Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth relieved after ‘tough’ victory over Lincoln

Posted Sunday, August 22, 2021 by PA

Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth felt his team had to dig deep to beat Lincoln 1-0 after they managed to hold on to the lead given to them by Sam Vokes’ early header.

Vokes took just three minutes to strike against last season’s play-off finalists.

That ultimately led to the Chairboys making it three wins in four League One games this season as they seek an immediate return to the Championship.

They were pushed all the way by the Imps, who have won just one of their four league games as they deal with the hangover of losing at Wembley to Blackpool.

Ainsworth said: “Believe me, it was tough. It was a hard-fought 1-0 victory.

“Lincoln had their chances today – David Stockdale had to make an unbelievable save, where he was in the right place at the right time.

“I’m really proud of the energy and the efforts of the boys, I think they’re going to have to recover from that one.

“I thought we maybe could have added one or two more goals – there was some last-ditch defending, last-ditch blocks and tackles and we hit the post, so there were chances to put it to bed.

“But a 1-0 win is as good as anything and I’ll take that.”

On match-winner Vokes, Ainsworth added: “He’s played 90 minutes for the first time in a long time and that’s good for him.

“That’s what Sam Vokes was brought in to do, and I told him when we signed him that he’d get crosses, he’d get balls into the right areas and that’s paying off because he’s a top striker.

“There are a lot of top strikers here, but he’s finished that really well.”

The decisive moment was quick to arrive and it came when Vokes made the most of some hesitancy in Lincoln’s defence to nod in Jordan Obita’s cross at the back post.

Lincoln’s best chance to equalise came with 11 minutes left when Stockdale did brilliantly to keep out Teddy Bishop’s volley from point-blank range.

Imps boss Michael Appleton offered no excuses, saying: “We clearly had very good chances today, but I’m not going to defend them.

“We should be scoring goals, we should be certainly making sure their keeper has to work harder than he did.

“I know he made a couple of very good saves, but there were a few occasions as well where we had to make the keeper work and make a save, rather than it flash across a post or run across the byline.

“From that point of view, (we need to be a) little bit more ruthless and keep a clean sheet, obviously.”

On the lack of goals, Appleton said: “I’d be surprised, from a stats point of view, if we’ve not had better chances or had more touches in the box than them.

“But you have to be ruthless, you have to have that killer instinct to want to score goals and see teams off.

“If you want to be competitive and play in the top half of this division, especially with the big teams that are in it this year, you have to do that.”