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Aylesbury secured a second successive home point with a well-earned 1-1 draw at home to Stourport Swifts.

United were boosted by the return to fitness of midfielders Enzo Silvestri and Keith Newby, but their injury worries continued meaning a first start of the season for manager Tony Joyce at the heart of defence alongside new signing Robert Bartley who impressed.

Thanks to a great start, Aylesbury could have been three up inside ten minutes. Firstly Joel McCormick applied good pressure to a defender to win the ball back and set up Silvestri but his shot was weak and easily dealt with by Paul Evans.

A minute later McCormick was set away by an inviting ball over the defence but he could only blaze over the crossbar. Then, Pringle?s ball in led to Silvestri snapping the ball back after a mistake by Stourport and instead of going for goal himself he tried the unselfish option of squaring for McCormick but his effort was saved.

Stourport responded with a couple of attempts of their own. Mark Benbow teed up Chris Cornes just outside the area, but he sliced well wide of the target before a minute later Will Gayton struck a long range effort straight at Sillitoe.

More good play from Aylesbury brought about the next chance with a fine diagonal pass being chested down by McBride into the path of McCormick who could only shoot just past the post when stretching.

Two minutes later and the Ducks deservedly had their lead. McCormick was once again found with a raking pass before being hauled down despite going away from goal, with referee Mr Miller duly pointing to the spot. Captain Keith Newby stepped up and confidently dispatched the penalty high into the goal. 1-0 Aylesbury

Richard Pringle was often in the thick of the action for United, and after he saw a looping effort dropped just wide, he was involved in a controversial exchange with Nathan Jukes. After the two had come together challenging for an aerial ball, the Swifts? centre back appeared to retaliate when lying on the ground. The referee, assisted by his linesman, chose to penalise only Pringle for his part in the incident with a yellow card.

Ten minutes from the interval the visitors levelled. A cross in from the right was delivered to the near post where Dan Polan arrived just ahead of Sillitoe with a diving header to divert the ball into the net. 1-1

Stourport had been improving prior to the game and for a ten minute spell were on top as they saw a couple of shots blocked in the box and had United playing some nervy football for a while.

Yet it was the Ducks who came mightily close to re-taking the lead when the lively McBride cut inside and fired in a curling effort which struck the upright and bounced clear.

Swifts also had a great chance to score through Lee Tomkins who should have done better than heading wide a left-sided free-kick.

Half-time: Aylesbury 1-1 Stourport

Aylesbury were slow out of the blocks in the second half, and struggled to find the same level of authority they had in the early stages of the game.

Swifts had the first chance when a good move saw the ball worked into the box before a decent shot was well blocked by Newby. Five minutes later and another shot was blocked in the area, with the follow-up following suit. The ball was returned from a wide position but then headed well over.

Fortunately, Aylesbury?s defence was having a good day with Ayodele immense, debutant Bartley impressive, and manager Joyce doing a good job as a sweeper as United made their new-look shape work for them.

Further chances came and went as Gayton?s corner was headed wide by Lee Tomkins. Tomkins himself then rode the challenge of Bartley and attempted to square the ball for a waiting teammate for what would have been a certain goal, but was prevented from doing so by a superb interception from Ayodele.

The strength of the backline gave the Ducks a solid base to build from and they regrouped. With the introduction of some fresh legs, namely Shiblu Miah and Danny Nicholls, they had new impetus going into the final quarter of the match.

On 69 minutes a McBride corner was punched by Evans only as far as Montgomery who drilled in a low shot which was well saved by the visiting keeper.

Five minutes later Nicholls had a shot from a corner kick nicked just wide by fellow substitute Miah, before a Bartley cross-cum-shot sailed well over as Aylesbury tried to keep their momentum going.

Stourport had a rare attempt as a free-kick was headed well wide, but on the whole most of the play and the pressure was with the home side as the game drew to a close.

Sadly there was no reward for the Ducks who couldn?t force a winner, but not for lack of trying. Montgomery flashed a shot just wide the post, before a goalbound shot from Miah was blocked in the area as Aylesbury ran out of time.

In the end United had to settle for a point, but can take many, many positives from the game as they close the gap on Barton Rovers to four points.