Wycombe head coach Mike Dodds urged his players to rediscover the art of goalscoring after firing a second successive blank in their 1-0 League One defeat at Reading.
After a 0-0 home draw against struggling Shrewsbury on Tuesday, Wanderers again failed to find the net and were sunk by a 77th-minute penalty from Harvey Knibbs.
The Chairboys now lie six points behind second-placed Wrexham but with a game in hand – at Huddersfield on Tuesday.
“We lacked that final little bit of action in the final third,” Dodds said.
“You can’t have four times the chances of the opposition, which we had today, and come away with no goals.
“This is the business end of the season where games are decided on moments. We needed a moment against Shrewsbury and it didn’t come for us.
“Today, a moment happened for the opposition – which was never a penalty – and that decides the game.
“Do we need to have a little bit more in the top area of the pitch? Probably, looking at our last two games.
“After the first 40 minutes today, I really didn’t see that result coming.
“This has been a harsh week on the group, the fans and everyone associated with our club.
“Really, we should have six points from Shrewsbury and today. Unfortunately, we’ve only got one.
“But we can’t dwell on that, we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We must react at Huddersfield on Tuesday.”
Reading extended their unbeaten home record to nine matches and kept alive their League One play-off hopes.
“It was a terrific three points,” Royals manager Noel Hunt said.
“Wycombe probably came out the traps quicker than us and we had to weather the storm for 25 or so minutes.
“But after that, I thought that we came into the game. We showed a lot more competitiveness.
“And I thought that we were the ones pushing it come the second half. We were the better team.
“To limit them, with the quality that they have, to just one chance that Joel [Pereira] saved, was really pleasing.
“Our boys have been really switched on, they’ve been great. The mentality of this group is so strong, we’re really close together.
“And the impact from our subs is so important. They’re just as important as anyone starting the game.
“Whether they come on after 50 minutes or 90 minutes, everyone is important to us.
“Every kick is important to us, every moment on that football pitch has to matter.
“These Derby games are never easy. They’re tight, it was tenacious, there were tackles flying around, there were hits, there was moaning.
“It had everything today. That’s why we’re so pleased to come out on the right side of it.”
