GARETH Ainsworth admitted he would have settled for being behind at half time in this afternoon’s FA Cup tie at Barnet if it meant still being in contention.

The Wanderers boss had seen his patched-up defence given the runaround by a potent Barnet attack led by former Blues loan hero John Akinde, who threatened on several occasions to add to the goal he netted inside the opening minutes of the game.

Barnet were kept at bay by a string of excellent saves from Matt Ingram and against the run of play Blues got a foothold in the game with a Paul Hayes penalty.

Ainsworth happily admitted his side could have been well behind prior to their equaliser and would have settled for a 1-0 scoreline at the break, knowing his men would have the considerable advantage of a strong wind at their backs.

They also had an additional man after Sam Togwell, another former Wycombe loan signing, was dismissed on the stroke of half time for a mistimed challenge on Matt Bloomfield.

But Ainsworth was pleased at the way his side stuck manfully to their task, particularly a reshaped back four featuring midfielder Josh Scowen and right back Sido Jombati out of position in the middle to compensate for the loses of loan duo Alfie Mawson and Danny Rowe, both of whom were refused permission to play by their respective parent clubs.

The Blues boss said: “The conditions were awful, with the rain and the wind. I said at half time, because you stayed in the game, because you played the ugly game first half, we were able to play our game second half – and boy did we play that.

“I would have been happy at 1-0 down at half time, never mind 1-1, but we’ve held on and in the second half there was only one team in it.

“The sending off’s helped us – ten men can sometimes dig deep but I asked the boys to dig deeper than the ten.

“I had accomplished what I wanted at half time, to still be in the game. I think we would have gone out and taken the game to them second half – the sending off obviously has a bearing on the game, but sometimes ten men do pull upsets.

“Big John Akinde’s going to cause problems and, in the conditions, the flick ons and the pace in behind causes problems. I got a message out on the pitch of what I wanted the boys to do to nullify that and see the game out to half time and stay in it.”

He added: “I lost two centre halves, who were denied permission to play. We could only name four outfield subs, played a central midfielder at right back and a right back at centre back. I think it showed plenty of character. The boys stuck to the challenge.”

With Wanderers not in action again until Monday week, when they face Burton Albion in front of the Sky TV cameras, the players will be given Monday and Tuesday off to recover.

Ainsworth said he didn’t pick up any fresh injury worries against Barnet, but he will be forced into making more changes for the Burton game after Scowen and Aaron Pierre both picked up their fifth bookings of the season and with it a one match ban.

He said: “The biggest worries will be the suspensions with five yellow cards. We’ll have to rotate again. It’s part and parcel of the small squad, and the risk of having a small squad is definitely worth taking with the rewards we are getting at the moment.”

And he added: “Certain members of the team came in today and really put a case in for their shirts.”