In atrocious conditions at Arlesey Town Aylesbury gave a battling, gutsy display, but ultimately paid the price for their lapses in concentration as they ended up on the wrong end of a 4-1 defeat.

With Chris Reed and Keith Newby unavailable, manager Tony Joyce fielded both Oxley brothers in midfield with Ashleigh James moving back into defence, whilst Ashley Harewood returned up front with the recalled Daddy Moses playing wide, meaning Shiblu Miah dropped to the bench.

The gale force winds peppered with heavy downpours meant that the match was never going to be much of a spectacle, but it certainly had its talking points.

Aylesbury had the wind in their favour in the first half, and although it provided a leveller, the Ducks could never really use it to full advantage.

It was the visitors who had the first chance though, Harewood having a shot from the edge of the box deflected wide after the first comical ?wind assisted' moment went against Marc Leach ? whose attempted high clearance swirled back over his head and out for a corner.

Leach was one of two former United players in the Arlesey ranks, and it was the other ? Chris Marsh ? who cut inside James on six minutes but could only fire wide from long range.

The Blues were having the better of the first half's sporadic chances, and Zema Abbey was allowed too much room to turn before getting away an attempted delicate chip which wasn't delicate enough, dropping well over the bar.

A minute later and the wind got hold of a long pass which caught out Dan Hart, the ball skimming off his head and very nearly dropping right into the path of Nathan Frater. Jack Sillitoe was alive to the danger though and was smartly off his line to make a fine sliding challenge.

Sillitoe was unquestionably the busier custodian, and he did well to keep out Frater's powerful drive which, with a wet, swirling ball, did momentarily squirm from his grasp but defenders were on hand to clean up.

Aylesbury then went close with a free-kick just inside their own half. Chris Dean whipped the ball in and the wind did the rest, but fortunately for Patching in goal the ball was carried a yard the wrong side of goal.

Marsh went close with a bending 25-yard free-kick that whistled past the post after a foul by Joe Oxley, before the ex-Duck gave his side the lead with a goal so typical to the Aylesbury faithful of his time at the club.

Cutting in from his left-sided position he took the ball in close to Sillitoe, before calmly slotting it across the keeper and into the net. 1-0 Arlesey

A free-kick from closer range by Dean this time nearly caused Patching to spill the ball into his own net, managing to just recover himself and tip over.

From the resulting corner the Ducks were level. Jon Montgomery worked the ball back into the path of Harewood, who struck a thunderbolt of a drive with his left-foot which gave Patching no chance from 25-yards. 1-1

For their effort and commitment in the first period, going in level was a fair scoreline, but sadly Aylesbury lost their concentration at the start of the second half and within a killer seven minutes found themselves two-goals behind.

On 49 minutes Marsh got away down the left and his low cross was swept into the net in one slick movement by Nathan Frater. 2-1 Arlesey

United obviously hadn't learnt their lesson, and just three minutes later the two combined again with a near carbon copy of the earlier goal. Marsh again with a low cross, this time Frater's finish wasn't as well taken, but he still managed to turn the ball into the net. 3-1 Arlesey

The sloppy start to the half had well and truly put paid to any Aylesbury hopes of taking anything from the game, as they showed plenty of endeavour but couldn't find a route past Arlesey's strong defence and Patching remained largely untested.

A rare run from Daddy Moses ended with a great defensive block in the area after he had cut inside and struck a left-footed effort.

Arlesey were even reduced to ten men for the last quarter of the match when Zema Abbey was dismissed for a nasty looking over the ball challenge on Jordan Oxley.

The game was petering to a close without much more in the way of goalmouth action, Marsh was continuing to be a threat though and he had another shot flash across the front of goal on 71 minutes.

A couple more Arlesey efforts came and went, but with the very last kick of the game the Blues added a fourth. United lost their composure completely, passing a simple ball out of defence straight to Arlesey who ran in to goal, Phil Draycott's initial shot was well saved by Sillitoe but the ball came back for Joe Reynolds to score a simple tap-in on his debut.

The scoreline was a little harsh on the Ducks, who had once again shown some positive moments but came away with another defeat.