The day after his band released their attempt on the music charts, Gareth Ainsworth ensured a Christmas number one of a different kind as his Wycombe side sealed a victory that guarantees they will be top of the League One table on December 25th.

Goals from David Wheeler and Matt Bloomfield were enough to oversee Burton Albion 2-0 at Adams Park as Wanderers opened up a seven-point gap at the top.

Both sides had strange preparations for the game – Wycombe had an unofficial winter break with no game for two and a half weeks while Albion’s coach didn’t arrive at the ground until 14:20.

Both events may well have contributed to a low-key opening that saw little more than a couple of early Wycombe corners and one for the visitors.

In fact, the first moment of any note was the opening goal on 24 minutes. A third Wycombe corner found its way to Anthony Stewart. The centre-back, making his 200th appearance for the club, drilled the ball into the middle where Wheeler poked him his second goal of the season from six-yards. Seven minutes later and Ryan Allsop was called into action in the Wycombe goal, making a routine stop from David Templeton’s long-range effort.

That was to be the sum total of efforts on target during the first 45 minutes which ended with a strange smattering of bookings as Stephen Quinn, Curtis Thompson and Sido Jombati found their way into the referee’s notebook.

The tone was to continue after the break with Albion enjoying much of the ball while Wycombe went closer to scoring via a Joe Jacobson free-kick, an Adebayo Akinfenwa header and a long-range attempt from Scott Kashket that fizzed past the post.

It’s a familiar sight with Wycombe games these days – the opposition having the ball but failing to create anything with it. The Wanderers defence is such an organised, disciplined, well-drilled machine that even having a shot on target against them is proving tough for a team that hasn’t conceded a league goal since Ben Heneghan’s second-half header for Blackpool back in October.

At the other end, Wycombe have hardly been breaking the net – they scored twelve goals in their first four home league matches but have only managed eight in the six games since, which include an own-goal and four penalties. Yet with such a tight defence, there has been no pressure and little need to score more regularly.

None the less, the fans were eager to see a second goal, and as the 90th minute approached, they duly got one – and one from open-play that was scored by a club legend. Wheeler sprung the Albion offside trap, and while his ball into the box was tame, the clearance was soft and it fell to Matt Bloomfield who kept up his record of scoring in each and every one of his seventeen seasons with the Chairboys.

Nigel Clough claimed afterwards that Burton had controlled the game yet were found wanting in the final third – yet many managers who have faced Wycombe could make the same claim this season following a defeat. Having the ball is one thing, but it is Ainsworth’s men who dictate how the games tend to go.

If Wanderers relentless march is to be halted, opponents will need to find a way to turn the possession that Wycombe are more than happy to let them have into goals, or at very least, chances. Burton slip to 16th in the table and are seven points from both the relegation zone and the play-offs. They host Rochdale at home next week.

Wycombe meanwhile continue to soar – there is a seven-point gap between them and Ipswich in second, the 43 points they have amassed is a club record after 20 games of the season, the unbeaten run now stands at 12 games, they have kept six consecutive clean sheets for the first time in the EFL, they remain unbeaten at Adams Park and even the Manager of the Month award curse couldn’t halt their progress. Can anything or anyone? The next four games may well provide an answer as they take on Oxford, Portsmouth, Coventry and then Ipswich in a relentless Christmas period that will prove to be a severe test of their promotion credentials…

WYCOMBE WANDERERS 2 (Wheeler 24, Bloomfield 90)
BURTON ALBION 0

Att: 5,448 (186 away)

words Phil Slatter, D3D4 Wycombe Wanderers correspondent