Aylesbury United bowed out of the FA Trophy with a 2-1 defeat at their fellow Midlands Division strugglers Beaconsfield SYCOB, the first time since 1982 the club have fallen at the first hurdle in the competition.
Apart from a short spell immediately after scoring, the Ducks were uninspiring defeat, as their season goes from bad to worse and now catalogues the dubious honours of being eliminated from both national cups in addition to being rooted to the foot of the league table.
After an evenly matched first fifteen minutes, the game's first real went Beaconsfield's way when Dan Tilbury rolled a shot wide after a free-kick was played into his path.
A minute later Jack Sillitoe was called into action for the first time as he had to tip over a header from the unmkared Steve Daly at another free-kick.
The resulting corner was played back to the edge of the area where a home player saw en effort blocked.
United were being overrun in midfield and at times it looked like the Rams had an extra player or two on the pitch, but they managed to fashion their first attempt at goal on 19 minutes when Ryan Bernard fired wide having remained forward from a corner kick.
At the other end the Ducks goal was saved by Dean Thomas clearing off the line after some hesitancy in the ranks allowed a long ball to bounce and Sillitoe was left stranded, but luckily the Aylesbury skipper was on hand.
Kevin Chakaodza, promoted from the reserves in the absence of top scorer Victor Osobu, then missed a glorious chance for Beaconsfield when he headed wide. The attempt coming after a short corner caught Aylesbury cold and the ball was crossed in from the left under no pressure.
The pattern of the game continued, with United feeding from scraps as they struggled to compete with their hosts, and it was little surprise when the pressure finally told on the half hour mark.
Miles Mitchell-Coop couldn't clear his lines, and when he did eventually attempt to get the ball away it rebounded off the closing Beaconsfield player who was able to get free before cutting back to Gary Senior who picked his spot and opened the scoring. 1-0 Beaconsfield
It was no more than the home side deserved, despite rarely looking like a cohesive unit themselves, Aylesbury just weren't at the races in the first half.
Had it not been for a blinding save from Sillitoe it would have been two-nil and potentially game over ten minutes from half time. Some neat passing but an evident lack of pressure from the Ducks allowed them to pick their way through United before a striker shot low to Sillitoe's left, the young keeper getting down to tip the ball wide.
Instead of being two-down, United should have gone in level when on the stroke of half-time Abdul Yoki somehow poked wide from 2-yards out after getting on the end of Chris Dean's pinpoint cross. It summed up Aylesbury's day.
Half-time: Beaconsfield 1-0 Aylesbury
Byron Walton made a change at the break, introducing new signing Ashley Harewood into the strikeforce in place of Shiblu Miah.
But any thoughts of a comeback were made doubly hard when the Rams scored inside two minutes. Dean Thomas' mistimed challenge on the edge of the box was punished by Dean Clark who slammed home a free-kick which gave Sillitoe no chance. 2-0 Beaconsfield
It was unfortunate for the Ducks, because they were markedly improved in the second period and following the goal went on to enjoy their best spell in the game.
Yoki went on a fine mazy dribble only to be denied a shot at goal by a superb defensive challenge by Charlie Hill. He then followed that up with a free-kick effort two minutes later but it was straight at James Harry in goal.
Aylesbury then had a helping hand in coming agonisingly close to scoring, Calvin Thomas' teasing cross headed against his own crossbar by Daly.
From that move Beaconsfield launched a quick counter-attack and Sillitoe was off his line to save well at the feet of Trevor Charlery.
The Ducks came then even closer, a raking pass set Daddy Moses away down the left and his accurate cross was met by Ashley Harewood who if anything got too clean a contact with his header, and Harry was just about able to claw the ball away for a corner.
The goal United's mini-resurgence deserved eventually arrived from the resulting corner. Another great delivery by Chris Dean was met at the near post by the head of Joe Oxley who guided the ball into the net. 2-1
Following the goal Aylesbury elected to move Dean Thomas back into his more familiar striker's role, whilst Jordan Oxley replaced Joe Oxley in midfield.
But unfortunately the attacking momentum which had been building up to the goal fizzled out after the ball had found the net, and it was the home side who had the next effort when Daly again showed his menace at set pieces by heading over from a free-kick.
As the minutes ticked by it was becoming more apparent that United had run out of steam, but Harewood was still an occasional threat when he received the ball and on one occasion he ran at the heart of SYCOB's defence but his finish was wayward.
Charlie Hill scuffed a shot straight at Sillitoe for the Rams in the last ten minutes, but it was a long and painfully slow end to the game from Aylesbury's point of view as they were unable to find any further route through to goal and went out of the competition with barely a whimper.
