Ainsworth concedes Wycombe were second best at Luton

The Hatters took the lead through Andrew Shinnie’s fine 25 yard strike, while Harry Cornick sealed Town’s progress, pouncing on a shocking backheel from Chairboys defender Adam El-Abd, to go through and beat Ryan Allsop.

Ainsworth felt the error from his experienced centre half was to prove the turning point, saying: “We wanted to stay in the game, the first goal is avoidable, definitely, we’ve picked the bones out of that already.

“There’s a change over of marking and we’ve let the boy inside too easy.

“It’s a great finish, I’m not taking that away from him, but he should never get in that position to attempt that finish, we work on that really hard.

“Then the second goal, Adam’s put his hands up in the dressing room and said ‘sorry boys, that’s my fault entirely.’

“That’s finished with now for me, he’s devastated in there.

“That’s a tough one to take because they were the better team, I’m not trying to pretend they weren’t, but this is a massive club, they’re at home, they’ve got some real good players, but at 1-0 we can always manage to nick something.

“Craig Mackail-Smith’s gone through at the end and almost scored, and Randell’s (Williams) had a couple of chances.

“At 1-0 there’s always that nervousness that we could pick something up, but the second goal puts us out of sight and gives them breathing space.”

Ainsworth, who knows how much the defeat will hurt his side financially, didn’t think the tie was quite as easy as the home fans did though, adding: “I’m gutted it’s the first time in three years we’ve not made the second round which is not nice as I wanted to give that to the fans.

“They turned up in numbers, good voice so that’s tough to take.

“Also prize money means so much for our club, but we’re going to have to do it the hard way.

“We’ve been beat and I’m sure Luton fans are relieved, I know they were quite vocal at the end singing like it was a one-sided game, and I think that’s because the last five times we’ve had the upper hand.

“We congratulate Luton, I hope they get to the third round, get a good tie and it might take their minds off the league.”