Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth said his players were given additional motivation ahead of this afternoon’s 1-0 defeat of the Blues with Town’s large travelling contingent spilling out into the corridors outside their dressing room.
Brandon Hanlan scored the game’s only goal five minutes before the break to see the Chairboys to their first ever victory over the Blues, Town’s second away defeat of the season and their third in the league overall. Wycombe are only the second side to keep a clean sheet against Town in the league this season.
The Chairboys gave Blues supporters an additional 942 tickets above the usual away allocation in sections which are usually home areas, a decision which was criticised by some home fans, but which led to Adams Park’s record attendance for the season of 7,602 with 2,612 of that number travelling from Suffolk.
"There was a bit before the game when the Ipswich players were spilling out into the dressing room, as they bought more equipment here than I have ever seen another team bring,” Ainsworth explained to the Bucks Free Press.
"They were stretching in the corridors and my boys were stepping over them. My boys took that as a little bit of a whack as they thought ‘This is our place, this is our home so don’t take over’.
"I know we sold a lot of tickets as their fans travel incredibly well and that helps us financially.
"If this fixture was five years ago, there would be 9,000 people here for a third round FA Cup tie. Now, we’re in the same league we are on the same playing field.
"This is Wycombe Wanderers and in a way, we’re still looked like as this club that people should be beating, but, sometimes they go away from here thinking, ‘How did we not beat them?’
"And that’s because my boys are a special group of players and lots of people have said that the ‘Wycombe bubble has burst’ after the sticky period we had at the start of the season…no chance.
"We’re bulletproof and as long as I’m in charge, these boys will give it their absolute all in every single game. But Ipswich are a huge and brilliant club and they deserve to be respected.”
Town had 71 per cent of the possession during the game but Ainsworth says that matters not a jot to him.
"Possession can do one for me as the game is all about goals,” added Ainsworth, who celebrated 10 years in charge of Wycombe in September.
"It’s brilliant for Brandon that he got his goal, but his work-rate was awesome and that’s important to me too.
"There were so many positives as Dom Gape came back, Nick Freeman got more minutes when he came on and Sam [Vokes] did well too. I’m proud of the performance today.”