Ainsworth pleased with professional performance after Wycombe beat Grimsby

Posted Tuesday, April 03, 2018 by PA

Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth felt his side did extremely well to keep their composure in coming from behind to beat struggling Grimsby.

The Mariners were dreaming of a first win in 20 matches after going into half-time at Adams Park ahead, but the Chairboys were able to turn the game around in the second half to earn a valuable 2-1 win.

It has put them five points clear of fourth-placed Exeter as the race for Sky Bet League Two promotion nears its climax, while Grimsby remain four points above the relegation zone.

Ainsworth said: “The message at half-time was that there was no panic and it was a professional performance.

“We’ve been there before and it was just about keep it going the way we are and something will break (for us) and if we ask enough questions we’ll get the answers we want.

“There were a couple of hairy moments, of course, you get them in games – you can’t be shutting up shop and not be expecting anything against you.

“But believe me, that corner in the last minute with their keeper up was as worrying for me as it was for anyone in the ground.”

Grimsby went ahead when Martyn Woolford took advantage of a mistake by Michael Harriman to finish confidently when through one-on-one.

Adam El-Abd equalised for Wycombe on the hour with his first goal for the club, before Scott Kashket struck the winner by touching in from close range following Sido Jombati’s knockdown.

Grimsby manager Michael Jolley said the defeat was difficult to take.

“It’s a bitter pill to swallow that we’ve taken nothing from the game because I think that anybody who saw it could see that we put a lot into that in terms of our endeavour,” said Jolley.

“We scored the first goal, which was something we were focused on trying to do, and we even had chances in the first half to go to 2-0.

“I’m disappointed with the second half because we know what Wycombe like to do; they like to build pressure and build momentum and we gave away some really cheap set-plays.

“A couple of people switched off in key situations that have ultimately cost us.

“They certainly deliver the ball into key areas well and they put a lot of bodies in there.

“The ball has certainly dropped for them on the first one but I’m not unhappy with the way we’re defending set-plays.”