A very well contested first half saw chances for both sides. In the fifth minute Gareth Griffiths bulleted a header goalwards from a corner, which was miraculously palmed over the bar by Wycombe's Australian custodian Frank Talia.
Four minutes later the hosts took the lead. Veteran hit man Tommy Mooney, receiving the ball from Sergio Torres, brought the ball onto his favoured left foot before drilling a shot past the exposed Matthew Gilks.
Just after the half-hour the Chairboys spurned a glorious chance to double their advantage, Mooney doing well to pull the ball back from the bye-line into the path of the advancing Torres. However, the Argentinian sliced his shot horridly wide.
A minute later Rochdale wasted a glorious chance to level the scores. Gary Jones raced onto a delicious flick from Grant Holt, but the impressive Talia got a hand on the shot and deflected the ball for a corner.
The second goal arrived for Wycombe on 54 minutes. Gilks' attempted clearance was charged down by Charlie Griffin, the ball ricocheted against the bar and Mooney, following up, had the simple task of nodding the ball into the net.
It got worse for the Dale three minutes later. Warren Goodhind, having been booked for a foul on Torres in the first half, pulled back the same player and saw red from Referee Deadman.
On 70 minutes Grant Holt was also dismissed by the referee, reducing Rochdale to nine men and making their task almost impossible.
Griffin threw his hat into the ring for 'miss of the season' as he fired the ball over from a Kevin Betsy cross from two yards with Gilks not knowing whether to stick or twist.
Griffin put the icing on the Wycombe cake with an easy third on 86 minutes, converting Russell Martin's cross.