hear me having any disrespect to fans' opinions.
"We have to build some credit with the supporters to do the job, but I knew that anyway. It's things like that which will make me even more committed to do well, because I'm desperate to do that."
Cooper insists his side gave the League Two outfit confidence with their sloppy performance. "An average performance at best – we gave too much hope to Walsall and the crowd," he said. "For all the ball we had, we weren't enough of an attacking threat and didn't create enough dangerous moments in the game."
Whatever happened here, it was almost guaranteed to be less dramatic than the past two meetings between these sides at Adams Park. The last time Villa visited, in January 2016, things got ugly after they failed to beat their League Two opposition in an FA Cup third-round tie.
Micah Richards confronted vociferous Villa fans, who hurled abuse at their players as they boarded the team coach and Rémi Garde, their beleaguered manager, gave a series of curt answers as his team extended their winless to run 16 matches, 10 of which the Frenchman presided over. Bloomfield was the Wycombe captain that day and in the midfield that squandered a 3-1 lead against Villa in 2005. David O’Leary’s Villa, featuring a teenage James Milner and Juan Pablo Ángel, ran out 8-3 winners.
Villa had another Colombian No 9 leading the line here, Durán promoted to the starting lineup after four goals in five substitute Premier League appearances this season, with Ollie Watkins among the regulars given the night off. Emery handed full debuts to Gauci, the centre-back Sil Swinkels and the forward Kadan Young, one of two teenagers in Villa’s starting XI.
The 30-year-old Ross Barkley was the only Villa player over the age of 27 in the squad. The 17-year-old midfielder Aidan Borland, signed from Celtic last year, replaced Leon Bailey soon after the hour and late on Travis Patterson, 18, Ben Broggio, 17, and Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba, 17, entered for their first senior minutes. “It was a day to show our quality,” Buendía said.
Durán missed a trio of first-half chances, the first inside 35 seconds, firing wide when one on one with Ravizzoli after racing on to Bailey’s through ball, and Emery wore the look of a relieved man when his side seized the lead against the League One side approaching the hour.
Young piled down the left and fired a cross into the box. Joe Low’s clearance looped over his teammate Tyreeq Bakinson and on to Buendía’s radar. The 5ft 7in midfielder sprang into the air to give Villa liftoff.
