Aylesbury’s poor record in the FA Vase continued as they were dumped out at home to Kidlington, falling at the first hurdle for the second year in a row.

With John Mulholland (suspended), Greg Williams and Stacey Field (injured), Ben Hammond (cup tied) and Zac Reynolds all unavailable, it was a depleted Ducks squad meaning a first start in two-years for 41-year old manager Tony Joyce.

And with Tom Barnett, Michal Korpala and Matt Timberlake on the bench in name only, it meant Field nursing his bruised ribs injury as United’s only recognised substitute.

To their credit, Aylesbury battled well and had much of the play in the first half, only to find themselves trailing at the interval to Jack Dunmore’s goal and an early second half doubler had the match decided.

Kidlington had the first chance of the game when Ryan Curtin was shepherded away from goal by Steve Hatch, but got in a cross-shot that sailed harmlessly wide. Then, a ball in from the right dropped to Curtin whose volley was deflected wide.

After 13 minutes Aylesbury’s first meaningful attempt was created by Louis Austin who managed to engineer himself a shooting opportunity, the ball coming back off goalkeeper Matt Dixon where Joey Acheampong skewed the rebound well wide.

For all their good work – and there was plenty of it – United weren’t able to fashion much in the way of shooting opportunities, but did have a number of corners – nine in the first half – which were largely wasted.

The visitors edged ahead after twenty minutes, with an excellent strike although there was an element of good fortune in the goal. One of the aforementioned wasted corners was quickly countered by Kidlington. Jack Wood made a fine sliding challenge to deny Curtin, but the ball fell kindly for Jack Dunmore to loft the ball over defenders and stranded Jack Sillitoe into the net. 1-0 Kidlington

United continued forcing corners after the goal, but it was Kidlington who again threatened with their own set piece which was excellently headed away by Ben Baines.

Midway through the half Russell Clark suffered a knee injury, and Field was introduced to the match.

Aylesbury had little to show for their possession, and even three successive corner kicks came to nothing – an Edgeworth volley flying well over the bar the only shot United could muster for a while.

Out of nothing, Louis Austin suddenly found himself in behind the defence as Field swept a 39th minute pass forwards, but with the ball running away from him on the unpredictable Bell Close pitch, he could only shoot straight at Dixon.

A minute later and Austin was involved again as he got away down the right and crossed for Field to fire just wide.

Sillitoe was called into action again at the other end when he got down well to save Aaron Posey’s shot with his legs after a move down the right, and from the resulting corner kick routine to the edge of the box Posey was unable to get a clean shot away.

Half chances before the break fell the way of Field, whose effort was blocked, and a quickly taken corner kick by Acheampong came to nothing as Kidlington lead the way with the interval arriving.

Half-time: Aylesbury 0-1 Kidlington

The second period started with the away side making their intentions known early on as they cut through Aylesbury with worrying ease, the ball eventually played inside to Curtin who fired over the stand from close range.

Just before the hour mark the lead was doubled – and again luck was not on Aylesbury’s side. A free-kick was swung in and headed goalwards, where Sillitoe’s attempted punch struck Curtin and flew into the net. 2-0 Kidlington

Almost immediately United looked to respond as Austin headed Joyce’s corner kick straight at the keeper but Sillitoe remained the busiest keeper as he saved with his legs again to deny Curtin’s volley from Parker’s lofted ball.

The best move of the game followed ninety-seconds later and ended as Posey fed the ball through for Parker who dinked a shot just wide.

In reality, the early second goal had put the game beyond Aylesbury, but they refused to give up and actually had their best spell of the match in the last fifteen minutes, going close on a number of occasions.

Austin’s ball into the box was met by Field who could only head straight at the keeper, before the Ducks substitute shot straight at the keeper’s legs from 3-yards out moments later as Kidlington were unable to clear their lines following move good wing play from Austin.

Acheampong hammered a volley wide of the target having been played in over the top, before Field’s effort cruelly rebounded back off the upright as Aylesbury began to sense it wasn’t to be their day.

One further effort came Kidlington’s way as Posey cut inside two men and saw his shot deflect off Hatch over the bar.

The match ended on something of a sad note as Joyce was shown a second yellow card in stoppage time, and, not for the first time in their history, Aylesbury left the field having failed to impress a relatively large crowd on the day.