Wycombe Wanderers boss Gareth Ainsworth hails Fleetwood Town as 'outstanding'

Ainsworth's men came out on top over two legs, winning the first game at Highbury 4-1 and drawing the second at Adams Park 2-2.

The Chairboys were made to defend for most of the contest in the second leg and Town left a lasting impression on their manager, who tipped the Cod Army for big things next season.

"Massive compliments to them, I thought they were outstanding with the way they moved the ball," Ainsworth said.

"It was almost like Man City at times, the way they moved the ball around the box, they really do play some good stuff - but you have to defend that stuff.

"I’m not blessed with the biggest budget, I’m not blessed with being able to bring the best players in who can handle the ball like everyone else. So what do we do? We try and find ways of winning.

"That was dropping into our own half, soaking up as much pressure as we could and try and hit them on the counter attack.

"I think that’s a huge result for us because Fleetwood are such a good side. I think they could be a huge team in League One, they will be a huge side in League One next season.

"If they continue the way they are, they will upset a lot of teams."

After putting themselves in a commanding league from the first game on the Fylde coast, even a two goal loss would have sent the Wanderers to Wembley.

For their 47-year-old boss though, it was about playing better than the first game, even if he knew he couldn't quite match Fleetwood.

He said: "I asked them to be better than they were on Friday, it was a tough ask but they’ve defended unbelievably against what I’ll say is possibly the best footballing away side we’ve had down here all season.

"I thought Fleetwood were great at keeping the ball. We don’t go toe to toe like that, we can’t.

"We know what we are and I thought that once we settled and denied the space in our own half, in the first 15 minutes we gave them too much space in their half and they picked us off and got in our half and outnumbered us.

"Once we sorted that out and started dropping deep into our half and started killing the space, we defended really well."