Ainsworth: Craig stepped up

Gareth Ainsworth admitted Steven Craig had answered his critics the right way after scoring in Wycombe's 2-0 win over 10-man Dagenham.

Craig had received a few boos before kick-off after complaining in midweek about late payment of bonuses but he was soon back in the good books. First the Dagenham defender Scott Doe was shown a red card in the first-half for raising his hands to the Wycombe forward, with Craig then scoring a second-half penalty. Max Kretzschmar doubled the lead with a fine strike 10 minutes later to end Dagenham's eight-game unbeaten run and keep Wycombe three points clear of the drop zone. Ainsworth said: "Stevie's been in the papers lately for reasons off the pitch and today he stepped up, picked up the ball and slotted it home so obviously that's great for him and more importantly great for the rest of the boys. I'm really proud of them. "Goalscoring has been a problem for us so to see Max slot home from open play was good, a great move and a great goal and I thought we could have had a couple more as well. "The game hinges on the red card and it looks like luck is hopefully turning in our favour. "The referee has probably made the right decision to send the player off. He's grabbed Stevie round the head and you obviously can't do that. "I thought Stevie was entitled to go for the ball and if he's caught the keeper it's nothing malicious, it's just an accident." Wycombe's win was their first in seven games and was even more important as second-bottom Northampton also won.