And then there were four...

Two weeks, two successive recoveries from two goal deficits and Wycombe Wanderers continue to desperately cling to the one remaining automatic promotion place in npower League Two.

Arguably, the Blues' ability to rescue themselves from seemingly hopeless positions displays encouraging resolve however the trite obviousness of the necessity to claim as many of the twelve remaining points available, beginning with the Good Friday trip to promotion rivals Torquay United, is apparent.

Whilst Wycombe have remained defiant in their quest to secure a quick-fire return to League One, familar signs of the end of season implosions that have featured throughout the past decade raise tangible fears of anti-climatic misfortune.

In evaluating the final four fixtures of the season, Arm Chairs & Deck Chairs reflects on a few of the comparable run-ins from recent years where success and failure at the telling denouement have manifested themselves in differing ways.

1998/1999: (Notts County, Blackpool, Wigan Athletic, Lincoln City)

The merits and subsequent deteoriation of Lawrie Sanchez's tenure as Wycombe manager have been much discussed recently following comments made by attendees at a club dinner to commemorate the heroic FA Cup run that culminated in the semi-final against Liverpool.

Sanchez's personal skills may have been scrutinised as the team he inherited and built upon became stale at the turn of the new century however most Wycombe Wanderers historians now seem to prefer the revisionist approach to assessing the Northern Irishman's time at the helm.

Hired to replace Neil Smillie during the 1998/1999 campaign, Sanchez's Wycombe adventure began with one of its finest hours as he helped to save the club from
relegation to the former 'Division Three'.

With only two defeats in the final eleven games of the season, one of those a dispiriting 1-0 reverse at Meadow Lane to Notts County, the Wanderers embarked upon the 'Great Escape' and they would enjoy another five seasons in the third tier of English football before falling down the ladder in 2004.

Losing in Nottingham meant that defeating Blackpool at Adams Park appeared even more imperative. One of Sanchez's most astute purchases was striker Sean Devine, who had initially joined on-loan from Barnet. He netted his seventh goal since his arrival a few months previously as Wycombe twice took the lead before the visitors claimed a point, meaning that the Chairboy's fate was no longer in their own hands.

Contained within similar tales of triumph over adversity, there are quirks of fate that aid the victorious party. It was perhaps fortunate that when Wigan Athletic made the long trip south to Buckinghamshire for the penultimate game of the season, they had played six games in two weeks in their own pursuit of glory, namely achieving play-off qualification.

As the visitors threatened to extinguish Wycombe's survival hopes with a Simon Hawarth opener, two heroes of the battle to beat the drop combined to ensure that the Chairboys could at least attempt to look forward to the pivotal trip to Sincil Bank to meet Lincoln City for a relegation decider as the Latics tired.

A Sean Devine effort and a first Wycombe goal for striker Paul Emblen, a £60,000 signing from Charlton Athletic, completed the home side's comeback.

Merely three days later, 2,643 Blues fans travelled north to witness the ushering in of a new era of hope following a period of stagnation post-Martin O'Neill.

The aforementioned Emblen sent a looping header into the top of the Lincoln net with just seven minutes left to send the Blue hoardes wild with delight. The 1-0 victory completed an incredible final four games for Wycombe, a microcosm of a season full of emotions encapsulated by defeat and just enough success to stay above the condemned.

2002/2003: (Cheltenham Town, Port Vale, Colchester United, Plymouth Argyle)

If the culmination to the 1998/99 season represented the re-birth of Wycombe's Football League ambitions then the manner in which the 2002/2003 campaign crawled to a disappointing finale surely achieved the opposite.

It has been described as 'one of the worst seasons' in living memory, a turgid campaign characterised by a lack of fluidity in Wycombe's play and an outmoded focus on strength over technical ability. The winds of change that were sweeping through the club as Lawrie Sanchez approached his personal endgame are perfectly evinced by this quartet of harrowing encounters.

In the dewey-eyed haze of the FA Cup run, Wycombe had made a credible charge for the play-offs during the first-half of the 2001/2002 season however a traumatic 4-1 home defeat to Blackpool on a drizzly Tuesday night put paid to any legitimate hopes of promotion.

That evening is widely regarded as a watershed moment in Wycombe's recent history and that of Sanchez's reign.

Where Wycombe had previously dispatched of most visitors to Adams Park, the fortress was now far less impregnable. Memorable scalps of the 'giants' of the division were replaced by ignominous defeats where the strength of the squad was questioned.

Although still full of endeavour, the notable victories of the previous season, such as those over Stoke City and Wigan Athletic, were replaced by a 4-0 hammering against a rampant Cardiff City side and even a disastrous 4-1 collapse at home to Stockport County having taken a 1-0 lead in the 65th minute.

A 1-1 draw against Cheltenham Town at Adams Park, who would eventually fall to the Football League's basement division, effectively secured Wycombe's place amongst the twenty-four sides in Division Two for at least another year.

The depressing nature of the contest lives long in the memory. The Gloucestershire side deservedly equalised one minute from time through the diminutive journeyman, Tony Naylor, to cancel out Steve Brown's opener from the penalty spot.

This encounter was a 90-minute summation of the ineffective, dreary percentage football that the Blues had resorted to. Although Cheltenham's attempts to avoid relegation were ultimately in vain, they travelled to Buckinghamshire full of purpose and were it not for the woeful finishing of Damien Spencer and Kayode Odejayi in front of a disbelieving Valley End, they could have emerged comfortable victors.

The erstwhile squad were fading with left-back Chris Vinnicombe in particular, often regarded as the team's 'Mr Consistent', suffering at the feet of Port Vale on the Easter Monday.

The Blues earned a point from Vale Park courtesy of a headed goal from maligned striker, Richard Harris, whose ability to dispatch rocket-like long-throws into the opposition penalty area became symbolic with the team's desperate malaise.

If the Chairboys faithful were hoping for some end of season cheer at home to old rivals, Colchester United, there was more disappointment.

The U's could have left with more than just one point following a drab 0-0 draw however Kemal Izzet's header smacked back off the crossbar. Wycombe could only fire tame efforts towards the Essex side's goal as the season continued to peter out.

By the time Wycombe meekly finished the 46th league game of a forgettable season with defeat to Plymouth Argyle, most were past caring.


2008/2009: (Aldershot Town, Luton Town, Port Vale, Notts County)

As divided as opinion remains on the 'wow factor' of only the second Football League promotion that the Wanderers have achieved, it's worth mentioning that Taylor's charges only lost once in the final four games of this particular season.

It could be argued that the opposition in question had less to play for than those in upcoming fixtures, however Taylor's Blues did just about enough to win a place in League One despite a last-day setback.

Current Wanderers incumbent Gary Waddock and his former employers, Aldershot Town, were enjoying their first season back in the Football League since their resignation in 1992. The Hampshire club had the worst away record in the division and probably travelled to Adams Park on Saturday 18th April 2009 with more hope than expectation, as the Wanderers ran out 3-0 winners.

There was still immense pressure on the Blues to not falter at the final hurdle and as yours truly anxiously huddled around a laptop, whilst frantically clicking the refresh button from the comfort of an undisclosed Dorset location, history was being made.

John Akinde, an explosive loan signing from Bristol City, had breathed fresh life into a season where Peter Taylor's model of efficiency had at times failed to tighten its grip on claiming all three points when called upon.

The Nigerian striker's 56th minute winner at Kenilworth Road against Luton Town ensured a 1-0 victory that seemed to draw the Wanderers tantalisingly close to a return to the third tier following a five year absence.

A win in the following game against Port Vale would have sent the 1,000 travelling Blues contingent into raptures and sealed automatic promotion however Wycombe could only escape with a point after Lee Sawyer's late equaliser.

Requiring only a draw from their final game at Adams Park against Notts County, a team who had in the past been home cannon fodder, Wycombe performed the inevitable and slipped to a 2-1 defeat.

A Football League record attendance of 9,625 fell into deadly silence following the away side's 90th minute winner before news finally filtered through that the Blues had prevailed by the narrowest of margins, a superior goal difference of just one.

The repercussions of the half-hearted pitch invasion that ensued were deemed by some to be more noteworthy than the nature of the promotion itself.

As the Blues prepare to face fierce promotion rivals Torquay United and Bury, sandwiched between equally as crucial games against Crewe Alexandra and Southend United, it will take another herculean effort to persevere.

Seventy-eight points in 2009 were barely enough to start the party. You get the feeling it will take at least that total and perhaps a couple more to raise the roof two years on.

Peter Taylor's side left their slip-up to the final day. Gary Waddock's version of Oxford and Cambridge blue might not even have that luxury.