Aylesbury maintained their 100% record over Romulus and brought an end to their winless run with a deserved victory over the Midlanders.

The Ducks were boosted by the return to fitness of Carl Kavanagh and Neil Roberts who both took their places in the starting line-up and young defender Chris Aslett was back from University for the Easter break to come off the bench for his first appearance of the season.

United made a positive start to the game and applied good pressure on their opponents in the early stages. After seven minutes a Hawkins shot was charged down in the area after good link-up play with his striker partner Graham.

With just ten minutes on the clock the Ducks took the lead. A long ball down the middle found Graham who showed great strength and determination to harry the defence, winning the ball back and, despite being hauled back in the area, managed to prod the ball over the keeper and into the net. 1-0

Romulus lined up with a defensive looking formation featuring only one striker, and they subsequently struggled to make headway. One deep free-kick was headed towards goal and just about blocked by Roberts in their first meaningful effort of the half.

At the other end Matt Butler might have done better when the ball was clipped over the defence by Marsh for him to head goalwards, but he could only direct it straight at Sargent between the sticks.

Ross Taylor headed a near-post Roberts corner wide of the target and Roberts himself volleyed Boyce's cross over the bar as Aylesbury continued to fashion the majority of chances.

Ten minutes from the interval Sargent was in the thick of the action again. A long ball forward was touched down expertly by Graham for Hawkins to rifle in a shot, which was straight at the keeper. He made a mess of it though and spilt the ball right into Graham's path, before making amends with a superb tip round the post to deny the Aylesbury striker.

The Roms' best chance fell to Melvin Gourlay who was played in by a fine through ball, but he got the shot all wrong when one-on-one and Tom Vincent was able to easily field the ball and preserved United's half-time lead.

The visitors' Colm Tiernan suffered a nasty looking injury just before the break and had to be stretchered off, and with him making use of the treatment table in the home dressing room, Mark Eaton's half-time team talk was conducted from the centre circle.

Half-time: Aylesbury 1-0 Romulus

Maybe that factor was reason for Aylesbury's sluggish start to the second half. They were made to pay for their sloppiness when the visitors equalised on 49 minutes. A raking free-kick swung in from the right touchline found Jerome Grandison free at the far-post and although his header appeared straight at Vincent, it still found the net. 1-1

Things could have been worse for the Ducks when the buoyant Grandison set up Tom Franklin with a cut back, but his effort was straight into the arms of Vincent.

The lead was soon re-established though after Marsh linked up with Vincent before being sent tumbling in the box, picking himself up, and converting a penalty just inside the left upright. 2-1

From that point on both sides had chances to add to the scoring. For Romulus Tom Wilmore flashed a volley well wide of goal after a half cleared free-kick had fallen to him on the edge of the area.

The impressive Marsh then went on a mazy run into the box but could only place a shot over the bar, after United had broken free by dispossessing the erratic Peter Folkes in a dangerous position.

Tom Vincent demonstrated his agility by making his first serious save of the game to prevent a Ross Taylor own goal after the Aylesbury defender's misplaced looping header had to be acrobatically tipped over.

In the eyes of many, the Ducks stopper was fortunate to stay on the pitch five minutes later. Grandison beat the offside trap and as he sprung free was caught by the advancing Vincent well outside of his area, but referee Mr Busby assumedly took the view that he wasn't the last man and a yellow card sufficed.

It preceded a flurry of yellow cards which took the final total up to seven for the afternoon, as the referee grew ever more pernickety and seemingly determined to follow the law to the letter as opposed to showing any degree of leniency.

Romulus had a decent chance to level the match inside the final ten minutes when Wilmore delivered a pinpoint cross from the left which was headed wide by Franklin at the back stick.

It would have been harsh on the Ducks though who had been generally the better team and deserved their long overdue three points.