Wanderers were beaten 2-1 away at Wycombe Wanderers in their final fixture before Christmas at Adams Park on Saturday afternoon.
Despite leading early on through Thierry Gale’s volley, two goals in three minutes late in the first-half from Jack Grimmer and Junior Quitirna turned the game on its head and saw the Whites defeated in Sky Bet League One.
Head Coach Steven Schumacher made five changes from last Saturday’s 2-1 home victory over Exeter City, including starts for goalscorers Gale and Sam Dalby.
Jordi Osei-Tutu, Xavier Simons and Kyle Dempsey also featured from kick-off in place of Cyrus Christie, Ethan Erhahon, Marcus Forss, Ibrahim Cissoko and Mason Burstow.
The Whites went close to the perfect start within the first minute, when Amario Cozier-Duberry cut inside from the right to drill a low cross into the box which was met by an unmarked Gale, but his strike hit the base of the far post.
At the other end, Osei-Tutu was well-positioned to get in front of Fred Onyedinma and deny the forward a tap-in from a low cross.
The resulting set-piece was recycled out to Junior Quitirna, weaved into space to strike low across the turf through a crowd, which went wide of Teddy Sharman-Lowe’s bottom left-post.
With 15 minutes played the Whites were in front through last weekend’s matchwinner, Gale.
Josh Sheehan clipped a pinpoint lofted pass into the path of Gale, who from the left-side of the box, arrowed his right-footed volley high beyond Will Norris to score his second goal in the space of a week to send Wanderers ahead.
Osei-Tutu, Simons and Max Conway all then saw chances blocked as Wanderers continued to assert pressure in Buckinghamshire.
Midway through the half, Sharman-Lowe was called into action to make an important save, diving low to his right to push away Onyedinma’s fierce shot from distance.
Wycombe levelled on 39 minutes after Grimmer profited from Jamie Mullins’ knockdown header on the right-side of the six-yard box to hit a powerful right-footed effort to find Sharman-Lowe’s top left-corner.
Michael Duff’s Chairboys scored a quickfire second three minutes later when Sam Bell moved the ball on for Quitirna to bend in a left-footed curling strike into Sharman-Lowe’s bottom left-corner.
In the second-half, Wanderers had to deal with early threats from the hosts, with Quitirna’s snapshot charged down after Dan Casey’s cross.
Just before the hour, Simons volleyed at goal through a crowd, which bounced under Norris, with the goalkeeper able to pounce on the loose ball before it crossed the line.
Schumacher then made a triple change as the clock ticked 60 minutes, as Erhahon, Burstow and Forss were introduced to replace Dalby, Sheehan and Dempsey.
Simons then switched play to Cozier-Duberry, before beating his man and firing over Norris’ crossbar.
Substitute Burstow almost made an immediate impact from the bench when he glanced Gale’s cross over from the right which landed on the roof of Norris’ net.
Minutes later, captain Eoin Toal delivered a perfectly timed sliding tackle on Bell after he had raced through on goal.
Christie and Cissoko were Wanderers’ final two changes as the Whites aimed for an equaliser, with Christie heading Conway’s cross wide.
Towards the 90 minute mark, Burstow found space in the box, but his shot was deflected for a corner. Wanderers could not find an elusive levelling goal in the four added minutes and lost out on their travels.
Wanderers return to the Toughsheet Community Stadium next week for back-to-back festive fixtures against Rotherham United and Mansfield Town. Purchase your tickets by clicking here.
Wanderers: Sharman-Lowe, Osei-Tutu (Christie 72), Toal ©, Johnston, Conway, Sheehan (Erhahon 60), Simons, Cozier-Duberry, Dempsey (Burstow 60), Gale (Cissoko 78), Dalby (Forss 60)
Subs not used: Miller, Forino