Gareth Ainsworth feels Wycombe could have made things easier after a narrow win

Posted Sunday, September 19, 2021 by PA

Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth felt his side could have beaten Charlton by more after they saw out a nervy finish to win 2-1 against their struggling visitors.

The Chairboys largely controlled proceedings at Adams Park, with the Addicks offering little resistance, and the lead given to them by Garath McCleary’s double was the least they merited.

Charlton’s poor performance led to chants of ‘we want Adkins out’ from their fans, who almost celebrated an unlikely – and undeserved – point after Sam Lavelle’s header belatedly revived them in stoppage time.

Ainsworth, whose team face Premier League champions Manchester City in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, said: “Everyone might look at the last five minutes, but football is played over 95 minutes and the 90 minutes was totally ours.

“It was really well deserved and I thought we played some fantastic stuff, going forward, today.

“Some of the individual play around the box you can’t coach and you can’t coach what Garath McCleary did, he’s just got that in the bag.

“It was a fantastic start and a much-deserved goal – we could have had three or four in that first half.

“I wish we had, it wouldn’t have been so nervy at the end, but it was a full-blooded League One game and Charlton, under Nigel Adkins, won’t be where they are right now at the end of the season.”

After Curtis Thompson struck a post for Wycombe, the hosts went ahead just before half-time when McCleary fired home from just outside the area after being given too much time to cut inside.

The second goal the Chairboys’ dominance deserved arrived when Jordan Obita headed Daryl Horgan’s ball into the box back across for McCleary to nod in from close range.

Charlton finally registered in added time when Lavelle headed in Harry Arter’s corner, but they now find themselves second bottom in the table after their fifth defeat in seven games.

Charlton boss Adkins said of the fans’ reaction: “The fans, on the large, have been great, getting really behind the players.

“I understand their frustration because, at the end of the day, we’re Charlton and we need to be getting out of this division.

“We should be winning every game that we’re looking to go and play and we haven’t done that today.

“You could see that the supporters were right behind the team, but obviously when we’ve gone behind, that makes it more challenging, but that’s what happens, it’s human nature.

“How do you get round it? We’ll be back in tomorrow, we’ve got an honest, hard-working group of players and we’ve got to get ourselves ready for the next game, which is going to be a good one against Gillingham, on Tuesday.”