Gareth Ainsworth is tipping Norwich City to ‘rip teams apart’ in the Championship despite Wycombe’s bullish display in a 2-1 Carrow Road defeat.

The newly-promoted Chairboys were minutes from a first point of the season until Mario Vrancic slotted a 91st minute free kick.

Ainsworth is even more convinced Wycombe can buck the odds and stay up after his side pushed Daniel Farke’s promotion hopefuls to the limit.

“That team will rip teams apart in this division because they are a great footballing side,” he said. “Daniel has them playing in a really good way. He is a great manager, but we did so well. That team is designed to go straight back up to the Premier League so what a fantastic performance we’ve given.

“You have players in that team potentially worth tens of millions so I am really proud of my boys, who were probably all told at some stage in their careers they were not good enough. Yet they come to Carrow Road, mixing it in the Championship and almost pulling off a shock.”

Ainsworth was adamant Wycombe should have had a first half penalty when Ben Gibson hauled down Fred Onyedinma.

“How we haven’t got a penalty is beyond me,” he said, speaking to BBC Three Counties radio. “We’re not getting the decisions at the moment and hopefully they’ll turn soon because the lads deserve it. Little Wycombe is not getting as much credence as some teams in this league. I don’t want to say too much.

“It probably is a free-kick for the winning goal, I’m not going to argue that. But the ref has to be consistent and give the penalty in the first-half. Plus the red card. I am not going to talk about referees’ decisions, I would rather speak about players throwing bodies on the line, the way we were non stop running and closing down.

“It’s a defeat and people will think I’m crazy for picking positives. But these boys will absolutely stay up if they play like that. As long as their breath in my body there will be a positive attitude for the battles ahead.

“We worked hard all work on a certain way to play and did the opposite in the first five minutes. Whether shell shock or too much respect but it turned out to be a positive because we reacted.”