Gareth Ainsworth proud of League One leaders Wycombe despite Oxford defeat

Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth said he was “immensely proud” of his Sky Bet League One leaders despite Saturday’s 1-0 derby defeat at Oxford.

Wanderers had to play for over an hour with 10 men after striker Adebayo Akinfenwa was sent off in the 26th minute for clashing with John Mousinho as players argued about a foul by Alex Gorrin on Scott Kashket.

The U’s claimed all three points thanks to James Henry’s 11th goal of the season three minutes earlier when the midfielder converted from close range after Ryan Allsop spilled a shot by Cameron Brannagan.

Wycombe remain seven points clear at the top, with Peterborough now second after they leapfrogged third-placed Ipswich.

Ainsworth said: “I’m so proud of the performance of my team. We had a mountain to climb with 10 men.

“I asked my team at half-time if they could come up with another clean sheet in the second half to give us a chance.

“And I’ve said it them in the dressing room afterwards ‘that will do for me’ because it was a performance of great heart and togetherness.

“Ryan made two really good saves but Oxford are a good side. They showed that on Wednesday night (against Manchester City).

“I believe the tackle on Scott Kashket merited a sending off, and they have goaded Adebayo into reacting.

“Yes, he should no better with his experience, but he’ll back him – he’s a professional and I don’t think he did a lot wrong.

“Apart from the two saves Ryan had to make, we defended magnificently, and we almost caught them on the break a couple of times.”

It was only the second time Wycombe have lost in the league this season.

Ainsworth added: “It was a great game of football – full-blooded, and our fans were absolutely awesome with the backing they gave the team.

“We move on and I can’t wait for Portsmouth away on Boxing Day now. We’ll be without Akinfenwa for that one, but so be it.”

Oxford, who had showed in the second half against Manchester City what a good attacking side they are, ultimately found it hard to break down Wycombe’s packed defence a second time.

But U’s boss Karl Robinson was pleased with the way his team did not go gung-ho against the 10 men and then get caught.

Robinson said: “We didn’t lose our heads and over-commit, which I was pleased with.

“We got three points against the top of the league so I’m very happy.

“And we can now enjoy last Wednesday night’s performance. I wanted to make sure we followed that up with something today.

“It was a fantastic game with great honesty and tremendous hard work – and that was from Wycombe. Imagine how good we had to be to be even better than them.

“But when it was 11 versus 11 we were brilliant and were by far the better team.

“The sending-off changes things and makes it hard in a way for us as well.

“I didn’t see the incident that caused the sending-off but I know that’s not Akinfenwa’s style.

“But there was something else in the game that really angered us – we’re not very happy about that at all.”

Robinson admitted he substituted Gorrin at half-time to avoid the possibility that he too might be red-carded.

The U’s boss said: “We brought Alex off because he was on a booking and he plays on the edge.

“They’re top of the league for a reason and you could see what they’re good at. But we saw the game out very well.”