by A.P.
When Wycombe Wanderers fans turned their attention from giving their own team a standing ovation to sending referee Darren Bond down the tunnel with what might be politely termed a flea in his ear, it was confirmation that part of football’s lost soul had returned.
Bond, who has been leading a relatively quiet life officiating in empty stadiums, could not resist a smile as even he seemed to acknowledge at least some of the game’s normal service had been resumed.
If football has sometimes seemed a cold and soulless occupation in recent months it is because an irreplaceable part of that soul was missing. It returned in the shape of 1,000 Wycombe supporters at Adams Park.
And despite defeat and disappointment for home fans here, this was the night when some of the most important connections finally started to be re-established between clubs and their fanbases.
As the mist rolled in off the Chiltern Hills on a bitterly cold night in Buckinghamshire, the necessary new normal amid a global pandemic was replaced by good old-fashioned football in the raw, fuelled by the sort of crowd noise and verbal venting that confirmed months shouting at the television is no substitute for the real thing.