After the frustration of seeing both festive period matches postponed, Aylesbury United travelled to the Eyrie to take on Bedford Town, looking for a repeat of their narrow victory of last season. However, more recent in the memory is the sound beating the Ducks suffered in the home match played between the teams earlier this season. Such has been the change in the squad since that match, only 3 players that played that evening were in the match day squad for the return fixture, skipper Jack Wood, his defensive colleague Alex Collard and Shaun Owens. The team showed 5 changes from the team that earned a hard fought draw against Northwood before Christmas. Alvin Rajaram switched to left back in place of the suspended Jake Bewley, Paul Lyon returned in central midfield in place of the ill Greg Williams and Chris Crook returned to central defence with Jack Wood moving across to right back in place of Ricky Brown who dropped to the subs bench. Up front, Tyrone Taylor and [player name removed] were paired together with Lea Coulter unavailable.

The Ducks started the match slowly, with the hosts having the better of the opening exchanges, without ever threatening to score. It was the Ducks who had the first meaningful strike on goal; in the 9th minute Tyrone Taylor was fouled by former Duck Kyal McNulty 30 yards out. From the resulting free kick, Paul Lyon struck a volley from 30 yards which was just wide of the right hand post. Buoyed by this, the Ducks had another chance 3 minutes later, this time Alvin Rajaram overlapped down the left and found Lewis Osborne, whose snapshot was deflected behind for a corner. On 24 minutes, good work from Bruno Brito and Taylor found [name removed] 25 yards out, but his shot was too high to trouble the home goal. Three minutes later and Bedford could easily have taken the lead. Forte on the right wing crossed, Collard’s header clear fell to Clifford on the edge of the penalty area, but his shot was blocked by Oualah. The ball rebounded to McNulty but his shot was straight at Oualah who made a comfortable save. In the 35th minute Brito let fly from 30 yards with a left foot volley which flew narrowly wide. The Ducks came very close to opening the scoring just before half time. A long ball from defence was cleared to [name removed] 25 yards out, his shot took a slight deflection which brought the ball closer to the Bedford keeper who was able to make a good save.

Following the break, Bedford started the second half much more positively, taking the game to the Ducks. Just 4 minutes in and a great cross from full back Sambou found Obafemi unmarked at the far post, but his header from 10 yards was directed over the bar. The same man had another great opportunity to open the scoring 5 minutes later; a cross from the left finding him free 12 yards out, but Oualah was quickly off his line to pressurise him into hurrying his shot, which again cleared the bar. In the 59th minute Paul Lyon reacted angrily to a heavy tackle on him by Josh Beech. After a spell of “handbags” involving players from both sides, referee Mr Bright gave a yellow card to both players for their behaviour, Beech slightly fortunate not to have seen red considering his initial tackle seemed worthy of a yellow itself. Following his yellow card, Lyon was substituted, to be replaced by Shiblu Miah. This necessitated a change of formation, with Taylor dropping deeper into a central midfield role, somewhat disrupting the team dynamic.

In the 65th minute, the home side took the lead, in what has to be described as fortuitous circumstances. Centre forward Diop fed the ball to strike partner Obafemi on the left, whose low cross was deflected into his own net by Alex Collard, leaving Oualah stranded. It was a cruel blow for the Ducks, who had more than matched their opponents up until then. Looking to get back in the game, the Ducks had a great opportunity in the 78th minute. Miah and Rajaram combined well down the left and squared the ball to Owens 30 yards out. His shot, greeted by jeers from the home support, dipped late and crashed against the cross bar with keeper Siwe well beaten. The rebound fell to Taylor, who had a great chance to equalise, but he couldn’t direct his attempt on goal. That proved to be a key moment in the game and whether the Ducks’ confidence dropped or Bedford’s was raised is a question that could be debated, but from that moment Bedford took a firm grip on the game. Four minutes later, another attack down the left found Diop on the left edge of the area. The tall striker advanced on goal and easily scored past Oualah to double the lead. The coup de grace was applied 5 minutes later, substitute Lester crossing to the far post where Yafai headed back across goal to Beech, who had a tap in on the goal line.

A disappointing defeat on their travels for Aylesbury United, who could have got more from the game if they had been more clinical in front of goal. Certainly goal scoring seems to be an issue at present, with only 4 goals scored in the last 7 matches. As important though will be trying to get a settled side going forward, as the team faces a tough run of 4 matches against clubs in the top 5 in the league in the next 3 weeks, as well as a Red Insure Cup match against Leamington who sit just outside the play off places in the Premier Division.