Bristol City manager Lee Johnson believes Wycombe Wanderers were the better side and deserved to knock his side out of the EFL Cup on Tuesday night.

City ran out 1-0 winners thanks to Tammy Abraham’s first half strike but were on the back foot for much of the evening.

Johnson left Adams Park having been impressed by both Wycombe’s play and the impact manager Gareth Ainsworth has had on his squad.

He said: “They deserved to win. Full credit to Wycombe, I’m a big fan of Gareth Ainsworth and you can see every player plays in his image.

“They worked hard, were honest and trustworthy and we can come away thinking ourselves lucky to be in round two.”

City were indebted to the excellent work of goalkeeper Richard O’Donnell after he made a catalogue of saves to keep his side ahead.

He could not stop Adebayo Akinfenwa netting with eight minutes to play, but the striker was denied a first Wanderers goal by the offside flag.

It was a marginal decision and Johnson admitted his side had struggled to contain the battering ram of a centre-forward throughout the evening.

He said: “Akinfenwa was a good test. Do we stop the flight [of the ball]? Do we stop the forward pass? Do we wait for him to have a bad touch or do we go high against him?

“He’s so strong and the delivery into him was good that it caused us real problems.”