Aylesbury came through a tough fixture at relegation-threatened Woodford United with three points in the bag after a hard fought, gritty affair.

This was the Ducks' first ever win at Byfield Road, but had the Reds taken one of a number of their good chances it could have been a very different story, owing in part to an off key performance by Aylesbury, and in part the display of their opponents.

The home side did a good job the home side did of harrying Aylesbury every time they had the ball and it meant the Ducks found it hard to get any kind of rhythm going and looked a far cry from the free scoring side of their previous two outings.

Woodford should have opened the scoring with their first chance just two minutes in. Aylesbury's defence was suddenly opened up and Martin Crawford was played through, but his first touch was lacking and took him too wide and the final shot was easily held.

After Aylesbury won and wasted the game's first corner, the home side wasted another chance. This time Jason Ramsey the guilty party, turning his man well but blazing a shot high over the bar.

On six minutes a free-kick was directed back across goal by Nathan Graham where Carl Kavanagh was just beaten to the ball by a defender. From the resulting corner came Aylesbury's first genuine chance of the match as Graham met it with a glancing header which flashed over the bar.

Woodford's defence looked anything but assured as they regularly panicked when the ball was played towards them, and one such occasion brought about another corner kick under pressure from Graham, but came no nothing more. Mead then had a free-kick which he decided to drill along the ground, but it was blocked and then cleared away causing little danger.

The game was still in the early stages when the home side had yet another glorious opportunity to score. It was Ritchie Adams who spurned this opportunity when he found himself all alone in the area with only Vincent to beat, but his shot was delayed just too much and eventually ricocheted off two players and over the bar.

After such a busy opening quarter, the pace of the game did eventually begin to slow. For a neutral it would have been hard to tell which was the team battling relegation, such was the lack of quality on display; seemingly, the Ducks had been dragged down to Woodford's level and were struggling to make their mark.

Some good defending from Aaron Parkinson prevented the Ducks taking the lead on 17 minutes when he beat Kavanagh to Boyce's dangerous cross after good play by Hawkins in holding the ball up.

Then at the other end the Reds had a third gilt-edged chance of the game when Leon Morgan was presented with a straightforward looking header, but could only direct the ball wide of goal.

Six minutes from the break Aylesbury were gifted the lead in rather controversial circumstances. Hawkins played his way into the box before innocuously going down under slight contact. Even though he got back to his feet referee Mr Howes awarded a penalty, to the despair of the home side, and Chris Marsh comfortably scored his tenth Ducks goal. 0-1

The defending from the home side was, at times, comical, but Aylesbury weren't able to turn it to their advantage. One such moment saw Parkinson lose the ball under pressure to Marsh, who was left to run in on goal and cut inside but shot straight at Matt Finlay in the last action of the first half.

Half-time: Woodford 0-1 Aylesbury

Aylesbury's lead at the interval was a welcome one, but Woodford had every right to feel hard done by, and after an early shot from Marsh went well over, they stepped up their fight to get back into the game.

Tom Fountain had the first attempt when he placed a shot past the post after Mead's clearance had dropped kindly for him.

Two more fantastic chances followed, the first in particular was an absolute sitter. A ball played back in over the top caught out the Ducks' backline, freeing two players, Ritchie Adams somehow slotting wide, his finish from 10-yards not even close.

A minute later it was the same again, when this time the lively Ramsey, one of the home side's better players, beat his man and produced a sharp shot on the turn which grazed the far post.

They must have left wondering what they had to do to score, but that feeling was soon lifted when an equaliser the run of play suggested was on its way finally arrived. A deep free-kick from Jae Martin was met by the towering Aaron Parkinson with a looping header which dropped over Tom Vincent and into the net. 1-1

It looked for all the world like Aylesbury's struggles this season against the so called ?lesser teams' were set to continue. But whereas in matches earlier in the campaign they might have accepted less, the Ducks showed a great determination to dig out a winner.

Some end to end action followed though, Graham producing an acrobatic effort which flew over the bar for Aylesbury, then a quick free-kick was played into Jamie Coleman for Woodford with the same result.

Marsh has a shot straight at Finlay, before Kevin Mealor came off the bench in place of Nathan Graham for the latter stages.

Woodford were only level for nine minutes before the Ducks re-established the lead. The goal came amongst some woeful defending by Woodford, who were unable to deal with Boyce's misdirected throw-in, and the ball dropped to Ben Stevens four-yards out who crashed a shot in off a defender. 1-2

Still the home side wouldn't lie down but although they kept up their work rate right up to the final whistle, the only reward they had were a couple of dangerous crosses and corner kicks.

It was Aylesbury who came closest to adding to the scoreline when a corner kick had to be scrambled away off the line after Kavanagh had headed it back into the danger zone.

United brought on new signing Neil Roberts in the closing minutes of the game, but he had little time to make an impact with the result fairly secure.

Ben Stevens rarely gets on the scoresheet, but when he does they're usually important goals (his last coming against Bromley in the FA Cup last season). With all of Aylesbury's playoff rivals winning around them, he couldn't have chosen a better moment to break his Duck for the season.