Aylesbury rather unconvincingly advanced into the 2nd Round of the FA Carlsberg Vase with an extra time win over a much improved Hertford Town side.
Lea Coulter?s 112th minute goal finally separated the two sides after a ding dong encounter which could have gone either way.
Hertford nearly went ahead inside the opening seconds when a throw-in was worked to top-scorer James Peagrum who was afforded far too much time to turn and crack a dipping effort goalwards which had to be tipped over by Sillitoe.
Aylesbury had made a sluggish start and were restricted to speculative efforts early on with Coulter, Garcia and Baines all having sighters without seriously testing Ashley Harris in the Blues? goal.
The visitors went ahead on 17 minutes when Jack Lawrence met a corner kick and James Peagrum applied the final touch to divert it away from Sillitoe. 1-0 Hertford
Another ambitious attempt from Garcia sailed over, before United finally had a decent effort on goal as the ball was worked cleverly into the box where Townsend was waiting to hammer goalwards only for Pablo Ardiles to block.
United dragged themselves back into the game with an equalising goal courtesy of new signing Robbie Kean who shot home after a mistake by Lawrence who was still struggling having been injured earlier and was soon replaced. 1-1
Despite the equaliser, Aylesbury were still losing out in midfield where the presence of the rangy Doug Santos was having a controlling effect on proceedings.
He flicked a ball forwards on for Peagrum to run onto and he crashed a fierce effort all the way across goal but wide of the target.
United were at least creating more in front of goal now, and Wood headed wide from Townsend?s cross with Harris flapping, before Justin Gordon?s near post cross was met by a looping Ben Baines header which went over.
Hertford made football?s ?cardinal sin? of a substitution at a corner kick which may have played a part in Aylesbury turning the game around when, in the 36th minute, Kean?s corner was headed by Coulter. Harris made a brilliant fingertip save but the ball fell to Edgeworth who cut it back for Mulholland to crash into the empty net. 2-1 Aylesbury
Aylesbury kept up their pressure before half-time with Baines often involved ? heading Kean?s excellent free-kick over the bar and then having a shot deflected wide after a good move, but it was Coulter who should have scored when he dived in on Edgeworth?s teasing cross but his header struck the outside of the post and flew wide.
Half-time: Aylesbury 2-1 Hertford
Any hopes that the Hertford fight had been extinguished were soon put to bed within seconds of the restart as the noisy travelling hordes were roused again by an equalising goal. The visitors suddenly turned on some Samba style as the tricky Chet Johnson jinked his way down the right before crossing for Santos to tower high and bullet header the ball into the net. 2-2
It was another awful start to a half from the Ducks and as they were unable to settle it could have been much worse. Reece Dobson ran clean through but found Sillitoe on good form to stand tall and deny him in the one-on-one.
The subsequent corner was hammered goalwards, again by Dobson, and Sillitoe this time produced a very similar save to Harris? of the first half ? a superb stop with the fingertips. The ball ricocheted away off Jack Wood with Hertford appealing in vain for handball against the youngster.
There?s seldom a better way to settle a team than by scoring another goal, and so Aylesbury went on and did just that with another moment of brilliance from Coulter. Collecting a left-sided throw in he turned and unleashed an outrageously good shot across goal and into the far bottom corner which gave Harris absolutely no chance. 3-2 Aylesbury
He could have added another two minutes later but Harris was off his line quickly to save after the striker had been put clean through on goal with a delicate lifted pass.
As the game ticked over the three-quarter mark, the Aylesbury faithful were just hoping for an incident-free remainder to the game but sadly that?s not what they got as Jack Wood got the wrong side of Dobson in the box and although the Hertford man went down easily it was a clear penalty. Santos stepped up and rolled the ball home with consummate ease to make it all square yet again. 3-3
The closing twenty minutes of the match quickly degenerated into a nervy affair as neither side wanted to make a mistake which would have handed almost certain victory to the other and it was soon apparent that extra time was on the cards.
It was Hertford who had the better chances to win it as first Garcia played United into danger when his pass was intercepted by Dobson who saw his shot blocked, with the follow up deflected behind for a corner.
Aylesbury only had another long shot from Garcia to offer in return, before he was replaced by Joey Acheampong who added some busy fresh legs to the attack.
In stoppage time it looked like curtains for United when Peagrum broke clean through and beat Sillitoe with his angled low shot, but the ball rolled agonisingly across goal and wide as two thirds of Bell Close breathed a huge sigh of relief.
There was still one more huge chance as Mulholland found himself unmarked at Clay?s free-kick but could only head over the bar, and the game moved into extra-time.
End of normal time: Aylesbury 3-3 Hertford
What had been nervy was now all out tension as extra time was generally uneventful, and the game balanced on a knife edge.
On balance of play Aylesbury were just about on top as they seemed to be managing their energy levels slightly better than their opponents, but there was little to choose between the sides.
A Coulter shot in the first period appeared goal bound only to hit his teammate Townsend after good work by Edgeworth had seen him have a shot blocked in the first instance.
What mattered though was the decisive goal which arrived soon after the extra time interval. Coulter received a pass into the box before firing a deadly early shot past Harris and in off the post to spark wild celebrations. 4-3
There were still more than eight minutes remaining but Aylesbury managed to see them out well and at times looked the more likely to score with Jimi Emefuna adding some extra presence to the attack.
It was Edgeworth who troubled Hertford the most though when he latched on to Sillitoe?s clearance but his shot rolled wide of the goal with Harris beaten.
After a few more minutes the end arrived on a tough battle and it will be United?s name in the Monday draw for the second round. The Ducks now have to pick themselves up after such a gruelling encounter and look to keep the run going at Harefield United just two days later.
