Gareth Ainsworth declared himself pleased to be taking a point home from Bury but said the match should never have gone ahead.

The Gigg Lane pitch was heavily sanded in several areas even before a flurry of snow and partial thaw led to it being waterlogged in places.

Referee David Webb was content to play and didn’t carry out a second inspection of the playing surface, despite the players of both sides having trouble kicking balls to one another during their on-pitch warm ups.

It meant that any tactical plans either Ainsworth or his opposite manager David Flitcroft might have had went out the window straight away, with both teams having to forget about playing football and go through the motions of keeping the ball away from their goal.

Such a quagmire sapped the energy of both teams, but whereas Flitcroft made all three substitutions Ainsworth decided against making any changes as it could have hindered rather than helped his side.

The Blues boss said: “There’s a few boys coming back from injury and this would have taken its toll. I’m not sure the game should have gone ahead, if I’m being honest. The pitch is terrible – Bury will have their work cut out with this pitch to keep it in good nick for the rest of the season, because it was a mudbath at the end.

“I thought the ref would’ve called the game off. The ball wasn’t running true, there was a horrendous puddle in front of the dugouts and there were a few dodgy tackles in that area.

“It’s a good thing we’ve played and got a point because we don’t want to be coming up here on a Tuesday night.

“The pitch was the biggest factor, and knowing how to play the pitch. If I’d have put someone on today and they didn’t get up to speed with the pitch – like we didn’t in the first 15 minutes – it could have cost us. There was no way I was going to risk it when you have a point in the bag, and potentially three.

“It’s a tactical decision but there’s an environmental decision as well. The footwear, no matter what you’re wearing you were slipping all over the place.

“You had to find out which areas of the pitch were sticky and which areas the ball was running on.”

The build-up to the game could have been better for Wanderers, with their bus suffering a blow-out on the M6 on the way to their team hotel last night and resulting in a journey time north of seven hours.

And they made a slow start to the game as Bury adapted to the conditions and went in front as Danny Mayor took advantage of Alfie Mawson’s blunder in failing to clear a cross.

They found their feet – literally and metaphorically – and earned a hard earned point thanks to an equalising goal from Fred Onyedinma as the Millwall loanee notched his third goal in as many matches.

Ainsworth said: “It didn’t go well first 20 minutes, let’s not pretend it did. We were under the cosh. They dealt with the pitch quicker than we did, but once we got to grips with it, there was only one team in it. For the last 60, 70 minutes it was only Wycombe.

“We deserved a draw without a shadow of a doubt and maybe we could have won it.

“Terrible mistake for the first goal by somebody [Mawson] who doesn’t make many. After that he didn’t put a foot wrong, and neither did anyone else. It was one of the performances of the season.”