High flying Bognor Regis were the visitors to Buckingham Road for this, Aylesbury's eighth game of the season. The visitors had been doing well so far this season, and were lying second in the table.
Chris Boothe made a number of changes to the team that drew at Hitchin, with three players making their first start of the season. The player/manager made his first appearance of the season, in for Steve Gallen at centre-back. Dean Powles made the step-up from the reserve team to play at right-back, and Ryan Wiffin came in for Dean Canoville up front.
The match started with the Ducks working hard to close down Bognor's passing game. A Daniel Mead screaming volley in the first minute went over, before Adam Campion tried a speculative shot which went wide.
At the other end Bognor Regis had two quick chances. A high ball was lost by Isaac Rukundo, but the keeper managed to scramble back into position to make a good save. A fantastic ball forwards for Rupert Sansome split the Ducks defence in two. His shot required a quality save from Rukundo.
Sansome wasted another good chance for the visitors, after Chris Boothe presented him with a golden opportunity, by giving the ball away. With the whole goal the aim at, he Sansome snatched at his shot and the ball went high and wide.
A good cross by Bognor Regis was lost by Rukundo, and from the resulting scramble an attacker managed to scuff his shot wide when faced with an open goal, and the ball was easily cleared. Mark Birmingham then had a chance, after he skipped past a Greg Williams challenge, but could only shoot wide of the post.
At half time the Ducks were working very hard to keep the visitors at bay, although they were unable to create any clear cut chances of their own.
Half-time: Aylesbury 0-0 Bognor Regis
The second half started with Bognor threatening from two free-kicks. The first, from Mark Birmingham, was held by Rukundo. The second required an acrobatic tip-over after it was headed goalwards at the near post.
A fast Bognor break-away down the right-flank, after Aylesbury had lost the ball, resulted in Sansome hitting the outside of the post with a good strike.
After riding the initial storm from Bognor, Aylesbury settled down into their own game, and found they were able to manufacture some chances of their own. Campion was put clear, and raced away, before shooting from wide, into the side netting.
Campion was involved a minute later, as the ball was won in midfield and spread wide to put the winger free. His early cross found Ryan Wiffin all alone in the area. Unfortunately the big striker got caught in two minds, and in the end mis-hit a half-volleyed shot straight into the keeper's arms.
With Aylesbury getting more and more adventurous, it was looking like a home goal was on the way. A great move down the left flank involving Daniel Mead and Alvin Bubb gave Bubb the room to deliver a deep cross, but only Campion was in a decent position, and he was unable to get a decent effort in.
Two similar goalmouth scrambles nearly provided the breakthrough for the Ducks. The first saw three players have a poke at the ball, but their efforts were blocked by the shear number of players in the box. The second saw Chris Bangura and Wiffin also have shots blocked.
Greg Williams had a shot from wide, go wide, so to speak, as it looked like the Ducks were going to have to settle for a point. The Bognor defence had so far proved resiliant to the pressure they found themselves under.
However, this new found spirit in the Aylesbury team meant that the home side weren't going to give up. Well into injury time Alvin Bubb picked the ball up just inside the Bognor half, on the left wing. Going on a typical run the crowd screamed 'Cross, cross!', but then Bubb cut inside, and continued cutting inside. After beating four challenges, the screams turned to 'Shoot, shoot', and he did. And he scored. A sweetly struck right-footed shot which nestled into the net - and the crowd went wild! 1-0 Aylesbury
But the match wasn't over yet. Bognor threw everything at the Ducks, as the referee found another five minutes of injury time to add on. The closed they came was a corner that flashed across the goal, but I had my eyes closed at that point!
As the full time whistle finally arrived, the celebrations were immense. This had been a superb performance by the Ducks. After seeing off the fifty minute storm of good attacking by Bognor Regis, the Ducks managed to build on their solid defence, and create the visitors problems. And even when it looked like a point would have to do, there was Alvin Bubb to score an incredible winner. Now this really is something to build on!
