UNDER-FIRE Wanderers boss Gareth Ainsworth said he understood the boos that were aimed at him as Blues edged ever closer to relegation to non-league football.

Jeers from the crowd have become something of a regular occurrence at Adams Park in recent weeks, but fans were numbed with shock at the end of Saturday's 2-1 defeat in the crunch clash with Bristol Rovers.

It was only when Ainsworth and the players re-emerged afterwards for a lap of honour that the boos began again from the few supporters who had stayed behind.

They chanted "We want Ainsworth out" as Wanderers look near certainties to relinquish their status as a Football League.

And the Blues boss said: "It's fine. I'm big enough to take that. They have got a right to say whatever they want.

"It's a small group shouting for my head and that's going to happen in football. I'm not naive enough to think that won't happen."

The players didn't escape the jeers however, with some of them being taunted with calls of 'You're not fit to wear the shirt' as they dragged themselves around the pitch after what could be the final Football League fixture to be staged at Adams Park.

But Ainsworth said the supporters should lay off the players ahead of the weekend's trip to Torquay - which Blues simply have to win to have any chance of staying up, and even then they need one of Bristol Rovers or Northampton Town to lose.

He said: "The majority of fans were behind the team today and that's important. Say what you want to me but get behind the team because they are really working hard and they are gutted in there. They have given their all.

"I don't want to concentrate on myself or my position, it's about those in there and I'm devastated for them. They are a young group and they don't deserve to be where they are, but we've got to put the chances in the back of the net.

"Next week we've got to make sure we do our job at Torquay and rely on somebody else to get us out of jail."