Rival managers send ‘thoughts and prayers’ to Wycombe fan taken critically ill

Rival managers Gareth Ainsworth and Simon Grayson sent their “thoughts and prayers” to a Wycombe fan who was taken critically ill before Tuesday night’s win over Blackpool.

Kick-off at Adams Park was delayed by over an hour as an air ambulance landed on the pitch, with the fan attended to before being taken to a nearby hospital.

Wanderers boss Ainsworth said in an interview posted to the club’s Twitter account: “There was a delay at the start of the game, which for me is insignificant compared to the gentleman who’s been taken critically ill, and the family.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with them – some things are bigger than football, and that’s definitely one of them.”

Blackpool manager Grayson added: “I would like to praise the fantastic response of the paramedics and send our very best wishes to the Wycombe supporter for a full recovery.”

On the pitch, Ainsworth believes his side’s Sunday session on the training ground made all the difference as Wycombe started strongly after the delay and held on to win 2-1.

The Chairboys had won only once in their last seven games before the Tuesday night clash, dropping out of the automatic promotion places they had occupied for so long.

But without a game at the weekend, having been knocked out of the FA Cup in the first round, Ainsworth decided to shift around his preparations.

“I don’t usually do it but I got the boys in on Sunday to make it like a Thursday, Friday, and obviously with no game at the weekend, we prepared like we would in a week,” he explained.

“A fantastic win for the boys. I thought first half we were devastating going forward, I thought we played some fantastic stuff. We took from the training ground what we’ve been doing. Some real good moves and I felt we were well deserving of our 2-0 lead at half-time.

“I thought it could have been a little bit more if I’m honest, but then Blackpool responded late on. I don’t know how many players they’ve got over six-foot-three but we had a real tussle with some of those big lads and they were going very direct.

“They’ve got one back – it’s a soft goal, I’m really disappointed with that one – but overall the three points were the big thing tonight for Wycombe and I’m really pleased we got that.”

Wycombe led 2-0 inside 10 minutes. Nick Freeman opened the scoring from an Alex Samuel cross before the provider turned scorer when he jinked his way through to slot home.

And though Leicester loanee Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored on his Blackpool debut to make it tight with four minutes to go, Grayson was left to bemoan a pitiful first-half display.

“First half we never started the game, we allowed them to dominate and get the two early goals,” he said.

“We just didn’t deal with it for whatever reason, just did not start the game well enough.

“That can come down to a mental state from the players. Even our passing was slack, was wishy-washy.

“Second half, at least the players had a go. We looked a different team, got on the front foot more, got more opportunities and really they were hanging on in the last 20 minutes of that game.”