Wycombe Wanderers 1, Bury 2.

MATT Bloomfield was sent off on his 299th appearance as Wanderers threw away the lead to lose against Bury.

Adams Park was stunned into silence as referee Darren Deadman elected to give Bloomfield the first red card of his career as he and Bury full back Shaun Beeley both slid in for the same ball.

Bloomfield himself looked shocked as he trudged off with his side level against the struggling Shakers, who went on to snatch their first win since August thanks to William Edjenguele’s late header.

Defender Anthony Stewart had fired Wanderers into the lead in a first half they bossed, but they weren’t the same side after the break despite starting strongly.

Tom Soares pulled them level even before Bloomfield was sent off, and after the red card Bury piled on the pressure and in the end it was little surprise they went on to claim a late winner.

Blues went in front from their opening opportunity, although that took quarter of an hour to arrive.

Josh Scowen’s shots from long range have increasingly become a feature of Wycombe’s play and his latest effort was unconvincingly batted away by experienced keeper Brian Jensen. The ball went behind for a corner which Scowen took himself, with his whipped delivery taking out the ballwatching Bury defence to allow Stewart to slide in and stab home at the far post.

A low Nick Arnold cross was ushered behind by Shaun Beeley with Paris Cowan-Hall and Jo Kuffour both waiting to pounce, before Matt Ingram plunged low down to turn a Hylton shot round his near post.

Keen to add to his tally Stewart fired inches over the top with a powerful effort from Scowen’s pass, before Cowan-Hall lobbed over the bar after Matt Bloomfield’s dinked pass dropped into the former Plymouth man’s path off the back of his head.

The struggling visitors had to make a change before the break with Hylton going off injured but his replacement Anton Forrester – scorer of seven goals in a single game as a pre-season trialist – almost brought Bury level as his first touch brought with it a shot that curled inches wide of the far post.

Wanderers made a bright start to the second half and twice had chances to extend their lead within the first two minutes. Firstly Bloomfield had his one-on-one opening turned away by the sizable girth of Jensen before Charles Dunne had a shot from the edge of the box deflected behind.

Bury wasted a glorious chance to level as the unmarked Soares blazed over from ten yards, and they had a let off at the other end as Kuffour sent the ball narrowly off target with a chipped shot.

Danny Mayor then weaved his way through a gap after a slip from Kortney Hause, but the ball just failed to sit up for Harrad to tap home from close range after taking a ricochet off Stewart and Ingram pounced to steal the ball away from the visiting striker.

Again Stewart came close to extending his goal tally as another corner found its way to him, but this time Edjenguele blocked his shot on the line and did enough to put Hause off as the central defender could only prod wide in the ensuing melee.

The Lancashire side were proving more of a threat in the second half and Mayor came agonisingly close to an equaliser as he turned Arnold inside out and cut inside before curling an exquisite effort inches the wrong side of the upright.

And they deservedly pulled level as Forrester left Arnold for dead down the right before pulling the ball back for Soares to ram home from six yards.

The Shakers could have gone in front minutes later as Ingram made an instinctive stop to turn away Harrad’s close range header, before the same player acrobatically hooked over the bar from Chris Sedgwick’s cross.

Gareth Ainsworth responded to the setback by making a double substitution, with top scorer Dean Morgan – back from injury – and Matt McClure replacing Knott and Kuffour.

But his plan was left in tatters as Bloomfield was shown a straight red as he and Beeley both slid in for a loose ball but referee Deadman decided the Blues midfielder’s challenge was late and dangerous.

That left space for Bury and Harrad came ever closer to putting his side in front as he fired into the side netting from a narrow angle.

The warning signs were there as Mayor again carved through the backpeddling home defence but he screwed his shot wide.

And with three minutes left on the clock Edjenguele climbed highest at the back post to give the visitors a winner as his header looped into the net.

Wanderers: Ingram, Arnold, Hause, Stewart, Dunne, Lewis, Scowen, Bloomfield, Knott (sub Morgan), Cowan-Hall (sub Kretzschmar), Kuffour (sub McClure). Substitutes not used: Horlock, Wood, Doherty, Pittman.

Attendance: 3,350 (180 from Bury)