Darren Deadman’s decision not to send Burton goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin off after 26 minutes of Monday’s defeat at the Pirelli Stadium was branded “unbelievable” by Wanderers boss Gareth Ainsworth.

The Wycombe manager remonstrated furiously with the fourth official after Deadman produced only a yellow card for the Brewers stopper after he handled the ball outside of his box.

Fred Onyedinma was ready and waiting to speed past McLaughlin and roll the ball into an unguarded net had the ‘keeper left the ball alone, and it was the referee’s reasoning as to why he didn’t send the player off which left Ainsworth incensed.

“The referee has said it didn’t look like a goal scoring opportunity so I have absolutely no idea what constitutes a goal scoring opportunity if that is not one,” he said.

“The ball looks like it’s going in the net and we had two players, if the ‘keeper leaves it, who get to the ball first and slot it home.

“I have no idea why he hasn’t given that and only Darren Deadman will know why he hasn’t given that. If our promotion hopes come down to that then it will be a terrible miscarriage of justice.

“The referees have a tough job and I’m not about to get myself in trouble, but in my opinion Darren Deadman got that one wrong.”

Burton took full advantage of their reprieve when Adam McGurk produced what Ainsworth described as “a bit of magic” in the second half to send a curling shot past Matt Ingram.

Further despair for Blues came when Aaron Pierre saw a thumping header kept out by a fantastic save from McLaughlin with just three minutes left on the clock.

Ainsworth said: “What a fantastic save from their ‘keeper. It could be a promotion [winning] save for Burton because he’s kept them right in the game there whether he should be on the pitch is another matter.

“It’s a hard one to swallow but I’ll do it because I’ve got all those fans singing for 90 minutes and all those players in there knowing they’ve put in a hell of a shift. They won’t take anything less now. They’ve set their bar and if we play like that we’ll win all five.”

Wanderers could only name five players on the substitutes bench after Sam Saunders tweaked his hamstring during training on Sunday meaning that Aaron Holloway took his place in the starting XI.

With Bury also losing on Monday Wycombe retain third spot in League Two and are four points ahead of the Shakers ahead of a meeting with rock bottom Cheltenham at Adams Park on Saturday, and they head into that game in high spirits according to the Blues boss.

He said: “I’ll put my name to that performance because I thought we were outstanding today. This is a real tough place to come and Jimmy Floyd has given us the credit of saying we’re one of best sides that has visited here and that’s brilliant.

“How their ‘keeper wasn’t sent off in the first half I will never know. When you get decisions like that at this stage of the season it is crucial. It’s an unbelievable decision from the referee and that determines games.

“All those fans who came today never stopped signing and they know, and they can put their name to that performance and I know they’ll be coming in their droves on Saturday against Cheltenham to get behind us.

“Results elsewhere have gone our way and we’re still in with a huge, huge chance of getting promoted. If we play like we did today from now until the end of the season then we will go up.”