When Emiliano Buendía clenched his fists in celebration and headed for the next corner in front of 1,848 travelling Aston Villa fans, it was the moment of release he had craved during the darker days of his recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his knee. Buendía, captain of a young Villa side, headed the first goal to give them the lead before Jhon Durán continued his extraordinary scoring streak with his fifth goal of the season, in his first start of the campaign.

These are all milestones for Buendia, who scored twice in an EFL Trophy win at Fleetwood last month and paved the way to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup on his first senior appearance in 16 months. Garath McCleary provided a few scares and went close twice before Declan Skura was penalised for bringing down Durán in the box, giving the Villa striker the chance to double the lead and seal the win.

Whatever happened here, it was almost guaranteed to be less dramatic than the last two meetings between these sides at Adams Park. The last time Villa visited this stadium at the end of an industrial estate, things turned ugly after they failed to beat their League Two opponents in the third round of the FA Cup in 2016.

Micah Richards confronted angry and rowdy Villa fans who shouted abuse at their players as they boarded the team bus and Rémi Garde, their beleaguered manager, issued a series of terse replies as his side extended their winless season to 16 games, of which the Frenchman took charge of 10. Matt Bloomfield, who shook hands with opposite number Unai Emery before kick-off, was Wycombe’s captain that day and was in the midfield that squandered a 3-1 lead against Villa in 2005. David O’Leary’s Villa, which featured teenager James Milner, Milan Baros and Juan Pablo Ángel, scored five goals in the second half to win 8-3.

Villa had another Colombian No.9 up front here: Jhon Durán moved into the starting line-up after scoring four goals in five Premier League appearances as a substitute this season. Among the regulars off that night was Ollie Watkins. Emery gave debuts to goalkeeper Joe Gauci, centre-back Sil Swinkels and striker Kadan Young, one of two teenagers in Villa’s starting line-up. Only Amadou Onana remained in the Villa team that started last Saturday’s win against Wolves, while six teenagers, including three 17-year-olds, were on the bench. 30-year-old Ross Barkley was the only Villa player over 27 in the matchday squad. Wycombe also made changes, eight of them from their League One win over Cambridge.

Durán’s goalscoring ability has been one of the biggest stories in the top flight this season, but he made a rare misstep after 35 seconds when he went one-on-one with Wycombe goalkeeper Franco Ravizzoli and attempted to shoot wide after running onto a fine through ball from Leon Bailey. Durán later rounded Ravizzoli but, almost at the byline, shot over from a tight angle.

He finished with another left-footed shot in the 37th minute, but it went wide and hit the digital advertising boards. Alex Hartridge made a heroic save to prevent Kosta Nedeljkovic’s shot from threatening the Wycombe goal.

The hosts were no mere followers in an even first half, with former Birmingham striker Beryly Lubala wasting Wycombe’s best chances. Lubala forced Gauci into a routine save early on and later failed to put enough power into his shot to test the Australian goalkeeper after controlling David Wheeler’s deft touch on his thigh.

Wycombe, eleventh in League One, had the first chance a few seconds into the second half, but Matt Butcher’s shot rebounded off Lamare Bogarde and went wide, giving a corner.

Villa had not overwhelmed Wycombe and Emery looked relieved when his side took the lead just under the hour mark. Young burst down the left, raced past Wycombe full-back Jasper Pattenden and fired a cross into the box. Wycombe defender Joe Low attempted to clear the ball with his right foot but the ball inadvertently flew over a diving team-mate Tyreeq Bakinson and landed on Buendía’s radar in the box.

The 1.70m tall Argentinian, unmarked and obviously on the ball, jumped up and headed the ball deftly against the post. This gave Emery a little breathing room to bring on 17-year-old Aidan Borland, who joined from Celtic last year, for Bailey and Jacob Ramsey for Onana. Durán decided the situation with a penalty shortly before the end, allowing Emery to give further debuts to young players Travis Patterson, Ben Broggio and Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba with a few minutes to go. Richard Kone scored the consolation goal for the hosts in injury time.