Lea Coulter’s fifth goal of the season earned Aylesbury United a share of the spoils against Beaconsfield SYCOB in their penultimate league game of the season in a typical end of season game lacking in highlights on a bumpy pitch.
With Stacey Field back in the fold there was one change to the team that lost at Northwood – as he replaced Shaun Owens.
The visitors started the strongest and, after a trio of corner kicks had come to nothing, opened the scoring after ten minutes. A cleared corner kick was immediately helped back forwards over the defence where Aaron Berry ran on and slotted past a hesitant Dan Green. 1-0 Beaconsfield
Aylesbury looked for a quick response, and Jack Wood’s firm header from a Sonny French corner kick saw them almost level straight away.
The Rams then could have added a second when Ashley Kelynack headed the ball on for Victor Osobu who could only screw a shot wide of the target as the ball wouldn’t drop kindly for him.
United at this point were struggling to mount any meaningful attacking moves, with Williams and Frederick both off the mark with wayward long shots. Aaron Berry then hit a woeful effort off target, as did Field for Aylesbury as the first half continued to fall short on quality.
As the minutes ticked by, the Ducks gradually improved and when Stacey Field nipped onto a high ball a head of goalkeeper Sam Bunting his header towards goal had to be put behind by a defender. Jack Wood’s effort from the resulting corner struck a defender and also went behind, with Jordan Frederick’s eventual low shot bouncing around the area before being cleared.
Half-time: Aylesbury 0-1 Beaconsfield
Early in the second period Tony Joyce opted for a mass reshuffle as he made a triple substitution – with Bill Morgan, Shane Wood and Lea Coulter entering the fray.
Sadly, Shane Wood was caught by Kelynack just three minutes later sustaining a knee injury that saw him require treatment on the pitch. Still moving gingerly, he was eventually moved up front for the remainder of the game, rather than the Ducks going down to ten men.
Before that, Aylesbury continued their improvement and after a Paul Edgeworth free kick took a slight nick on its way through to Bunting, the Ducks drew level. Jack Wood – playing in midfield at that point after the changes – slotted a fine through ball for Coulter to run onto and place a shot across Bunting and into the far corner. 1-1
The closing quarter of the game could have seen either side claim a winner. Berry found midfielder Charlie Losasso on the edge of the box whose deflected shot had the power taken out of it and was easily fielded by Green.
Losasso was teed up again three minutes later, with his low effort again taking a deflection and flying behind for a corner kick.
Aylesbury keeper Green was called into action once more on 79 minutes when a ball over the top found the ever-dangerous Osobu whose low drive was kept out by the legs of Green.
The last ten minutes saw Shane Wood booked having got involved in some silliness with Ollie Jones, before the players looked to provide some entertainment with a late melee. A corner kick was met with another well placed Jack Wood header, which was heroically cleared off the line and when Bunting lost the rebound a mad scramble ensued as players tried to hack the ball away from him, leading to a bout of handbags.
Bunting then very nearly spilled a low Edgeworth shot right into the path of Coulter, but regained his composure at the last moment in what was Aylesbury’s last goalmouth action.
In stoppage time at the other end Berry turned sharply in the box but blazed well over the bar when a simple pass into Osobu would have given his strike partner a free shot at goal.
Osobu’s frustrations boiled over in the dying seconds when he was booked for dissent, and the sides weren’t to be separated as full time duly followed.
