Wycombe boss Ainsworth: We'll use break to work on defensive problems
ByPA Sport Report
Published 06/10/2015 at 21:52 GMT
Gareth Ainsworth admitted relief at not having to face Bristol Rovers again on Saturday after seeing his Wycombe side knocked out of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.
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The corresponding Sky Bet League Two game between the clubs has been called off because Rovers have three players on international duty.
And after watching his side concede two early goals in a poor defensive performance, manager Ainsworth admitted: "We could do with the break."
He added: "We cannot forget that we are Wycombe Wanderers, with a relatively small squad, and we are having to cope with some key injuries.
"Perhaps I made too many changes defensively tonight, but I learned more about certain players, both good and bad. We wanted to win, but defeat is easier to take knowing we were not at our strongest.
"Rovers played well and deserved to win. Now we have a period without a game to work on the defensive problems that have developed in our last two matches.
"We were all over the place at times tonight and when we created chances we couldn't stick them away."
Rovers went ahead on four minutes when Chris Lines clipped a long ball to Matt Taylor on the edge of the box and the striker was given time to curl a precise right-footed shot beyond the reach of Matt Ingram.
Seven minutes later it was 2-0 as Jermaine Easter latched onto a Billy Bodin through-ball and lashed an angled drive past Ingram from inside the area.
Between the two Rovers goals Aaron Pierre headed against the crossbar for Wycombe and Lee Nicholls saved the rebound effort from Matt Bloomfield.
Max Kretzschmar should have pulled a goal back on 25 minutes, but shot badly wide after Aaron Amadi-Holloway had left him with only Nicholls to beat.
The second half brought chances for both teams with Rovers creating the majority. Ingram saved well from Cristian Montano and Bodin.
Home boss Darrell Clarke was pleased to see his side build on encouraging away league wins at Hartlepool and Morecambe.
He said: "That's three victories on the bounce and you can see the confidence running through the side.
"The first half was a bit too open for my liking, but we tightened up defensively in the second half and some of our attacking play was really good.
"We talked about needing a fast start to get the crowd going and create an atmosphere. The two goals did just that and the support we received was great.
"In a way it's disappointing not to have a game at the weekend now we are on such a good run, but we couldn't afford to go ahead with the Wycombe game without Jake Gosling, Ellis Harrison and Tom Lockyer."
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