The lads continued to impress in pre-season against League opposition in a game played at Buckingham Athletic FC. Cobblers boss Theo Foley paraded his full first team apart from Brad Sandeman out injured, but the Ducks stole the honours with a forceful display which must have pleased Trevor Gould and the supporters in a crowd of over 1000.

The Ducks opened the scoring within three minutes of the start after good work on the left by Steve Lambert. He set up Glen Donegal whose first time snapshot was parried by Gleasure to Cliff Hercules who scored his 4th goal in two games.

On 31 minutes Owen Wright cut inside Johnson and passed well to Glen who in turn fed Lambie, but his delicate flick was well saved by Gleasure. Four minutes from the break a delightful cross by Bobby Barnes found Darren Collins at the far post, but Peter Hutter cleared the danger.

Cobblers drew level four minutes into the second period following a backpass by Rambo Reed which fell short of Tim Garner. Wilson challenged the onrushing keeper and the ball broke free to Barnes to equalise.

Ducks backline weathered some strong pressure, with Hutter and Reed sniffing out everything which came their way. The winning goal arrived after 66 minutes when the alert Simon Mason made a 30 yard pass from the centre line to Cliff who outstripped the defence and smashed the ball past Gleasure for a deserved winner.