Aaron Pierre’s red card against AFC Wimbledon is just another curve ball that has been thrown Wanderers’ way this season, says Gareth Ainsworth.

The defender trudged back down the tunnel after picking up his second yellow card in the dying minutes of the 0-0 draw and he will miss Saturday’s clash against Morecambe at Adams Park.

Pierre’s absence leaves an already injury hit Wycombe squad with one less option, and Ainsworth said Tommy Fletcher, Peter Murphy or a change of formation may be able to solve his defensive dilemma.

“Aaron’s a full blooded competitor and he’s going to get the yellows,” he said.

“I thought there were a few challenges in the game that were similar and weren’t punished, so there’s a consistency issue there.

“It’s another curve ball that we’ve been thrown this season. I’ll definitely think about cleaning my boots this week but there’s no way I’ll be playing centre half.”

The Blues boss could scarcely believe his bad fortune as both Matt Bloomfield and Nico Yennaris forced him into two first half substitutions for the second game running.

Sam Saunders was also withdrawn in the second half through injury meaning the 41-year-old was robbed of the chance to make any tactical tweaks during the match.

He said: “In the second half I'd have liked to have made more tactical changes but I just couldn't. I put Marcus Bean at right-back, Sam Wood’s out of position already and Sam Saunders played about three different positions during the game.

“Losing Aaron at the end there meant Peter Murphy had to play centre-half and Hayesy had to drop into midfield.

“It seems to all be against us but we’re still in third position, we’ve still got this chance and if anyone thinks my any of my players didn't give absolutely everything today (Saturday) I'll happily have a face to face meeting with them because I'm so proud of all of those boys and the fans.”