Perhaps the most perplexing thing about Wycombe Wanderer’s 1-1 draw with York City on Saturday was the manner in which they defended.

A limited threat going forward has been commonplace for the Chairboys for a number of weeks now, but by and large their defensive solidity has been a boon for them to rely upon.

It wasn’t the case at Bootham Crescent though, as York broke through with ease on a number of occasions, the most startling of which came as Vadaine Oliver raced through on goal to score a simple opener.

It was an incident which angered Gareth Ainsworth, and the Wycombe boss was honest in his assessment of his side’s defensive efforts at full-time.

He said: “Oh yeah [it was a disappointing way to concede]. The guy in acres of space is not the issue it is how he gets the pass.

“We had three men around the ball and all three of them dropped off. When you are engaged with somebody, you have to stay engaged, you have got to stay tight.

“That is how we play, so how he threaded that ball through to Vadaine Oliver, who took his finish well, I don’t know. It was not a nice goal to concede.”

Indeed, the manner with which Oliver was picked out and allowed to advance with such ease was surprising, and was one of multiple clear cut chances for the hosts in a dominant first 45 minutes.

Wycombe will surely have to recover their previously watertight backline if they are to prosper in the League Two play-off shake-up.

Yet, Wanderers captain, Paul Hayes, believes it is the desire to remain in the league’s top seven which has seen the Chairboys put defensive caution on the back burner for a riskier, more attacking approach.

“The situation is that with five or six games to go there is everything to play for. We can’t really be conservative and think we will take a narrow win away from home,” Hayes said.

“When Sido [Jombati] and Jason [McCarthy] are bombing on it takes your full-backs out of the game and they have exploited that. We were not organised and we will need to learn from that.

“It is a silly goal to give away. I lost possession, we haven’t engaged the player and we have let him play a simple through ball. We were exposed at the back and Rocky (Ryan Allsop) had no chance.”