GARETH Ainsworth was left to rue his side’s inability to see the game out after saying Wanderers were the better side against Accrington Stanley.

Blues had looked set to get back to winning ways thanks to Anthony Stewart’s second goal in two games, but their hopes of picking up all three points were dashed as Peter Murphy scored a stoppage time strike for the second week in succession.

Ainsworth said he felt down as a result of Stanley’s last gasp equaliser and made a Freudian slip in his post match press conference by saying the non award of a first half penalty wasn’t the reason Blues lost.

Instead he felt it was a bit of defensive naivety as Wanderers failed to clear their lines during the only real spell of pressure the struggling Lancastrians managed to put on the visiting defence all afternoon.

The Blues boss said: “If you look at the big picture it’s a point gained away from home. Accrington have won two on the spin. But the nature of it is it’s two lost and that’s how I’m feeling at the moment. It’s a tough one to take.

“It’s just assured clearances going up the pitch. There’s no individuals. We are in it together – we could have scored a couple of goals at the other end. Maybe if we were sharper at the other end we’d score a couple more goals.

“I thought the lads played really well. There was only one team in it today. I think Accrington will feel like they have escaped a defeat there – they have nicked a point, we’ve lost two. We were the better team and I think everyone in the ground would probably agree with that.

“I’m down on that score but away from home, terrible conditions – the rain hammered it down – I feel we did a real professional job.

“We maybe should have hit the net a couple more times than we did but we limited Accrington to only one shot on our goal and that was in the 93rd minute, and they managed to get it in.

“We have to look at that, seeing games out is really important for us.”

Ainsworth felt his side should have been given a penalty in the first half as Matt McClure appeared to be fouled by Accy keeper Marcus Bettinelli trying to reach the rebound after a shot had been spilled.

He said: “The strange thing is the referee’s given a goalkick so he’s saying Matty definitely touched the ball, and Matty is saying he was fouled after he touched the ball. In my book that’s a penalty but today the referee didn’t give it that way.

“I’m gutted about the decision but I’m not going to say that’s the reason we drew. The reason is probably not seeing the game out.

“We defended well, it’s just that one incident in the 93rd minute which taints it.”

Ainsworth added: “There’s a tiny gap emerging and I want to be on the right side of the gap. I want to be at the top, not down the bottom.”