Aylesbury United came undone against landlords Leighton Town in the ?home? leg of meetings this season with a disappointing 3-1 defeat at Bell Close.
Given their two draws from their prior two home games, expectations amongst the United followers was raised slightly and there was some genuine belief that more points were in the offing. Leighton are always a tough nut to crack though and over the course of the 90 minutes they once again demonstrated this, with Aylesbury rarely able to breach them.
For the most part it was a drab game, interspersed with rare moments of quality, but it was one such moment which finally secured the win for the ?visitors? in the 85th minute as they slickly passed their way to a third goal.
The Reds had the early chances, as firstly Lewis Hallford lashed a shot past the far post in only the second minute after a free-kick was cleared only as far as him on the edge of the box.
Six minutes later Stuart Deaton might have done better when presented with a free header five-yards from goal when a hanging cross from the right was misjudged by the defence, but he could only guide the ball straight at Sillitoe.
Former Aylesbury youth prodigy Aston Goss then struck a weak low effort which was comfortably dealt with by Sillitoe. He then had a decent chance to open the scoring having outwitted Ashleigh James to get on the end of a low cross but under pressure of the Aylesbury man could only turn it over the bar.
The Ducks finally began to get a foothold in the game and had a better five minute spell of some possession, although it amounted to nothing in the way of chances.
They were still generally going Leighton?s way and Ben Porter had the next when he picked up the ball and turned into space before going for goal from range with a shot that trickled wide when the better option might have been to take the ball on further.
Leighton then had a goal disallowed as a right-wing cross was flicked on into the path of James McNulty who had the easy task of converting from two-yards out, only for the flag to be raised immediately for offside.
The game then entered a quiet patch before Aylesbury finally mustered their first attempt at goal, a low effort from Lewis McBride which went just wide of the left upright.
Aylesbury were soon back under more pressure and nearly conceded in calamitous circumstances as Keith Newby, from almost on his own goalline, attempted to smash the ball clear but saw it rebound against a Leighton player and skim the crossbar.
With half-time approaching, the opener arrived, and is one Jack Sillitoe will want to quickly forget about. His attempted kick out was charged down by James Hatch and the striker then had the simplest task of heading the ball into the unguarded net. 1-0 Leighton
So close to half-time, the goal was a hammer blow to Aylesbury who had been competing well without making any inroads of their own.
But Leighton weren?t finished there, and went two-up in the last minute of the half. Stuart Deaton horribly miss kicked an attempted shot in the area, but the ball was teed up to him again by Ben Porter and he made no mistake at the second attempt with a well placed finish into the bottom corner. 2-0 Leighton
Half-time: Aylesbury 0-2 Leighton
Aylesbury refused to let the two-goal deficit get them down as they looked to get back into the game, but they had to endure an early scare as Hatch dragged a shot wide in the opening seconds after Porter cut the ball back.
Within six minutes of the restart, the Reds? lead was cut to one thanks to a moment of inspiration from Joel McCormick who danced around three challenges in the box before eventually squeezing the ball home from a tight angle. 1-2
Whilst the goal may have reduced the gap in the scoreline, the Ducks were still having little joy in trying to break Leighton down. Tony Joyce elected to replace Lewis McBride with Tyrone Taylor on the left wing. He showed some good play during his short cameo there but after ten minutes had to switch to defence when the unfortunate Kevin Ayodele was forced off with an apparent hamstring pull sustained making a last ditch challenge.
Before that the Ducks had survived a strong penalty appeal after Hatch looked to have been taken out in the box by a combination of Ayodele and Christian, by referee Mr Muge was having none of it.
The minutes were passing by without much in the way of chances, and it was Leighton who next threatened through Goss? free-kick which looped up off the wall and just over.
When United?s big moment did come, and Leighton?s defence were finally penetrated, they had goalkeeper Kevin Marsh to come to the rescue. Sillitoe?s clearance saw Pringle get the better of McNulty which put him clean through, but Marsh was out smartly to make a good save and win the one-on-one. The ball eventually came back to McCormick but he shot straight at Marsh from out wide.
It was Leighton who continued to look most likely to score next, and substitute Dan Walker cut inside from the left and hit a thunderbolt effort just over the bar. Hatch was then played through but, like Pringle at the over end, found himself thwarted by a good piece of goalkeeping in the one-on-one duel.
After good link up play between Pringle and Montgomery, the latter teed up McCormick for an Aylesbury effort but he fired over the bar.
Then, at the other end, Ashleigh James was on hand to clear off the line after Sillitoe had failed to claim a deeply flighted corner kick.
Leighton finally settled the affair with the best move of the night. Garcia drove strode forward in midfield before releasing Hatch in acres of space to the left and his low ball into the box was buried by Walker from close range. 3-1 Leighton
To say it was undeserved would be untrue as the Reds had shown that little extra quality throughout the match and were well worth their win. Taylor had a late shot blocked but the remaining minutes were played out with little more incident.
