Wanderers 1, Shrewsbury 0,

Sam Wood scored after just 40 seconds to beat Shrewsbury and give Wanderers a huge boost in the race for automatic promotion as Blues moved above Salop into second place in League Two.

The midfielder’s fifth strike of the season in the first minute of the match proved decisive as a bumper crowd at Adams Park saw the hosts take a step closer to League One football next term.

Aaron Holloway came close to doubling the lead with a shot which struck the crossbar in the second half before some resolute defending made sure of all three points.

For the second week running Gareth Ainsworth was forced to change his starting XI just minutes before kick-off as Hogan Ephraim, who had been due to start in place of Sam Saunders, withdrew through illness allowing the Brentford man take his place in the side for the fourth game running.

The Blues boss’ plans had been dealt a further blow by an injury to Sido Jombati, suffered in training, meaning Nico Yennaris filled in at right-back. Better news for Ainsworth came in the shape of Fred Onyedinma, however, who returned to the starting line-up after missing last Saturday’s draw against Southend with a calf injury.

The late reshuffle did nothing to disrupt the hosts who flew out the blocks and were celebrating scoring the opening goal with just 40 seconds on the clock.

As home fans were still taking their seats, Wood found his way to the penalty spot and met Yennaris’ cross from the right-hand side with a thumping header which flew past Jason Leutwiler and into the top corner.

In his programme notes Ainsworth had said Blues’ home form was in need of a “revival” and they certainly started in a fashion which suggested they were determined to record a first home win in five matches.

The returning Onyedinma was clearly keen to get back into the thick of the action as he teed up Wood on the edge of the penalty area after driving at the visitors’ rattled back four. Wood cut back before striking a left-footed effort straight into the hands of Leutwiler.

A matter of seconds later the Shrewsbury stopper was called into action again as Onyedinma, given too much time and space just outside the penalty box, drove goalwards and forced Leutwiler to tip it around the post at full stretch.

Shrewsbury, a team who arrived in Buckinghamshire second in the table, were visibly flustered and struggling to string more than two passes together as Blues gave them no time on the ball.

Wood was playing as a winger in an attacking 4-3-3 formation and he was buzzing around the pitch with boundless enthusiasm, leading to the creation of a chance for skipper Paul Hayes.

The wide man sent an inch perfect left cross to the back post from the right-hand side where his ball in found Hayes who, with the angle against him, forced Leutwiler to beat away his header.

Matt McClure, who was serving the second game of his three-match suspension, was in the stands at Adams Park and he will have raised his eyebrows at the referee’s decision to award Bobby Grant only a yellow for seemingly planting his elbow in Marcus Bean’s head.

For the first 40 minutes Matt Ingram might as well have gone up front as the visitors’ efforts hadn’t amounted to a single effort on goal.

A minute later that changed as Tyrone Barnett dribbled the ball towards the box with no great urgency and the striker opted to shoot with no Wanderers player wanting to close him down.

His right foot drive was going a yard wide but nevertheless Ingram pulled it into his body as he got the first trace of dirt on his purple uniform.

That was the last action of note in a half which had been thoroughly dominated by the home side – emphasised by the fact their opponents were yet to have a corner compared to Wycombe’s six.

The second half began in almost exactly the same fashion as the first had, but this time Wood was just unable to lift a shot over the head of Leutwiler after he raced onto Onyedinma’s flick-on.

Shrewsbury started the second 45 minutes like team that had been well and truly ripped into at half-time and came close to levelling the scores when Cameron Gayle drifted into the area from the right, leaving Joe Jacobson on the floor, and sent a left-foot effort curling narrowly wide of the far post.

The visitors display had clearly not done enough to appease boss Micky Mellon who made a triple substitution after 57 minutes with Barnett, Mark Ellis and Jordan Clark being hauled off for Liam Lawrence, Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro and Scott Vernon.

Mellon’s tinkering almost paid instant dividends as Lawrence found space on the left and delivered a low cross to the near post where James Collins poked an effort rebounding off Ingram.

The Shropshire outfit were beginning to show why they are many people’s favourites to hang onto an automatic promotion spot and they were penning Wanderers into their own half with Blues’ attacking intent, so visible in the first half, now a distant memory.

It took until the 70th minute before the hosts fired a shot in anger in the second half and it was that man Wood again. This time the winger could only fire his effort into the Bucks New University hoarding above the terrace.

His effort did serve to spark the home side into life with Wood forcing Leutwiler into a sprawling save at his near post before Hayes let one fly from outside the box, stinging the fingertips of the keeper as it flew narrowly over.

A glorious chance to extend Blues’ lead then fell to the captain but he could only send a side-footed effort a yard wide of the post after Saunders had teed him up following tenacious work from Matt Bloomfield to keep the ball in play.

As the match ticked into its final ten minutes Akpa Akpro made his first impression on the game as he weaved inside Yennaris and hit a tame shot into the gloves of a grateful Ingram.

Holloway had replaced Onyedinma and the substitute nearly wrapped up the points with a thunderous curling effort which looked to be heading for the top corner before clattering the cross bar.

At the other end, with the bar still shaking, Vernon spooned a shot over Wycombe’s goal as the ball dropped to him in the box.

Ainsworth has been a more relaxed figure on the touchline for the majority of this season but he was back to his exuberant best, kicking every ball, charging up and down the line with no regard for his technical area and jumping every time a ball was there to be contested.

But he needn’t have worried as Wanderers gutsy rearguard action kept the visitors quiet in the five minutes of stoppage time and secured a massive result in the race for promotion.

Wanderers: Ingram, Ephraim, Mawson, Pierre, Jacobson, Yennaris, Bloomfield, Bean, Wood, Hayes, Onyedinma (Holloway) Substitutes not used: Richardson, Rowe, Saunders, Craig, Murphy, Fletcher Goals: Wood 1,

Shrewsbury: Leutwiler, Gayle, Grandison, Ellis (Vernon), Goldson, Demetriou, Clark (Lawrence), Woods, Grant, Collins, Barnett (Akpa Akpro)
Substitutes not used: Halstead, Southern, Mandron, Sharpe

Referee: G Scott

Assistant referees: D Blunden and T Wood

Fourth official: I Rathbone