For the second season in a row, Aylesbury conceded four goals at Sutton Coldfield Town, as their poor away record continued. Since winning at Bath City in October, the Ducks remain without a win on their travels.
Aylesbury were boosted by the return of Carl Kavanagh, allowing Ben Stevens to return to midfield and Kevin Mealor dropped to the bench.
The match was a stop-start, scrappy kind of affair, but somehow still yielded six goals, all of which both sides will have reasons to be unhappy with.
United started brightly and had two chances in the first ten minutes. Stevens knocked the ball on and it sat up nicely for Chris Marsh, but he could only fire over. Matt Butler then bustled his way into the box, before seeing his shot blocked.
Sutton Coldfield responded and they forced a corner which Tom Vincent missed his punch at, fortunately the home player heading for goal missed the target. Two minutes later Junior Brown went on a run, skipping past three challenges only to drag his shot wide.
Nathan Graham, one of the few Aylesbury players to shine, came agonisingly close to opening the scoring when he ended a swift counter-attack with a shot which deflected off a home defender and onto the outside of the post.
The deadlock was broken seconds later, but the opener came at the other end. Ross Taylor slipped when trying to cut out a through ball, allowing Neil Davis a clear site of goal and he made no mistake, burying the ball in the bottom corner. 1-0 Sutton Coldfield
The goal marked the start of a crazy spell of three goals in four minutes, as Aylesbury hit-back immediately. Ms Ihringova made one of a number of bizarre decisions by awarding a corner to the visitors when the ball had clearly come off a green shirt, Ross Taylor making amends for his earlier misdemeanour by heading home the equaliser. 1-1
The celebrations didn't last long, as two minutes later Sutton reinstated their advantage. A player was given too much time and space on the left, delivering a fine cross for Davis to head the ball goalwards and in off the far post. 2-1 Sutton Coldfield
Sam Swonnell, struggling with his continuing ankle problem, had to be replaced on the half hour mark by Kevin Mealor.
Davis had a chance for a five minute hat-trick when he found himself in behind the defence again, but this time his shot was well saved by Vincent.
The sight of Aylesbury in the opposition half became increasingly rare as the half wore on, but three minutes from the interval Mealor drifted infield and went for goal with a low effort, which went wide of the post.
Half-time: Sutton Coldfield 2-1 Aylesbury
The home side made a good start to the second half and quickly had Aylesbury on the back foot. Vincent made a blinding save to deny Jamille Matt's volley early on, but another goal was on the way.
It came ten minutes after the restart, as Davis was played in. With the defence literally stood watching, and waiting for an offside flag which never came, Davis slipped the ball past Vincent. 3-1 Sutton Coldfield
With United's defence having a torrid time, Davis could well have had a fourth when Matt was played clean through before unselfishly squaring the ball for his strike partner, who could only skew wide.
Aylesbury were handed a lifeline when Danny Mead scored a second free-kick in two games, Craig Johnson getting finger tips to the ball but not enough to keep the ball out. 3-2 Sutton Coldfield
With twenty minutes remaining there was optimism and the Ducks did briefly perk up, Marsh whipping a ball across the face of goal where Hawkins was just unable to apply a telling touch.
Any hopes of a comeback were probably ended with the dismissal of Matt Butler though. Having been booked earlier in the half, he was shown a second yellow for getting involved in an altercation with Jae Martin. The Sutton Coldfield player was also booked, when by another referee he may have been shown a straight red. For his furious reaction to the decision, Mark Eaton was also shown to the stands by Ms Ihringova.
To rub salt into the wounds and kill off the game, Sutton Coldfield added a fourth to their tally. A shot was well saved by Vincent, and Matt followed up to score a deserved goal after a great display of how to play as a target man. 4-2 Sutton Coldfield
Aylesbury had two further chances, but it was too little too late, as Mead fired a shot across goal after Mealor had picked him out, and Marsh shot straight at the keeper having played a neat one-two.
It was a thoroughly disappointing afternoon for the Ducks, who had once again found themselves outplayed by Sutton Coldfield. In every department, Aylesbury were second best, and it will be back to the drawing board ahead of two winnable home games.
