Wanderers were below par in their derby day defeat at the hands of Oxford on Good Friday, according to manager Gareth Ainsworth.

The 41-year-old cut a frustrated figure on the touchline as he watched Blues ship three goals in a game for just the second time this season.

Oxford produced an accomplished away performance in the style of Wanderers’ displays on the road and their defensive resilience and organisation laid the platform from which three counter attacking goals were produced.

“I know what training will be on Saturday/Sunday – defending from crosses six yards out,” said Ainsworth having seen all of The U’s goals arrive in similar fashion.

“Fair play to Oxford they’ve come here, they’ve changed their whole team from when we last played them and, as I’ve always said, a manager takes time to put his stamp on a team and Michael Appleton looks like he’s got a good outfit there coupled with the fact that we were below par today.

“Many players played in fits and starts, good things in little places but not consistently good the whole game. You get punished by a team like Oxford. I think they’re in a false position and they’re better than their league position suggests.”

The high tempo pressing game, so often employed by Blues this season, was missing and routine passes were going astray in what was for the most part a lethargic display from the hosts which saw them trail 2-0 at the break.

Captain Paul Hayes pulled one back shortly after the restart before a controversial decision not to award a free-kick for a foul on Fred Onyedinma by Oxford’s last man had incensed Ainsworth, and with the score at 2-1 the Blues boss felt it was a “pivotal” moment.

He said: “The ‘keeper’s nowhere near going to get the ball, the ball’s there for Fred, somebody with his pace is going clean through and for the life of me I can’t understand why he’s not given a free-kick there which would possibly lead to a red card.

“Onyedinma’s not a player who’s not going to go down for nothing, he wants to score goals, he’s an honest lad, he says he was pulled down and I believe him.”

Ainsworth’s positivity has been a driving force behind his team this season and not even a defeat to the club’s local rivals on home turf could dampen his spirits.

Results elsewhere mean the gap to fourth place has been closed to four points ahead of a trip to league leaders Burton on Easter Monday, but that isn’t a worry for the Wycombe manager.

“It’s not a huge dent. The table will tell the truth after 46 games but there’s no nerves, no worries. We set out to get 55 points, we did it. We set out to get in the play-offs, we did it. We’re setting out to get promotion now and hopefully we can have that little bit of luck and still succeed with that,” he said.

“It’s been a great season, a real success and I want everyone to think about that first. Let’s finish the job, it would be great to do that.

“It was good today, I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the occasion it was just the result that went the wrong side. We just didn’t turn up for parts of the game.”