"We had a plan and it worked in the first half, but we let them run away with the game after we felt hard done by. The second half was not acceptable and we'll have to put that right."

Ainsworth blamed a harsh penalty given against Fred Onyedinma just before the hour mark for ending his side's chances.

He said: "Brentford were super with their finishes. The referee was wrong with the penalty but we can't let things like affect us. It wasn't good enough but there were one or two positives despite a lot of negatives.

"I'm not a character who accepts defeats like that well. It hurts me big time and I will be working these boys hard this week. I won't criticise them in public because the buck stops with me. I'm the manager and we have a game in three days to put this right."

He added: "I knew it would be tough coming to Brentford but at half-time there is no way I saw 7-2 coming. The next six games we need points on the board or we will be cut adrift."

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank hailed his side's resilience and ruthlessness.

"Wycombe have had some impressive results against the top sides and have only lost by one or two goals, so we knew what to expect," Frank said. "They used their energy, physicality and aggression very well in the first half.

"But we handled the game very well. It was a physical battle in the first half and we had to compete and earn the right to play our football, which is what we did in the second half."

Goals from Ethan Pinnock, Sergi Canos, Josh Dasilva and a brace apiece for Tariqe Fosu and Ivan Toney did the damage, although Frank confirmed the club would be seeking to award Fosu's second goal to Toney – a strike that would give him his first hat-trick for the club and his 19th goal of the campaign.

"It was Ivan's goal 100% and his hat-trick, but I'm delighted that Tariqe was there to make sure for the team. I'm pleased for Ivan because he's worked hard for that and deserved to take the ball home," said the Dane.

But Frank took most satisfaction from his side's five-goal second-half salvo which he believes could be crucial for goal difference at the end of the season.

"That resilience and ruthless mentality is the big difference between the good teams and the top teams and we went on to show it by handling the second ball and physicality much better and getting players in good one-on-ones," he said.

"It was a top performance, but keeping up these kind of performances every third or fourth day is the biggest thing."