A double from Tommy Mooney and a late strike from Charlie Griffin were enough to give Wycombe a comfortable 3-0 win against a hard working Rochdale side reduced to nine men in the second half after Warren Goodhind and Grant Holt both saw red.
Sergio Torres was the one change to the starting line up from the midweek draw with Boston United, replacing Tuesday's goalscorer Matt Bloomfield who was forced to withdraw suffering with a cold. Mark Philo took the space provided on the bench.
Unusually Wanderers attacked The Jewson Stand in the first half and within two minutes Danny Senda sent away a speculative long range effort that whistled over the crossbar.
Moments later Frank Talia produced an excellent reaction save to prevent Gareth Griffiths giving the visitors an early lead when the Dale defender met a corner with a firm header from 8 yards out and Talia did well to parry the ball up onto the crossbar and away.
It proved a valuable save as two minutes later Tommy Mooney gave Wanderers the lead. Easton's forward ball was knocked down by Griffin into Mooney's path and he showed good strength to hold off two defenders before striking a clinical left foot finish into the bottom corner.
As Rochdale looked to respond Jones headed over on the stretch and Alan Goodall produced a decent long range effort which flash past the angle of post and bar.
The pitch cutting up did not hinder a decent contest in the first half with Johnson and Williamson coping well with the dangerous forward threat of Holt and Lambert while at the other end Mooney and Griffin caused the visiting defenders plenty of problems.
Mooney saw a looping header drop onto the roof of the net before setting up Sergio Torres for an even better chance but he hit a wild effort well wide from only 10 yards out.
Rochdale went close to an equaliser ten minutes from the interval when Holt held the ball up well before slipping an excellent ball through for Gary Jones who had a free run on goal. Fortunately for Wycombe Talia was out quickly and got a touch on the midfielders effort to divert it wide. The Aussie shot stopper was in the thick of the action again right on the half time whistle as took a knock to the shoulder as he claimed another Rochdale corner.
HT: 1-0
As the mist descended further for the start of the second half Wycombe emerged without midfielder Joe Burnell who was replaced by Russell Martin in a straight swap.
But it was Martin's partner in the centre of midfield, Rob Lee, who made a crucial interception to prevent Rickie Lambert running clear on goal as Rochdale swept downfield on the counter following a Wanderers free kick at the other end.
Once again the visitors were forced to rue their missed opportunity as Wycombe double their advantage on 53 minutes with perhaps the easiest finish Tommy Mooney has ever had. Charlie Griffin took all the plaudits for quickly closing down the goalkeeper Matthew Gilks following a back pass and as he dallied he struck his clearance against the Wanderers front man, the ball then struck the crossbar and fell perfectly for Mooney following in who had the simple task of nodding the ball across the line from no more than two yards out.
The goal was a real blow to the visitors, and they were dealt a further one four minutes later when Warren Goodhind picked up his second yellow card for clearly pulling back Sergio Torres and received his marching orders. And it got worse for the visitors when Grant Holt, whose battle with Roger Johnson had been simmering, took a petulant swipe at the legs of the Wanderers captain and received a straight red card from referee Mr Deadman, with the Dale front man even receiving a verbal volley from his own team mates for his indiscipline.
In contrast to Tuesday against Boston, Wycombe were in front rather than behind when the opposition's numbers were reduced and this allowed the home side to play out the remainder of the match with ease as Rochdale began to look a beaten side.
Betsy, Mooney, Johnson and Martin all had chances decent chances as Wycombe took firm control of proceedings but it was Charlie Griffin, who moments before somehow missed an open goal, who diverted a cross come shot from Russell Martin past Gilks on 85 minutes to complete the scoring and a comfortable win for the Blues.
Their dominance towards the end also provided Gorman with the opportunity to give a brief final run out to Richard Keogh, who now completes his loan spell with the club and returns to BristolCity.
FT: 3-0
Teams:
Wycombe: Talia, Senda, Easton, Johnson, Williamson, Betsy, Burnell (Martin 46), Lee (Keogh 87), Torres (Dixon 82), Griffin, Mooney subs not used: Williams, Philo
Rochdale: Gilks, Goodhind, Griffiths, Gallimore, Jaszczun (Clarke 65), Cartwright, Jones, Brisco (Sturrock 66), Goodall, Holt, Lambert (Tait 71)subs not used: Warner, Boardman
Booked: Jones 56, Goodall 64
Sent off: Goodhind 57(second bookable offence), Holt 70 (foul)
Attendance: 4928 (300 away)
Referee: Mr D Deadman
Official 'Lansen Champagne' Man of the Match: Sergio Torres
Wwfc.com Man of the Match: Roger Johnson
