Frustrated in Fleetwood: Gareth Ainsworth feels Wycombe were worth the win

Posted Sunday, September 04, 2022 by PA

Gareth Ainsworth said he was ‘gutted’ that Wycombe were not taking all three points home from their 1-1 draw at Fleetwood in Sky Bet League One.

The Chairboys had Garath McCleary sent off with less than 10 minutes on the clock but Anis Mehmeti put them ahead shortly before half-time.

New recruit Admiral Muskwe scored Fleetwood’s equaliser midway through the second half, leaving the Wycombe boss fuming at referee James Oldham allowing the hosts’ equaliser to stand.

“I haven’t seen the incident back,” he said. “G-Mac [McCleary] has apologised, he said he’s caught their lad in the face with his arm or his hand. If he has then it’s construed as a red card. I’m gutted because he’s not like that, he’s not that kind of player.

“But the talking point for me was the referee because of the goal that they’ve scored, it wasn’t a corner and I don’t know how he’s not given a foul. I’m gutted for my players because they’ve grafted and grafted and we deserved the points today with 10 men.

“We’ve shown the character and the resilience that is Wycombe. I couldn’t be prouder of the boys, they were absolutely fantastic and that’s a great point away from home.”

Ainsworth reserved special praise for Mehmeti, whose fine solo effort was his fourth of the campaign, insisting the attacking midfielder impressed the first time he saw him.

“How Anis isn’t in the Albanian first team I’ll never know because he’s just a magic player,” he added.

“As soon as I saw him in one of the trial games I was just saying ‘let’s get him with the first team’. Anis has just grown and grown and I’m so proud of him.

“The coaching staff get into him but some of the stuff he does you can’t coach. It’s natural ability and you saw that in a fabulous goal. He’s a great asset to the team and we have to work on getting the best out of him.”

Fleetwood manager Scott Brown said his players are still learning their trade and, rather than aiding their cause, McCleary’s dismissal had a negative effect on them.

“I think the first 10 minutes we started really well, we were composed and kept the ball well,” said Brown after their fifth straight draw in the league.

“They had a man sent off and it probably spooked us a bit, because we didn’t really know how to play against a 4-4-1 so we struggled to keep the ball.

“I think it affected us more than it did them, they knew what they were doing afterwards, they sat in and tried to catch us on the counter-attack and, to be fair, they did.

“We moved it from side to side but struggled to force it through gaps when it wasn’t there to be played. We’ve never had them play against 10 men so maybe that’s something we need to work on as well.

“But it was our speed of play and intensity. There’s got to be a change of pace with wingers running in behind, and little combinations of movement. Everyone was a bit slow on the ball, I think they felt they had a little bit more time because it was against 10 men.

“Fair play to the lads, they kept going, they managed to score a goal and on another day we’d probably have ended up losing 1-0, but they kept going.

“Admiral scored a great goal, he’s getting to know the team and he’s a willing runner. He’ll get his goals, he did well today and he’s definitely got more to offer.”