After seeing off Hadley in midweek, Aylesbury travelled to another of the in-form sides, Haringey Borough, and came away with a well earned point after an evenly balanced encounter.

Had it not been for late equalisers in each half, then it could well have been a tremendous away victory for the Ducks, but a point at a team 4th in the league was not a bad return.

The opening stages were tightly contested with few chances, Tom Barnett seeing a stinging shot blocked at close range after a corner kick was cleared to him, whilst Warren Garcia placed an effort into the side netting from inside the box.

United went ahead in the 16th minute from a corner kick won by Sam Slatter. Daniel Jones delivered a typically telling ball into the six yard box which came through everybody to John Mulholland who couldn’t miss from three yards. 1-0 Aylesbury

Haringey rarely looked like a side who had scored 6 goals 3 times as part of their 7 match undefeated run in the opening period, and their first meaningful effort at goal came through Dewayne Clarke who tried an effort from 25-yards which flew well over.

Only a hair’s breadth came between the Ducks and a second goal on the half hour mark when, out of nothing, Garcia picked up the ball and tried his luck from 30-yards, seeing his effort crash back off crossbar.

Chris Benjamin was looking Haringey’s biggest threat and he had his first shot on goal when he dribbled in from the right but saw his low effort comfortably held by Sillitoe.

Haringey were improved in the last five minutes of the first half, with a number of balls coming in to the box whilst a good piece of last ditch defending by Ben Baines kept Benjamin at bay again.

In stoppage time a corner kick wasn’t particularly well defended by the Ducks, as veteran former Chesham United striker Darrell Cox was afforded a free header but powered the ball over the bar.

Borough found the net two minutes later with a well worked goal when the ball was played in low from the right, cleverly dummied by Benjamin for the waiting Dean Fenton who easily placed the ball past Sillitoe. 1-1

Half-time: Haringey 1-1 Aylesbury

Aylesbury had been twice temporarily reduced to 10-men in the first half as strike pairing Stacey Field and Joey Acheampong both sustained knocks, but both were fit enough to continue. Unfortunately Warren Garcia had to be withdrawn at the break, with Russell Clark coming on for his debut to replace him.

It was the home side who started the second half strongly forcing a succession of corners early on, the third cleared only as far as Benjamin who struck a decent effort just over the bar.

At the other end a shot from Barnett was well fielded by Tamai when a free-kick was cleared out to him, but it continued to be Haringey having the better chances and Cox was picked out by Namquita but his shot was comfortably saved.

By the midway point of the half, Aylesbury – particularly their strikers – were looking leggy, no doubt exhausted after their energetic exploits of three days earlier.

So it was something of a pleasant surprise when the Ducks re-established their lead in the 67th minute. It came from another Jones corner kick which was headed cleanly into the net by debutant Russell Clark. 2-1 Aylesbury

With more than twenty minutes still remaining it was inevitable that Haringey would come again, and Aylesbury were living dangerously as they struggled to clear their lines at a 79th minute free-kick, eventually doing so at the third time of asking.

Another smart turn and shot from Benjamin was well dealt with by Sillitoe, before spellbinding play from substitute Ibrahim Kanteh on the left resulted in a great cross being played in that just begged to be put away but nobody was in place to do so.

With a measure of good fortune in the buildup, Borough were able to draw level again five minutes from time. Benjamin’s shot deflected off a defender, landing kindly at Cox’s feet, and he made no mistake by rolling the ball calmly past Sillitoe. 2-2

Haringey went for broke in the final moments by throwing everything forward, Ben Butler crashing a shot over whilst Namquita had a decent chance with a free-kick but fired it straight into the wall.

Aylesbury had a late corner kick to threaten with but this time Jones’ delivery came to nothing, and the sides deservedly shared the spoils.