Aylesbury United earned a noble point against league leaders Kettering Town, yet it could have been much more after the Ducks stormed into an early two-goal lead with opportunities to extend their lead further.
Instead, their table-topping visitors hit back with a goal on the stroke of half-time, and then a leveller in the second half to complete their fight back and ensure the sides had to settle for a point apiece.
After their New Year’s Day battle with Aylesbury FC, Shane Wood and Lewis Putman were fit again to resume their starting positions, whilst Lea Coulter also returned to the lineup, in place of John Mulholland, Jason Blackett and Ben Baines respectively.
Kettering made the early moves and in the sixth minute the ball was lofted into the box where David Kolodynski and Elliot Sandy were both unable to profit from the ensuing scramble.
Two minutes afterwards and Brett Solkhon’s flick on fed Sandy whose fierce volley was matched by a superb tip wide from on-loan goalkeeper Tahj Bell.
That save came at the expense of a corner kick, but it was from that too deeply played set piece which Aylesbury opened the scoring. The visitors left themselves short in numbers, and as United broke swiftly found themselves two-on-two with Putman bringing the ball a long way before firing in a low cross which was inadvertently turned into the net for an own goal. 1-0 Aylesbury
After Aylesbury’s Greg Williams headed narrowly wide from the edge of the box, the ever dangerous Kolodynski had a good chance to equalise when he collected a through ball but was thwarted by Bell who was quickly out to save.
United then stunned Town with a second goal, Putman netting his 20th goal of the season. Shane Wood’s long throw was only cleared as far as the striker, whose effort took a big deflection and looped into the net. 2-0 Aylesbury
He had an almost instant chance to score again too, when a ball put him up against last defender Jason Lee whom he outmuscled and dinked the ball into the net, only for referee Mr Richardson to adjudge him to have fouled his marker.
Kettering continued probing with Kolodynski playing in Andy Hall but his low shot was a routine save for Bell, and it was the same player then saving his side at the other end, heading Bill Morgan’s goal bound header off the line from Jesse Waites’s corner kick.
With joint manager Scott Machin on the sidelines clearly livid with his side’s performance, the Poppies opted for an early change as Andrew Gooding replaced Andy Hall, and he should have scored with his first touch when Moreman set him up in the box only for a scuffed shot not threatening Bell.
In the space of two minutes shortly before half time came a big turning point as Aylesbury missed their opportunity to put the game out of reach, before Kettering pulled back a crucial goal.
Lewis Putman jinked his way past several defenders before finding Steve Hatch in the area who was just unable to convert. Hatch remained in his forward position as the ball ran wide to Stacey Field, who crossed into the box where the Ducks number seven somehow struck the crossbar from five-yards out.
Josh Moreman was the scorer of Kettering’s goal, firing a rebound past the unfortunate Bell who had just made a superb one-handed save to keep out a header from Brett Solkhon. 1-2
He then had chance to bring the game level when picked out after a corner kick, but crashed a shot over the bar as Aylesbury’s slender lead remained in place to the interval.
Half-time: Aylesbury 2-1 Kettering
The game started explosively when Kolodynski went down in the area, to the clear annoyance of Bill Morgan who was quickly in his face sparking a bout of handbags, the referee, after discussion with his assistant, deciding that a talking to for both players was sufficient.
Aylesbury were forced to replace hamstring injury victim Jesse Waites with Joey Acheampong early in the half, but the Ducks were managing to keep Kettering at bay until the 66th minute when Kolodynski’s low ball into the box cannoned wide off Sandy.
The leveller arrived just four minutes later, coming from a quite superb James Jepson free kick which curled left-footed in off the post well out of the despairing reach of Bell. 2-2
With even more impetus, Kettering stepped up their quest for a winner with a long range effort from Kolodynski held by Bell, but their finishing continued to disappoint with Sandy only producing a weak shot having been played in over the top.
At the other end, Putman went for a goal with a direct free kick of his own, but fired wide of the target.
The last fifteen minutes could have gone either way as the match finished in end to end style. Bell was called into action again when he tipped Gooding’s rising drive wide of the post, before Morgan headed a corner towards goal only for teammate Coulter to get in the way.
Then, Robinson crashed over having played a neat one-two to setup the opportunity after United were unable to clear their lines, before Hatch fired a long range drive just past the upright.
A number of substitutions disrupted the final minutes, and Robinson’s badly miscued long shot flying well wide was the only further threat Aylesbury faced to their point, as it finished honours even.
