If there is truth in the old football adage that poor decisions by referees even out over the season, Wycombe fans can look forward to happier times in the months ahead.

Wanderers were victims of mistakes by match officials for the third time in their last four games when they fell to a heartbreaking defeat at Norwich last Saturday.

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In recent weeks, the Chairboys have seen goals against Luton and Millwall controversially ruled out, and they were once again denied justice when referee Gavin Ward made wrong calls on two key moments in the game.

Both incidents involved Wycombe forward Fred Onyedinma.

In the first-half he was fouled by Norwich defender Ben Gibson as he was through on goal.

It should have been a penalty and a red card for Gibson, who had been cautioned just two minutes earlier, but Mr. Ward gave nothing.

Why would Onyedinma deliberately fall over when he had a good chance of scoring, and if it was an act of ‘simulation’, why wasn’t he shown a yellow card?

Only the referee can answer those questions, but match officials are never made accountable for their actions.

However, much worse was to follow.

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As the game moved into stoppage time with Wycombe on the verge of earning their first point as a Championship club, Mr. Ward gave Norwich a free-kick just outside the Wanderers penalty box.

The referee thought that Onyedinma had tripped Norwich’s Mario Vrančić, but replays clearly showed that Vrančić had stamped on Onyedinma’s foot and the free-kick should have been awarded to Wycombe.

To add insult to injury, having conned the referee into awarding the kick, Vrančić took it himself and fired a brilliant shot into the top corner of the net to give Norwich victory.

On the corresponding weekend last season, Norwich hosted Manchester United in a Premier League fixture and they started this game with eight of the players who featured that day.

They included Finland international Teemu Pukki who gave the Canaries an early lead that was deservedly wiped out by Wanderers striker Scott Kashket’s equaliser.

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Gareth Ainsworth’s team dominated most of the first half and defended brilliantly when Norwich threw everything at them in the second half.

They did not deserve the cruel blow of losing to a late and controversial goal after producing their best display of the season so far.