A late Christopher Morgan goal settled this game between fifth placed Aylesbury United and fourth placed Haringey Borough, and effectively secured fourth spot for Borough with just three games remaining.
Paul Edgeworth and Tom Barnett returned to the starting line-up, Joey Acheampong and Joe Donaldson dropping to the bench – the former with a knock – and manager Tony Joyce sprung a surprise by deploying Ben Baines in defence as part of the 3-5-2 system utilise of late.
He had a creditable game alongside colleagues Jack Wood and John Mulholland, but it was in midfield where the Ducks really struggled as the experienced heads of Haringey’s Dewayne Clarke and Steve Obeng bossed the pitch.
Aylesbury made a bright and energetic start to the game, and with just three minutes on the clock Stacey Field hooked an effort just over the bar with his back to goal.
Some good football then saw Warren Garcia feed Field who in turn played in Barnett, but his shot was charged down in the area.
Not much in the way of goalmouth action followed for some time, Paul Edgeworth firing in an effort which lacked the power to test Tamai in the opposing goal, before Borough had their first meaningful attempt when Clarke strode forward but belted a long range shot well over.
As the half drew to a close only a brilliant save from Jack Sillitoe kept the scores level, the backpeddling keeper tipping over a flicked effort from Andreas Loizou, but it all came about through an awful moment of miscommunication between keeper and Mulholland.
Roland Namquita had a shot blocked, whilst Edgeworth hit another weak shot goalwards before referee Mr Lukauskis somewhat prematurely brought an end to the first half – clearly tired at the lack of excitement - after exactly 45 minutes despite earlier stoppages in play.
Half-time: Aylesbury 0-0 Haringey
The visitors started the second half well on top and with an early procession of chances it looked like only a matter of time before the deadlock was broken.
On 49 minutes Dean Fenton cut the ball back from the byeline for Loizou who could only hammer the ball over from inside the area.
A minute later the ball dropped for Fenton himself on the edge of the box, but he crashed an attempted volley over the bar, before Charlie Douse followed suit after a bout of penalty box pinball from a free-kick delivery.
Aylesbury made a mess of clearing the resulting corner, and Clarke was able to drive in a good strike which Sillitoe turned wide – as only one team looked like scoring.
A blatant looking handball in the box by Baines then went unpunished, though there were no great appeals from the travelling players, before another Haringey corner somehow wasn’t turned in with United’s defence at sea.
The Ducks responded with a double substitution – Daniel Jones, struggling with a knock, replaced by Marcus Sawyer, and Joey Acheampong entering the fray for Sam Slatter.
It worked in part as Aylesbury were momentarily improved – Sawyer delivering one telling cross which Tamai flapped at but did just enough to keep away from the waiting Russell Clark at the far post.
United now had some momentum for the first time of the second half and Acheampong set off on a run at the defence and fired in a shot which span off a defender towards goal but narrowly wide and behind for a corner.
The corner kick was well delivered by Sawyer and met by a top corner bound header from Mulholland, only for Tamai to save and pluck the ball out of the air.
Four minutes later and another great cross in from Sawyer was again lost by Tamai, the ball dropping to Acheampong but he couldn’t quite screw the ball in from a tight angle.
With United on the front foot it was almost inevitable that Haringey would take the lead with a cutting counter attack. The ball was worked down the right and crossed low into the box where Morgan was well positioned to sweep it into the net. 1-0 Haringey
After taking the lead, the visitors then did a solid job of closing out the game – as Aylesbury struggled to make any further impact on the match.
That was until the first minute of stoppage time when a deep corner kick from Sawyer was met at the far post by Mulholland, but he couldn’t quite get enough purchase on the ball to force it over the line.
It meant a 1-0 defeat and a disappointing start to the month, but no shame for the Ducks against a very good Haringey side packed with plenty of players with higher level experience.
