WANDERERS visit league leaders Leyton Orient tomorrow with major injury doubts hanging over midfielder Sam Wood and skipper Paul Hayes.


Neither of them were fit to train in the early part of the week and both will be assessed today as Blues look to bounce back after losing their unbeaten record last week with a home defeat against Plymouth – a game both Wood (knee) and Hayes (Achilles) missed.


Manager Gareth Ainsworth said ahead of the top-versus-fourth clash: “We are always up against it and this is a real David against Goliath game in League Two. Orient are a team with resources well beyond most teams in this division with finances, players and wages.


“They are still carrying these big names from when they were playing at a higher level, they don’t always win you games but I wish I could have a bit of the money they have got to pay someone and get some extra bodies in here.


“It’s going to be one of the toughest games I’ve ever faced as a manager without a doubt. They are really going for it, they want to get promoted at the first attempt and they are going the right way about it. They are a very exciting team with some really good players.”


But Ainsworth is refusing to label it as a promotion six-pointer despite the teams’ respective positions in the league.


He said: “It’s still early days yet and we cannot lose sight of year two of our five-year plan. But people think we should be around the top. We really raised expectations last year with what we achieved and it’s difficult because I’m ambitious and the boys are ambitious.


“We believe we can go out and win every game but we still have this plan and structure we want to keep and success will be finishing mid-table, anything above that is a bonus. Believe me, I want a big bonus, of course I do, because this club deserves it. But this squad is up against it.”


While Ainsworth continues to downplay his team’s chances, other managers don’t see it this way and this week Orient boss Ian Hendon listed Blues as one of the sides he feels will be challenging for promotion while Plymouth clearly saw last week’s Adams Park win as a major scalp.


Ainsworth said: “The way Plymouth celebrated showed they really saw us as a huge scalp. That’s a huge feather in our caps and shows huge respect for us.


“We have really turned this club around from League Two beatables to League Two tough boys to get anything against and I take massive pride in that. But being realistic and keeping the expectations down has played a big part in that. We sometimes play well without the pressure on us and I’ll be taking the pressure off my boys.”


Tomorrow, probably for the first time this season, Wycombe will be seen as the underdogs in the bookmakers’ eyes.


Ainsworth said: “This on paper will be a home win in everyone’s book. It’s a banker with the bookies but it is the same bookies who thought we’d go down at the start of last season.”