Ainsworth delighted with Wycombe’s point at Lincoln

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2018 by PA

Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth could not hide his delight at earning a hard-earned point on his return to Sincil Bank as his side drew 0-0 with Lincoln.

The point took third-placed Wycombe a step nearer promotion and Ainsworth was full of parise for the home side.

He said: “What a fantastic place this is. To see how far this club has come and the support like they had makes our point even better. It was a fantastic point.

‘We picked a very experienced side to start the game as we had an illness in the camp. We have quite a few problems at the moment and we had to come here with a resilient attitude and make sure we didn’t get beat. It was brilliant to see the resilience in the boys.

“We’ve kept five clean sheets in six now and I don’t know what’s happened at Wycombe. I am really, really proud of the boys. It does now mean that a draw and two wins will be good enough for us to get promotion and that’s what we’re planning for.”

He had a final word for his old club, adding: “Full credit to the Lincoln City fans. Wow, this club is bigger than League Two at the moment.”

Despite the Imps climbing back into the play-off places, manager Danny Cowley was left frustrated by his side’s inability to take their chances when on top.

“It was two front foot aggressive teams going hammer and tong together, but it was frustrating that we couldn’t find a way to get over the line,” said Cowley.

“They have had a great season and Gareth Ainsworth is a top man and is doing an unbelievable job there. It was a tough Wycombe team that came with a game plan and looked to slow the game down and kill it. I am not criticising that at all.

“Wycombe came to shut the game down and we should take a lot of confidence from that. It’s a positive.

“I was really pleased with the effort and application, but we just didn’t do enough in the second half. But we’ve lost only one in nine which is a great effort at the level.

“They did what they have to do and unless you’re good enough to beat it then you can’t criticise it. It was obviously frustrating, felt by the players and supporters and I felt he game could have been managed by the referee a little bit better.”

Cowley was critical of referee John Brooks, adding: “I did think the referee got some key decisions wrong.

“I don’t think they were all his fault – Lee Frecklington’s disallowed goal early on, that was a decision made by the assistant referee. It was a goal for me.

“(Matt) Rheady was ruled offside, but he was in line. He’s given a push by Ready for his ‘goal’ and I can understand why he’s done that, but the disappointing one was Harry Anderson’s penalty, which wasn’t given. He got the right side of (Joe) Jacobson and he’s crashed into the back of him.

“It was hard for the referee, but we got on the wrong side of the decisions tonight.”