Wycombe display pleases boss

Gareth Ainsworth was left toasting Wycombe's best performance of the season as the leaders thumped Southend 4-1 at Adams Park.

The visitors took the lead through Jack Payne before goals from Paris Cowan-Hall and Matt McClure gave the League Two leaders a half-time lead. The Shrimpers lost Jerome Binnom-Williams to a straight red card before Joe Jacobson's superb 20-yard free-kick and McClure's second sealed the points for the home side. And Wycombe manager Ainsworth insists he was struggling to remember a better performance from his team this season come the final whistle. "Sometimes early goals against aren't such a bad thing," he said. "You've got plenty of time to get back into it and you get a kick up the backside if needed. "My players knew they were in a game straight from the off but I was really pleased with the way they responded. "We were deserved winners, of course the sending off had an impact but anyone who was here knows we were the stronger team. "It's our joint biggest win of the season and maybe that's the performance of the season for me. "Southend came here with a fantastic manager in Phil Brown and with a big team and budget who were one of the favourites for the league this year. I think we've shown how far we've come from last year again. "I thought Matty's [McClure's] pace would cause problems today and he is a great finisher. Strikers need confidence and after this I hope his will be right up there." The victory means Wycombe are two points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand, however defeat leaves Southend out of the play-off places in eighth, with manager Phil Brown admitting there is still plenty of work to be done. "It's a great goal early on but after that we didn't play," Brown said. "It didn't settle us down and this was about set-pieces, which we were poor at and it's very uncharacteristic of us. "Even at 2-1 I still fancied us to get something from the game. Perfect start, but a horrible game by the end. "I think Jerome has been sent off for being fully committed, and I'm never going to pull a guy up for that. For me it's not a red card and referees are over-protective of the game and tough tackling has gone out of it. "Jerome has gone in fully committed and I don't think it's a red card. Maybe it's a yellow for aggression but not a red. I want commitment from my players and I got it there. "We tried to get back into it but Wycombe are top for a reason and we've seen that today. To be honest I didn't see that performance coming from us."