Aylesbury safely navigated away from any FA Cup upset at Bell Close with two first half goals enough to see off Westfield 2-0.
Stacey Field scored on his second start since returning from injury, and once Ben Baines had tucked away the second with just a quarter of the match gone, it was a relatively comfortable evening for the Ducks with Jack Sillitoe not having a serious save to make.
United were forced into a late change, as Shane Wood had to sit out injured allowing Lee Grace in for his full debut with Zack Reynolds dropping into defence. The visitors were without scorer from the first match, Simon Sheppard, presumably having not recovered from the injury that forced him out of that game, but strikers Jimmy Norman and Dan Band were both back on the bench.
After a slow opening to the match, it was Aylesbury who scored first as the quarter hour arrived. Field raced away having fed off strike partner Jason Blackett’s headed flick, and rifled home with his left foot from just outside the box. 1-0 Aylesbury
The Ducks pressed on and three minutes later Keith Williams’s searching free kick was headed too high by Blackett, unable to get over the ball before the same player then fancied his chances from long range but Craig Bradshaw was left with a routine catch.
Westfield’s best moment of the first half came on 19 minutes when a fine ball from midfield set Max Blackmore scampering away down the right but his shot on the run was easy for Sillitoe to hold onto.
Back at the other end and another Williams set piece was headed wide by Armstrong beyond the far post, but it took just two minutes for United to double their advantage.
The goal was something of a fortuitous one, as Grace wound up a long shot from the left which ricocheted off a defender into the path of Ben Baines who really couldn’t miss the chance of his first goal of the season, from six yards. 2-0 Aylesbury
Already looking a long way back for the Combined Counties side, things nearly got worse almost straight away as a Zack Reynolds shoot looped up off a defender and just over the bar.
As the half wore on some niggly moments began creeping into proceedings, and Blackett and Luke Beale were both warned for fouls in quick succession before Shane Cheeseman was cautioned for a poor challenge on Jack Wood.
Richard Armstrong and Bill Morgan both missed the target after Keith Williams’s set pieces had been helped in their direction, and in stoppage time Williams himself curled a 40-yard free-kick just past the upright to bring a good first half from Aylesbury to a close.
Half-time: Aylesbury 2-0 Westfield
The Yellas introduced two new strikers at the interval as Jimmy Norman and Asif Hussain entered the fray, but a lack of composure in the final third cost them early in the half as, after an ambitious overhead effort from Jack Williams flew well wide, two shooting chances were wasted on 48 minutes by poor touches, and then a good passing move had let in Liam Parrington only for his lack of control to take him away from goal and the opening was gone.
Aylesbury were never able to reach the same levels as the opening period in a stop start second half frequented by fouls and yellow cards for both sides.
Armstrong was having a dominant game in midfield, and on 52 minutes stepped past two men but couldn’t produce a finish to match. Soon afterwards he won the ball back in the centre and played in Field down the right whose whipped cross was headed over by Blackett, and on the hour mark Armstrong got the faintest of touches on Keith Williams’s corner but the ball carried just wide.
Norman provided a couple of bright moments for his side, firstly driving a free-kick from range wide of the goal, and then having a long shot straight at Sillitoe, but that was to be the last of the visitors as an attacking force.
The Ducks introduced Joey Acheampong, Daniel Jones and Dom Petrucci for the closing stages and it was the latter who produced a moment of brilliance in the 79th minute as he made drifting past two men look easy before planting a 25-yard shot just wide of a beaten Bradshaw.
Acheampong also went close when, played in by fellow substitute Jones, his hammered shot hit a defender and went behind.
Having been disappointed for so long, in the second minute of stoppage time it looked like United would finally extend their lead when Reynolds was clipped in the box. Up stepped Keith Williams, with a 100% success rate from the spot so far, only to be foiled by an excellent flying save from Bradshaw, and the score remained at 2-0.
There was still time for Williams to go close again, when the resulting corner found its way to him and he drilled just wide through a crowd of bodies.
Overall it was a very satisfying night’s work for the Ducks though, who secured their first home win and first clean sheet of the campaign and can now look forward to a 2nd Qualifying Round encounter with Skrill South side Staines Town.
Meanwhile, all credit to Westfield who can go out of the competition with their heads held high, and proud of their best ever FA Cup run. We wish them well.
