Wycombe Wanderers boss Gareth Ainsworth admits he may have to put his boots back on at AFC Wimbledon this weekend after the Chairboys’ injury crisis deepened.

Paul Hayes slammed home a penalty in the twelfth minute of stoppage time to give the Blues their first home win on a Tuesday night in three years against Exeter.

Sido Jombati, Joe Jacobson and Max Kretzschmar are all definitely ruled out of this Saturday’s trip to Kingsmeadow while Matt McClure, Aaron Holloway, Nico Yennaris and Alfie Mawson are all struggling after a tough game against the Grecians.

Ainsworth, 41, who officially retired in April 2013 and hasn’t played all season, concedes he may have to dust off his kit if he can’t find enough players to send out against his old club at Kingsmeadow.

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“I’m very close,” he said of a possible comeback against his old pal Neal Ardley’s side.

“Looking at the squad now, you’d say I’ve got every chance of being on the substitutes bench even though I don’t want to be.

“We’ll do our best to get the players back who are injured but losing JJ on Saturday and potentially four players tonight [Tuesday] could hurt us.

“We’ll see where we are on Saturday morning and go from there. I’ll give them every possible chance to get back before the old man gets his boots out.”

Tuesday’s night dramatic victory over Exeter leaves Wanderers third in the League Two standings and in the hunt for automatic promotion with three games to go.

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“We’ll have to assess it,” the Wanderers boss added of the injury crisis.

“It seemed like everything was going against us and with Alfie Mawson and Nico Yennaris, there’s lads out there who are strapped together.

“It was really important that we dug deep and got the win. The medical team have got a big job on for Saturday now.

“We’ll pick the strongest team we’ve got and try to get the points again. Adversity doesn’t seem to hurt us, we just seem to bounce back and run through another wall.”

Ainsworth was part of the Crazy Gang between 1998 and 2003, where he played alongside Dons boss Ardley and the two became friends.