Aylesbury got back on track following the weekend's disappointment at Bromsgrove with another convincing Monday night win at the Meadow, Dunstable Town this week's opponents.
With Craig Henney added to the injury list there was another reshuffle to the team, with Matt Butler and Kevin Mealor both coming back in and a number of players changing position to accommodate.
There were no indications that this was a game capable of producing any goals, let alone four, in the opening exchanges as the first fifteen minutes went by with the only incident an early knock sustained by Sam Swonnell which meant he only lasted an hour of the game.
An exciting run from Chris Marsh in the sixteenth minute lifted the crowd ? almost twice that of the previous week ? and the game finally sprang into some life as Mealor soon joined the party by crashing a shot wide on his wrong foot.
Three minutes later Paul Taylor was called into action for the first time, getting well behind Glen Hawkins' shot after the striker had engineered a shooting chance for himself. It wasn't to be an easy night for Taylor, his haphazard goalkeeping a factor in two of Aylesbury's goals and finding himself in the referee's notebook.
That was all to follow though, as chances came for both sides. A superb flick from Marsh's heel set Nathan Graham away, his shot straight at Taylor like Hawkins before him.
Then at the other end Dunstable suddenly came into the game, the ball dropping to Moses Olaleye who struck his volley well but straight into Tom Vincent's arms.
On the half hour mark Aylesbury played their ?get out of jail' card, with Vincent to thank for saving a penalty. United's struggles to clear the ball four times finally ended with Nick Leach bringing a player down in the box. Nick Nolan stepped up and placed his shot well, but perhaps slightly lacking in power, but take nothing away from Vincent's save.
The goal would have been against the run of play, but it proved the wakeup call United needed and they soon made their visitors pay for their waste. A free-kick on the edge of the area was dispatched perfectly into the top corner by Danny Mead for his first goal of the season. 1-0 Aylesbury
Taylor was incensed following the goal, and booked for dissent, but the finger of blame was pointed in his direction when the Ducks doubled their lead six minutes later. Marsh was set free with an exquisite through pass and he lobbed the charging custodian, Glen Hawkins arriving at the far post to smash the ball in. 2-0 Aylesbury
Half-time: Aylesbury 2-0 Dunstable
Dunstable rolled the dice in the break and made two changes, but it was to no avail as they offered little in the second half.
Within the first few seconds Marsh was played through amongst a hopelessly static defence, his low shot well saved by Taylor with Nathan Graham cracking the rebound just wide on the half volley.
Four minutes later the match was put to bed by Aylesbury when a pass through to Hawkins saw Taylor charge out in an attempt to clear, only to stumble to the ground near the touchline. Hawkins still had plenty to do, but curled the ball into the empty net with aplomb. 3-0 Aylesbury
Dunstable's best chance of the game arrived on the hour mark, a slide rule pass releasing one of the half-time substitutes Michael Moss, but he could only slot wide with the whole goal to aim at.
Five minutes later it was four as a fine passing move took Dunstable apart. Hawkins found Graham on the right, and he squared for the unattended Marsh who took his time, beat Taylor, then fired in past two men on the line to score against his former club. 4-0 Aylesbury
The margin might have been higher, as collective Dunstable heads sunk to the ground, but Aylesbury eased up in the closing stages, seemingly happy to protect their lead.
Hawkins' had one late chance to complete his hat-trick, when he got on the end of a corner kick, but his initial header was only down into the ground, then only able to scoop the ball wide of the target.
Aylesbury managed to play out the remaining few minutes relatively incident free, and the majority of the crowd went home rather pleased with the Ducks' display.
