Wycombe Wanderers goalkeeper Max Stryjek was sent-off as the Chairboys lost 1-0 away at promotion-pushing Stevenage.

Matt Bloomfield’s side started the better and nearly took the lead inside the opening 15 minutes as Ryan Tafazolli’s header from a Luke Leahy crashed the side-netting.

This, along with Richard Kone’s attempt and Gideon Kodua’s first-time strike gave Wanderers much encouragement against the Boro, but Taye Ashby-Hammond in the opposition goal was on hand to thwart any Wycombe attack.

Kieran Sadlier and Kane Vincent-Young were working wonders along the left-wing, but against the run of play, Wanderers were hit with a double sucker punch.

First, Nigel Longwijk, who was making his first league start for the club, nearly scored an own goal after his back pass was misjudged by Stryjek.

Pinball in the box followed as Wycombe survived the first corner, the second set piece allowed Stevenage captain Carl Piergianni to place his attempt from outside into the bottom left-hand corner.

His strike on 21 minutes was his fourth of the season.

Things went from bad to worse for Wanderers as Vincent-Young was taken off with a hamstring injury midway through the opening period before the Chairboys were reduced to 10 men.

Just three minutes into the second-half, Stryjek was shown a straight red card for a late challenge on Jordan Roberts that referee Darren Drysdale deemed to be dangerous.

Franco Ravizzoli came on for Kodua to make his league debut for the club, but immediately made a mistake that nearly doubled Stevenage’s lead, as he fumbled Kane Hemmings’ header onto the post before clearing it away.

The sending off and injuries hugely changed Wanderers’ gameplay for the final 35 minutes, as Wycombe rarely got a touch of the ball.

Alex MacDonald, ex-Chairboy Nick Freeman and Louis Thompson all went close but to no avail.

Wycombe pushed on in the final few moments as Sam Vokes, David Wheeler and Jason McCarthy all went close.

Wanderers also had two very strong shouts for a penalty waved away, with the first being a handball, and the second being a foul on Vokes.

Despite the valiant effort, it was Stevenage who got the points.

The result means the Chairboys stay 15th, five points clear of the relegation zone.