Aylesbury's cup hopes were brought to an end for another season as they bowed out of their final remaining competition, the Red Insure Cup, with a frustrating 5-3 defeat at the hands of AFC Hayes.
The manner of defeat will be of huge concern to new manager Tony Joyce, taking charge of his first home game, as the Ducks let slip a two-goal lead from 3-1 to go on and lose the match.
Even more worrying for the United faithful is that two of Joyce's new signings lined up in a five-man defence, yet still they couldn't stop the rot which has now seen Aylesbury concede 16 goals in their last 4 (competitive) games.
The Ducks got off to the worst possible start with Jack Sillitoe conceding a penalty inside three minutes, bringing down rangy striker Craig Tompkins who dusted himself down to convert the spot-kick. 1-0 Hayes
Seconds later Sillitoe was called into action again as he tipped wide Danilson Vicente's dangerous snapshot, and from the resulting corner Ben Hayden prodded wide at the near post as Hayes came out all guns blazing.
It didn't take long before the Hayes defence was proven to be as creaky as Aylesbury's though, and the Ducks looked a threat whenever they attacked.
An equaliser arrived still inside the first ten minutes. A fine passing move saw Montgomery feed Miah wide left and his teasing ball into the box came to Taylor who swivelled and struck a sweet left footed shot into the net to mark his home debut with a goal. 1-1
Taylor went close again a minute later with a superb solo effort, racing onto a long ball before cutting inside his man and curling a shot just over the crossbar.
Miah was proving to be a handful once more with his pace and tricky running, but sadly his finishing let him down on a number of occasions. He should have scored on 19 minutes when capitalising on an awful defensive error but could only shoot straight at Leach from close range.
The Aylesbury pressure was growing though and it eventually told. A wicked inswinging corner from Chris Dean nearly went straight in only for Leach's punch underneath the bar, and from the second attempt Chris Reed met the ball with a firm header to give United the lead. 2-1 Aylesbury
As the half hour mark came and went Hayes' main threat appeared to be from corner kicks as they forced an increasing number as the first period went on.
But it was a free-kick which nearly undid Aylesbury, Kevin Ayodele well positioned to hack the ball off the line at the far post.
Ashleigh James had a header straight at Leach, and Simon King saw two low long range shots both saved by Leach as Aylesbury continued to have chances.
The Ducks had a strong case for a penalty turned down as neither referee Mr James or linesman Mr Panconi spotted a clear tug of Shiblu Miah's shirt as he beat his man in the area.
Instead, the visitors somehow missed a glorious opportunity to equalise on the stroke of half time when a free-kick was worked into the path of Darren Butler, only for him to smash the ball over from all of five-yards out.
Half-time: Aylesbury 2-1 AFC Hayes
The visitors had the first attempt of the second half, a clever reverse shot across goal from Tompkins, but it was Aylesbury who increased the scoring on 56 minutes. A free-kick swung in from the left dropped invitingly for James and his half-volley nestled into the bottom corner. 3-1 Aylesbury
That goal should have made the game safe for the Ducks, but they seemed intent on pressing the self destruct button ? and in some style as they went on to concede four goals in the remainder of the match
The warning shots were there, and Vicente went close with a vicious effort that flew just past the post, before the arrears were reduced moments later.
Having had no luck with their numerous corners previously in the game, Hayes tried something different with a low set piece to the near post which caught Aylesbury cold and Tompkins fired a low shot into the net. 3-2
Soon afterwards they were level, as Tompkins completed his hat-trick with a second penalty of the night, sending Sillitoe the wrong way after Dean had fouled his man near the byline. 3-3
Just two minutes later, and having scored three goals in eight minutes past the sorry Ducks, Hayes had turned the game on its head. A quickly taken free-kick down the channel once again left Aylesbury flailing and the ball was pulled back for Vicente to sweep into the net. 4-3 Hayes
The flurry had left United reeling and just epitomised their season ? bright when going forwards, yet naive, at best, in defence.
One good move from Aylesbury saw the ball worked across to Chris Dean, who once again showed himself to be much more comfortable in the opponent's half than his own, and his low shot looked goalbound only to be slid wide by a covering defender. The resulting corner was volleyed over by Taylor.
Despite having already shown the visiting defence to be frail, Aylesbury just couldn't put them under any serious pressure in the final third of the game. The front two of Taylor and Miah were visibly tiring, but with no real attacking options for Joyce to call for from the bench, they were replaced with something of a makeshift strikeforce for the final minutes.
Jordan Oxley had a late shot blocked, but it was Hayes who compounded United's misery when Vicente scored his second of the game in stoppage time to add some extra gloss to the result for his side. 5-3 Hayes
