Following the disappointment of losing the Aylesbury derby on Bank Holiday Monday, it was a much depleted Ducks squad which made their way round the M25 to take on Egham Town. Missing from the last match were Taylor Collins, who although named on the bench was too ill to travel, Sonny French and Steve Hatch who were both unavailable. Also missing from the squad was Bill Morgan and Shaun Owens, joining Ash Farmer, Jake Bewley and Jordan Frederick on the injured list. To complete the list of unavailable players, John Mulholland was suspended after a recent sending off for the Reserve team. On the positive side, Paul Edgeworth was available and started along with Stacey Field, promoted from the subs bench and Lewis Osborne, making his first appearance after recovering from the broken leg he suffered last season. New signing Remy Forrester joined Joey Acheampong and Jack Sillitoe on a very sparsely populated bench.

The hosts have had a similarly inconsistent start to the season, winning just one league match so far and exiting the FA Cup this week after a replay at Slimbridge.

It was Aylesbury who had the first opportunity, with Field doing well to force a corner down the left in the 5th minute; however the ball in from Edgeworth’s corner was cleared as far as Danny Bassett on the right of midfield. He did well to get goal side of Lee Grace and forced a fine early save from Alex Tokarczyk low at his near post. Four minutes later, a loose crossfield pass from Grace fell to left back Mason Welch-Turner, who advanced and struck a shot from 25 yards, which Tokarczyk was again a match for, tipping the ball over his bar.

It was the home side who were in the ascendancy as the half progressed, with Josh Andrews in particular proving to be a threat on the left wing. In the 16th minute his cross was deflected over the bar, from which Luke Neville saw his free header clear the bar.

There was a worrying moment for the Ducks in the 20th minute, when Alex Collard went down injured holding his foot. After on field treatment he limped to the sidelines and received further attention. It was while the Ducks were down to 10 men that the Sarnies took the lead. In the 24th minute, a seemingly innocuous ball down the right saw Bassett cut into the box, with Jack Wood in close attendance. However, as he checked back out towards the edge of the area, Lee Grace clipped his ankle and conceded a rather soft penalty. Bassett stepped up to take the kick himself and placed the ball to Tokarczyk’s left as the keeper dived the other way. 1-0 Egham

As the Ducks restarted the match, Collard rejoined his team mates, thankfully fit enough to continue. Five minutes after the opening goal, the Ducks had their first shot on target. Billy Adcock received the ball 25 yards from goal and curled a shot towards the top corner; however home keeper Jamie Norris was equal to his attempt and saved easily.

However, the Ducks were back in the game just a minute later. Lewis Osborne won the ball on the halfway line and played a delightful ball down the left wing which Lee Grace did well to reach. His first time cross was half cleared by the defence, but only as far as Shane Wood, who lashed home a shot with his left foot from 10 yards for his first goal for the club. 1-1

The goal visibly lifted the team, who were attempting to pass the ball around the pitch. However, as with most matches so far, the forward movement wasn’t sufficiently good enough to create the openings or space needed for the ball to be played into, all too often the defence having to revert to a long hopeful ball which the Egham defence dealt with easily.

In the 37th minute, Bajram Pashaj cut in from the left flank and shot from 20 yards, however his shot was deflected wide of Tokarczyk’s goal and away for a corner. Two minutes later, Andrews got free again down the left. He linked well with Bassett, who played the ball into Brendan Matthew, but the attack was overplayed, allowing Osborne to get back and make a saving tackle as the striker was about to shoot.

In the 40th minute, Edgeworth collected the ball from a defensive corner and played a long ball to Field, just inside the opposition half. He tried one of his trademark instinctive early shots, which unfortunately for him was underhit and was the cause of a hamstring injury which forced him off the pitch to be replaced by Joey Acheampong, adding to the long list of Ducks injured players.

As the game entered added on time at the end of the half, a long ball forward by Welch-Turner saw a lack of communication between Tokarczyk and Collard. Matthew nipped in between them as the ball reached the penalty area, to be brought down by the keeper as he was going away from goal. Just as his colleague Bassett had done earlier, Matthew placed the ball on the spot and easily sent Tokarczyk the wrong way, placing the ball in an identical place to the first penalty. 2-1 Egham

The second half started with Edgeworth partnering Eoin Casey up from, with Acheampong filling in on the right of midfield. Three minutes into the half, a great move involving Casey and Acheampong found Shane Wood overlapping down the right. His dangerous cross was thankfully palmed over the bar by Norris. From the resulting Edgeworth corner, Collard got up well and directed a powerful header on target, only to see Welch-Turner clear on the line.

The Ducks had started the half brightly, next it was Casey who had a chance, as he chased a through ball to go one on one with Norris, however the home keeper was able to block the initial shot and Casey’s follow up effort. Casey was in the thick of the action, and was fouled by Larry Boateng 25 yards from goal. Edgeworth stepped up and struck the ball well, but again Norris was equal to his effort and was able to parry the ball away to safety.

In the 62nd minute, a Shane Wood long throw was flicked on by Collard as far as Edgeworth with his back to goal, however his audacious attempt at a back heel effort was blocked by the defence.

The home side almost extended their lead in the 65th minute; Bassett received the ball in the middle of the penalty area and evaded the attempted challenges of 3 Ducks defenders to strike a firm shot at goal, which Tokarczyk did well to save.

Just 5 minutes later, a long ball dropped over the head of Collard which Matthew raced onto. Once again though, Tokarczyk was equal to his attempt, making a fine one handed save. He was to do similar in the 82nd minute, this time the ball fell to substitute Darren Caesar, whose low shot from 25 yards was well saved.

Five minutes from the end of normal time, it looked as if the Ducks would equalise. A deep Edgeworth corner found Collard, whose header back across goal was just slightly behind an unmarked Jack Wood, who couldn’t get any power in his header and directed it wide of the post.

Three minutes later, Wood had another chance. Adcock was fouled by Andrews 20 yards out. Edgeworth’s clever free kick saw the skipper make a run to the near post, but again his header from 15 yards lacked the power to unduly trouble Norris.

That was to be the last real opportunity of them match, and another disappointing defeat in a match where the chances were there to win the game.

To lose by 2 soft penalties is a little harsh on a team who is clearly trying hard to play their football the right way, but is being frustrated by the number of unavailable players at present. Starting the game with 9 of the squad unavailable for one reason or another would be hard for any team to cope with. Add Stacey Field to the injured list after today’s match and it is obvious that the squad is being extremely stretched.

If there is a small silver lining to the defeat in the FA Cup last week, it is that there is now a 2 week break before the match at home to Chalfont St Peter on 19th Sep. We can only hope that the injury situation has eased before then and that the manager has a bigger squad to choose from.