Gareth Ainsworth admitted his Wycombe Wanderers side ‘weren’t at the races’ as they were beaten by Barnsley on Wednesday night.

Joe Jacobson’s penalty gave The Chairboys hope, but in truth, they never looked like taking anything from the game at Oakwell and were clearly tiring after an intense run of fixtures.

Ainsworth said: “We weren’t at the races tonight. I wanted to stick with the same personnel but maybe it was a game too far for some.

"For the last eight games we have been hugely competitive but sometimes it is a step too far with these fixture lists.”

Wanderers are now without a win in seven and still find themselves firmly in the Championship relegation zone.

Despite the result, Ainsworth saw some good things to take from the trip to South Yorkshire. He said: “The penalty was a bad one to concede but there are some real positives in there.

"We are gelling as a team and Garath McCleary is causing havoc up top. I am not going to dwell on this one too much."

He also hinted at the fixture list maybe taking its toll, with his side having played twice a week for the last three weeks ahead of another double-header against Coventry and Bournemouth.

“Barnsley weren't great but played better stuff than us. For the last eight games we have been hugely competitive but sometimes it is a step too far with these fixture lists.”

Ainsworth looked ahead to the big game against The Sky Blues at the weekend, saying “We need to up our performance and it’s about time we got a result against Coventry. We’ll be going all out to do that.”

Ainsworth hinted at the return of three key players for that important contest. He said: “[Ryan] Tafazolli, [Uche] Ikpeazu and [Curtis] Thompson are all very, very close so I’m hoping we can get them involved in Christmas period.”

Adebayo Akinfenwa looked very tired at Oakwell, but Ainsworth still sung the striker’s praises.

“We wouldn’t be in the Championship without Akinfenwa. The Barnsley defenders managed him well but he still managed to cause havoc from a couple of set plays.”

“We didn’t just get that final pass, but I’ll take that one on the chin and we’ll go again on Saturday.”

Ainsworth is determined to improve for the visit of The Sky Blues and dismissed the fact that Coventry have an extra day to prepare.

“It’s a long way home but I think being together is good. We’ll be picking the bones out of that and seeing how we can be better.

“We certainly owe Coventry; it’s been a long time since we beat them. I’m looking forward to trying to get one over Mark Robins, who’s a great guy and a great manager.”

Wanderers’ fixture schedule has been intense for a number of weeks now, and it shows no sign of relenting, which Ainsworth acknowledges.

“We’re really looking forward to having a week off before Christmas, but at the moment all I can focus on is Coventry, Bournemouth and QPR. Three big games and I want to get nine points from them.”

“We will get enough points to survive in this league and that’s all that matters at the end of the season. Don’t worry about where we are at Christmas, worry about where we are in May.”