Aaron Pierre hailed a “worldie” save from Burton’s goalkeeper which denied him a late equaliser at the Pirelli Stadium, but the defender insisted Jon McLaughlin should not have been on the pitch to make it.

After 26 minutes everyone in the ground was surprised to see referee Darren Deadman pull a yellow card out of his pocket after McLaughlin had handled the ball outside of his penalty area – not least Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink who had already instructed sub stopper Scott Shearer to get ready to come on.

The ‘keeper then denied Pierre with a fantastic stop in the dying minutes to preserve his side’s lead and ensure Blues travelled back to Buckinghamshire empty handed.

The defender said: “I’m very disappointed. Throughout the game I think that we had the better chances, we put them on the back foot, we took it to them and our dreams got slumped by on attempt on our goal.

“It was one clear chance and he took it well. We tried to fight back near the end with my header where the keeper’s made a worldie save, but there’s a massive debate whether he should have been on the pitch still.”

He added: “I personally feel, along with the whole club, that he should have got sent-off but it wasn’t to be. We had to graft and that’s what we did, but unfortunately we couldn’t get anything out of it.”

Pierre was one of Wycombe’s best players throughout the 90 minutes on Monday, and the centre-back, who scored against Dagenham on their last away outing, proved once again to be a threat going forward.

In the defensive third the 22-year-old could only watch as Adam McGurk struck a second half winner to settle an even contest.

“I thought that I’d done him [McLaughlin] when I got the header,” said Pierre.

“In the first half I should have got a clear header but the guy wrapped his arms around me in the box and the referee didn’t give a penalty. The second time I got away from him, I got the header and the keeper’s made a worldie save.

“I thought we came at them with great enthusiasm, great creativity and we were more aggressive in the game than they were to us. It was just unfortunate that they had one chance and they put it away and nothing came for us.”

The Chairboys had top spot in their sights before a bank holiday double header but two defeats in four days has left them looking over their shoulders at fourth place Bury.

Oxford took all three points at Adams Park on Good Friday before league leaders Burton triumphed at the Pirelli Stadium on Easter Monday, leaving Wanderers with five matches to try and seal automatic promotion.

“I hope that by our last home game we’ll have everything secure. If it has to go that way it has to go that way,” said Pierre.

“As long as we win the games I don’t really care how we perform, as long as we get the three points every game.”