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‘I’d rather stay in the Championship than win FA Cup’ – Ikpeazu’s Wycombe Wanderers manager Ainsworth
The Ugandan and teammates are focused on the league match against QPR on Saturday as the tactician insists on the importance of a victory
Uche Ikpeazu’s manager at Wycombe Wanderers Gareth Ainsworth has insisted he would rather stay in the Championship than win the FA Cup.
Wanderers progressed in the FA Cup after a 4-1 win over Preston North End on January 9 and will face Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur at Adams Park in the following round.
They are at the bottom of the Championship table and Ainsworth has explained why he prefers remaining in the competition over winning the FA Cup.
“All the focus is on Queens Park Rangers – that’s the big one,” the manager said in his pre-match press conference. “If you asked me to choose, I’d rather stay in the Championship than win the FA Cup.
“The Tottenham tie is brilliant for us, but it’s all eyes on going to the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium and we can’t wait for it to come around.”
The tactician watched QPR collect a first win since November at Luton in mid-week, and he spoke highly of their next opponents.
“I was fortunate enough to be at the game at Luton in midweek; as manager of an upcoming opponent you’re allowed to go to these games and I thought QPR seemed to have a little bounce about them, maybe because of Charlie Austin going back there and giving them something extra,” he said.
“We’ve got to be on it. They’re a decent side; I thought we had the better of them at Adams Park but didn’t stick the ball in the net enough and only got a point from it. Mark Warburton is a fantastic guy and a really good manager, and they’ve changed system recently which we’ll need to combat, but we’re looking forward to it.”
Uganda international Ikpeazu is expected to feature again since he returned after a long period on the sidelines injured. The forward scored the only goal when Wanderers went down 3-1 to Middlesbrough in their last Championship game.
The injury kept him out of the African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Sudan in November as he was set to make his debut after he had been initially called by head coach Johnathan McKinstry.
