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2002/03

Welcome to the review of season 2002/03, a lighthearted look back at the events that made up yet another exciting chapter of Aylesbury United's history.

After our two year absence, the return to the Ryman Premier was never expected to be easy, but who could have predicted such an eventful season? The run to the FA Trophy Semi Final and the Berks & Bucks Cup Final are memories to be remembered with fondness in times to come. But above all, the superb surge of late form shown by the team to secure their Premier Division status, was extraordinary.

Pre-Season

Pre-season saw the departure of Aylesbury's favourite son, Cliff Hercules, from the managerial hotseat. The club moved swiftly in appointing Steve Cordery as his succesor, and in doing so, allowing him the entire summer to plan for the new season. Cordery, a young manager, joined from Hampton & Richmond and brought with him Craig Maskell, in player-assistant manager capacity.

The revelution in playing staff started in earnest, and by the time of the first pre-season friendly, against a strong Luton side, only four of the previous' season's squad made the starting 11. Pre-season friendlies were their usual hectic nature, against a wide variety of sides. The highlight though, was a home match against QPR's first team, which drew in a crowd of 1265. It took a 90th minute decider from the visitor's to finally break down the Ducks' defence. The game marked the debut of a certain Adam Campion, and his performance was breathtaking.

August - The Big Kick-Off

17th August saw the season finally get underway, as the Ducks kicked their campaign off away to Basingstoke. A disasterous start saw Aylesbury trailing 0-2 within the half hour, and when Gareth Risbridger was given his marching orders things were looking bleak. However, a superb recovery aided by debut goals from Maskell and Ibe saw the Ducks record their first Ryman Premier Division point for 27 months!

August also saw defeats by St Albans and Billericay, before a narrow away win over Hitchin, with Fiston Manuella scoring on his debut. The 31st August saw assistant manager of 2001/02 Terry Back bring his Enfield team to Buckingham Road, where the Ducks recorded one of their best wins of the season, 4-1. Two goals each from Maskell and Ibe sent Enfield home embarassed, after they had taken the lead.

Welcome Back - Canvey Style

Maskell continued his scoring streak with a goal in the 2-2 draw with Bishop's Stortford. The next game saw Canvey Island visit Aylesbury for only the 2nd time in their history, and despite a good start by the Ducks, they departed with a 6-1 walloping, and brought the Ducks firmly down to earth.

The visit to 3 days later saw thoughts of Canvey banished, as the Ducks recorded a good 2-1 win on the ground where they gained promotion, Barkingside, home of Ford United. A visit to Grays saw the Ducks lose 1-3, before a marathon 3-3 draw at home to Boreham Wood. Aylesbury had gone into a 3-1 lead, but let it slip at the end of the game.

A close 2-3 defeat away at Sutton was promptly followed by another good win, 3-0 at home to Hampton & Richmond. Goals from Joe Baker, Adam Campion and Craig Maskell easily saw off a poor Hampton team.

The 28th September saw the Ducks first match in the FA Cup, with the team looking to emulate last season's run to the first round. Sadly, Aylesbury were drawn the impossible task of an away day at the league's top side, Aldershot. As expected, the result was a 1-3 loss, but the Ducks put up a good fight.

October - Month Of The Boring Draw

The 1st October saw the Ducks make the journey to high-flying Hendon. Unfortunately the trip resulted in a 1-3 defeat. Four days later though, and a famous win over Aldershot was achieved. A controversial last minute penalty from Craig Maskell settled the match, and went some way to avenging the Shots FA Cup win over us.

Then followed a run of four uninspiring matches. A 0-0 home draw with Maidenhead was only worth mentioning becuase Greg Williams was forced to play more than an hour in goal, after keeper Adam Wheeler suffered a dislocated shoulder. The next week, and another 0-0 home draw, this time against Harrow Borough. A 2-2 away draw against Braintree, and a 0-1 defeat at Purfleet saw the end of a disappointing month.

November - Trophy Journey Starts Here

The first match of November was a 2-0 win over Burnham. At the time this result was greeted with nothing more than how nice it was to get to the 2nd round. Who could have predicted it was to lead to the Semi Finals of non-league's most prestigious cup competition?

A 1-1 home draw with Bedford, with the Ducks rescued by a 90th minute Ibe equaliser, and drawing 2-2 away at Harrow saw another two points added to the tally. A 3-0 away win over Flackwell Heath got the Bryco Cup campaign running, and the Berks & Bucks campaign was begun with an emphatic 4-0 win over Wokingham Town.

The last game of November saw the first real Trophy day out, and saw the Ducks travel to Doctor Martens Western Division side Chippenham Town. This was the first of a series of 1-0 victories, with the Ducks defence in superb form to keep a clean sheet. A Steve McGrath header was the deciding goal.

November also saw the start of a 12 game unbeaten run, which began with the win over Burnham on the 2nd.

December

December started with an excellent 2-1 win over Heybridge Swifts at Buckingham Road, before a 1-1 home draw with Basingstoke. Another draw, also 1-1, was achieved at Hayes, before the game everyone had been waiting for.

The Boxing Day derby was an event which everyone had missed dearly in Division One. A game against Uxbridge just doesn't have the same ring to it as an Aylesbury-Chesham clash. This particular derby was no different to any other, gritty and hard fought. The Ducks came back from a goal down (scored by ex-Duck Dwayne Clarke) to win 2-1, with Chesham reduced to 9 men.

December was signed off with a 1-1 draw at Billericay, where Fiston Manuella scored the goal.

January - Month Of Just Four Games

Two weeks passed before Aylesbury's first January game, as the New Year's trip to St Albans was washed out, before games with Hitchin and Kingstonian were also postponed. The Kingstonian game, in the FA Trophy 3rd Round, was played on the 14th January, and saw another defensive performance from the Ducks, as they won 1-0. A goal from Joe Baker won the game, and started thoughts of a proper Trophy run inside the heads of fans.

Canvey completed the double over Aylesbury, with their 2-1 win at Park Lane. The Ducks got a consolation goal in the form of a Craig Maskell penalty. The Ducks earned a midweek trip to Grays in the Bryco Cup 4th Round at the expense of Sutton, after a close run 3-2 win over the Londoners. Coincidentally, Aylesbury faced Grays four days later, and grabbed another 3-2 win, with two goals in the last ten minutes.

February - Last 16 Here We Come!

February started with a bang, as the Ducks reached the last 16 of the FA Trophy. A trip to Altrincham saw a real cup atmosphere generated, with the scores of travelling Ducks singing their hearts out, in addition to the more than adequate levels of noise generated by the home fans. Once again, it was a case of defensive force for the Ducks, as a 1-0 lead was clung onto. Fiston Manuella's goal just before half-time proved enough, and the defense, and especially young goalkeeper Lee Worgan, were superb.

The Ducks were knocked out of the Bryco Cup three days later, as a total of five Ducks fans made the long trip to Grays, on a freezing cold night. The result was a 0-1 defeat in a hugely un-entertaining game.

Then came the lowest point of the season, and perhaps one of the worst collapses in Aylesbury's recent history. An away match against Hampton & Richmond, who were bottom of the table with only a couple of wins to their name. Despite taking an early lead from Craig Maskell, Aylesbury allowed Hampton to get back into the match, and furthermore, allowed them to score 3 goals. Embarassing...

Aylesbury had the chance to take their minds off the league with a trip to Flackwell Heath in the Berks & Bucks, and surely a confidence boosting win? Sadly, this was not the case, as Flackwell stormed into a two goal lead, and Lee Worgan was sent off. The game was memorable though, for a farcicle incident involving a penalty. Adam Campion took his spot kick, which was saved by the keeper, but went in anyway. However, the ball went through a hole in the net, which prompted the referee to award a corner! United recovered still, to make the score 2-2 and earn a replay.

Since the Trophy win over Altrincham, February had turned into a month to forget for Aylesbury, and the Ducks' misery was compounded with a 0-4 home thrashing by Sutton. In a game where United simply didn't start, the Ducks would be happy to wave February goodbye.

In another bizarre event of February, the Berks & Bucks replay with Flackwell was abandoned after just 19 minutes, as the referee adjudged the pitch to be frozen and unsafe to play on, following a Flackwell player injuring himself after falling on it.

Then came the FA Trophy 5th Round encounter with Windsor & Eton, a team that had languished near the bottom of Division 1 during Aylesbury's promotion season. However, the tie was a very close matched affair, and after drawing 2-2 at Buckingham Road, a replay was needed at Stag Meadow. The replay seemed to have been settled by a Joe Baler goal, until ex-Wycombe midfielder Dave Carroll struck in stoppage time to keep Windsor's hopes alive. Extra time finished goalless, and so to a penalty shoot-out. Stop-gap keeper James Heeps, playing with flu, became an instant Aylesbury hero, as he made two excellent saves in the shootout, to send the Ducks through.

March - The Bubble Bursts

March saw Aylesbury's poor league form continue, with a last minute 1-0 defeat at home to Hendon, and a 3-1 away loss to St Albans, that was just too comfortable for the Saints. Kezie Ibe had equalised to give the Ducks hope, but it wasn't to be. In between these games came a 4-0 hammering of Flackwell Heath, as the villagers were finally knocked out of the Berks & Bucks Cup.

At 17th place in the league, things weren't looking too desperate. However, draws with lowly Hitchin and Braintree, and things were becoming worrying as the Ducks dropped to 20th, just one place above the relegation zone.

Once more though, the team could take their minds off the league situation with an FA Trophy game, and this time Gloucester City provided the opposition. Bringing with them a large number of noisy and colourful fans, this game had a truly great atmosphere. On the pitch though, and Aylesbury played one of the best games of the season, racing into a 2-0 lead in 15 minutes. The Tigers hit back from the penalty spot, but it wasn't enough to prevent the Ducks historically reaching the Semi-Finals, for the first time in their existence.

The bubble was burst soon after, as a 1-1 home draw with Purfleet was achieved, before a 4-0 thumping away to Bedford, on a truly miserable night for Aylesbury. Simply nothing went right, and the Ducks were condemned to slip into the relegation zone. Another defeat, this time away to Maidenhead, didn't help matters, and things were looking very bleak indeed.

April - Ducks Crash Out Of Trophy, But Turn On League Form

April began with an inevitable away defeat at Championship chasing Aldershot, before another big Trophy day, this time against Northerners Burscough. The Semi Final was to be played over two legs, and was a truly wonderful occasion. The Buckingham Road leg finished 1-1, Craig Maskell sent Aylesbury into the league with a spectacular strike, but Burscough hit back.

In between the two legs Aylesbury fielded their reserve side in the Berks & Bucks Semi Final, against Burnham, and ran out 5-0 winners. The Ducks would now face Maidenhead in the final, to be played at Chesham United.

The long journey to Burscough was made by a huge number of fans, all willing their team on to a place in the Final at Villa Park. Aylesbury, whilst not creating much in the way of a goalscoring opportunity, made a good job of their defending, and the game looked set to go to extra time. Unfortunately, the referee gave a hugely controversial last minute penalty to the home side, and Shaun Teale sent his side to Villa Park. The final whistle ended with scenes of players and officials contesting with the referee and a decision which may have cost the Ducks £60,000.

Aylesbury put the huge disappointment and anger of going out of the Trophy to the best possible use, and went about securing their Premier Division place for next season with a superb run of form. Following the Trophy match, the Ducks lost just 1 game in 6 and hauled themselves up to 17th in the table. Wins over Ford, Hayes, Kingstonian and Boreham Wood were good, but even better was the 3-1 derby win over Chesham on Bank Holiday Monday. The Ducks dug deep after going a goal down, and strikes from Adam Campion, Dwayne Plummer and Craig Maskell saved the day.

May - Out Of Steam

The end of season saw the Ducks simply run out of steam, as they suffered a 1-0 defeat away to Heybridge in their final league match. The result saw the Swifts fend off relegation, whilst sending Chesham down to Division One.

Also in May the Ducks played the Berks & Bucks Cup Final, and were soundly hammered by Maidenhead, 4-1. The game was only ever going one way, as time and time again the Aylesbury backline were outfoxed by Maidenhead's excellent striker partnership, of Yaku and Allen. Even so, the supporters enjoyed every minute of the match, and created a carnival atmosphere with singing, dancing and drumming.

Thinking Ahead!

With the season just a few days old, and alredy a number of fans' minds are on what is to happen next season. With the planned restructuring of the Non-League scene, the Ducks will obviously want to finish as high as possible. According to the Directors, we should realistically aim for a top 16 finish.

As usual the carousel of players will have its effects over the Summer. With so many League players likely to be out of contract, it may well be that we once more acquire a number of talented youngsters. Here's to 2003/04!