Gareth Ainsworth said he was 'proud of the boys' of their achievement in getting to the Checkatrade Trophy semi-finals, as they narrowly lost 2-1 to Coventry City at the Ricoh Arena.

Former Chairboys favourite Stuart Beavon opened the scoring on 11 minutes as his shot took a wicked deflection off Will De Havilland, leaving Jamal Blackman flat-footed.

On 19 minutes, the Sky Blues made it 2-0 when George Thomas smashed the ball home from 12 yards after a magnificent cross from Kyel Reid found him in space.

Substitute Adebayo Akinfenwa gave Wanderers hope on 55 minutes when he slammed the ball home from close range as City failed to clear.

Despite laying siege to the Sky Blues goal, Wycombe couldn't find a way through but Ainsworth hailed his team for their run in the competition.

He said: "It wasn't to be tonight. To get to the last four out of 60 odd teams is a great achievement for a club our size.

"Bayo did really well when he came on but there just wasn't enough around him or quality going forward.

"We let in two sloppy goals which wasn't really us and wse gave ourselves a mountain to climb but we gave it a right go in the second half.

"I said to them win the second half and they did but they didn't win it by enough."

Akinfenwa was a constant thorn in the City backline when he came on at half-time and Ainsworth explained his reasons why he didn't start.

He commented: "If you look at Millwall, Blackpool and Mansfield we have left him on the bench and he has come on and had a real impact.

"If you start him and he gets an injury and you lose him for the league campaign you will be kicking yourself.

"It is great having a degree in hindsight sometimes and Bayo himself would say he needs managing but we had plenty of opportunities and just couldn't stick it in the net."

Promotion to League One remains Wycombe's priority now and Ainsworth added: "Between now and the end of the season we will be trying to get as many points as possible and see where that gets us."