• Matches
• Table

loading...

loading...

Aylesbury and unbeaten Dunstable shared the spoils in an entertaining 2-2 Premier Division draw at Bell Close.

Both sides will look back at a number of missed chances and periods of dominance and claim, quite creditably, that they could have taken all three points.

United restored Ben Baines to the starting lineup, and it was he who scored Aylesbury’s second goal in a two minutes spell just past the half hour mark to complete an excellent turnaround after Dunstable had gone ahead shortly before.

It was his strike partner, Stacey Field, who had the game’s first opening when Mulholland headed down allowing him to shoot on the turn but fire wide.

A quick Blues counter attack ended with Jon Cooper dragging a shot wide from the edge of the box, before the same player’s fierce volley was charged down by an Aylesbury man five minutes later.

Only a matter of inches came between the visitors opening the scoring in the 16th minute when a corner kick was headed goalwards, only to hit the bar, then the inside of the post and somehow not go over the line.

After Cooper had dragged another shot wide, he netted two minutes later as Dunstable went ahead. A long throw was flicked on to Brennan, who helped it first time into Cooper’s path and he struck a sweet shot on the run past Sillitoe. 1-0 Dunstable

Aylesbury responded well to going behind, and put their opponents under immediate pressure with a Garcia shot having to be dealt with by Gary Duncan, and Baines unfortunate to lose his balance when presented with a good shooting opportunity.

Dunstable had a better chance when Gray was millimetres away from turning Brennan’s cross-shot into the net, and they were made to regret it when the Ducks equalised a minute later. The ball was worked from right to left with Garcia picking out Hallford making inroads into the box, and the Aylesbury winger cut in and managed to squeeze a shot home past Duncan. 1-1

Things got even better for the Greens just two minutes later as they completed the turnaround. Spellbinding play from Acheampong saw him leave three men in his wake before cutting the ball back from the byeline where Baines was waiting for a tap in. 2-1 Aylesbury

United twice went close to adding to their lead before the break, when Baines won the ball back before sending a shot flying across goal, and Hallford’s dangerous free-kick narrowly missed the target in stoppage time.

Half-time: Aylesbury 2-1 Dunstable

They began the second half in similar vein as Wood cracked a well hit volley just over when Mulholland’s header dropped invitingly his way.

But within nine minutes of the restart Dunstable were back on level terms with the best goal of the night. Brennan switched the ball to Frater who cut inside of Mercer before unleashing a left-footed rocket into the top corner which left Sillitoe no chance. 2-2

Momentum was starting to swing the way of the visitors, and Aylesbury needed to respond, so elected to change the focus of their attack by introducing Melford Simpson for Acheampong, and he was involved almost straight away by heading Hallford’s corner over the bar.

Having scored five at the weekend, Aylesbury never quite found their shooting boots to the same effect in this game – Hallford and Simpson both crashing shots over, and Field firing wide from range – but it was the home side having the majority of the chances.

With fifteen minutes remaining Field was momentarily in behind the defence but his pass to Simpson was just too far ahead of the big man, who eventually retrieved the ball but shot behind. Then, Field got it all wrong with an attempted curler having been played in by Garcia.

The superb Garcia, who bossed the midfield all night, had a couple more efforts come to nothing, and Hallford also had a shot deflected wide as Aylesbury were unable to make their decent spell pay.

As the match entered its final ten minutes, proceedings were suddenly wide open. A move down the Dunstable right saw Holmes cut in and smash a shot against the crossbar with Sillitoe beaten all ends up. From that the Ducks launched into a counter attack and Simpson should have scored when he headed a left sided cross too close to Duncan who was able to save. The ball was returned straight to the other end of the field again, where a cross flashed in which was just begging to be put away, but nobody was there to apply the final touch.

It was a mad cap way to end a match which had been thoroughly enjoyable to watch, but Aylesbury will perhaps look back with a touch of disappointment at missing their opportunity to beat a decent Dunstable outfit who have strengthened heavily during the summer. A good point well earned though, which sees Aylesbury take 3rd spot in the league.

Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Undefined constant "text" in /var/www/vhosts/aylesburyunitedfc.co.uk/httpdocs/match.php:3002 Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /var/www/vhosts/aylesburyunitedfc.co.uk/httpdocs/match.php on line 3002