Against a side with just one league point to their name, the Ducks ultimately made harder work than should have been necessary of collecting the three points, but got the job done in the end.

Ollie Hogg’s first two goals for the club gave United a commanding lead inside the first twenty minutes, at which stage it looked like a case of ‘how many’.

But Histon’s newly-installed manager Lance Key clearly made his presence felt at half time as his fired up charges emerged.

That, coupled with the loss of both Aylesbury central defenders to injury, saw the hosts score early and go on to bombard the visitors, albeit fruitlessly as Aylesbury stood firm and prevent an equaliser.

United nearly scored as early as the second minute when Josh Baines was played in, rounded goalkeeper Niall Conroy only to see his shot scraped off the line by a recovering defender.

It set the stage of a rampant opening from the Ducks, with Baines’s cross cannoning off a defender narrowly wide of being an own goal, and then a number of corner kicks coming to nothing.

From the final of a succession of three, Histon countered with Simon Unwin breaking down the right where he cut inside and fired a weak effort straight at Zaki Oualah.

It was a rare attacking moment for the Stutes, and it came as no surprise when Aylesbury made a tenth minute breakthrough. Chid Onokwai had a shot blocked, but as the ball fell to Jake Bewley he stood it up to the far post where Hogg was arriving to bravely head home, suffering a facial injury in the process. 1-0 Aylesbury

Onokwai himself nearly made it 2-0 moments later when a half cleared free kick was lofted back into the box by Ollie Stanbridge, where the striker was completely free but made poor contact with his header.

The second goal was also a product of good work from Onokwai, flicking a fine ball into the path of Sonny French who looked to have taken it too wide but managed to pick out Hogg in the box to fire home from close range, despite the efforts of a defender on the line. 2-0 Aylesbury

An opportunistic effort from Elkanah Sibanda nearly brought Histon back into the game, as he bent an unexpectedly direct attempt from a free kick just past the post with Oualah scrambling across.

But it continued to be the visitors who were dominant, Jack Wood popping up on the right to help the ball on for Onokwai who lashed a shot over.

Greg Williams, with a typical near-post run to Hogg’s corner, then forced Conroy to make an outstanding save as the Stutes stopper acrobatically turned his powerful header over the bar.

The loss on the half hour mark of Ellis Hercules to injury saw Gavin Hinds-Cadette come on to replace him, and whether it was a factor with Aylesbury still reorganising, Histon ended the half enjoying their best spell of the match so far.

A minute from the break they hit the bar when debutant Ross Munro made himself first to Sibanda’s inswinging delivery to crash his effort against the woodwork, before Matty Allan had an effort saved by Oualah having intercepted the ball in midfield and taken it on.

Half-time: Histon 0-2 Aylesbury

Aylesbury suffered another blow in the first minute of the second period, losing Ryan Kinnane to what appeared to be concussion after a clash with Ben Yeomans as the pair contested an aerial ball.

With the Ducks temporarily down to ten-men, a cross clipped in from the right was met by a suspiciously offside-looking Yeomans who made no mistake in heading home a goal that surely wouldn’t have happened with Kinnane not out of the action. 1-2

Suddenly, it was game on again and far from the comfortable second period United had been hoping for.

With the next move Histon nearly levelled, as confusion in the makeshift Ducks defence allowed Jake Chambers-Shaw to latch onto a flick-on and run clean through, but Oualah was off his line swiftly to halt the diminutive attacker’s progress.

Yeomans was next to go close when a throw in from the left found him in space, hooking a volley just past the upright.

Having weathered the early bombardment, United began to settle, and midway through the half fashioned a decent opening of their own when Onokwai got the better of the last defender having been played in over the top, his lob dropping narrowly over the bar.

The same player went close again three minutes afterwards when he set off on a superb run but rolled his low shot just the wrong side of the post, unable to crown his league debut with a goal.

The danger was far from over for Aylesbury, with substitute Danny Gould’s run down the right ending with him finding Unwin who was free in the area but found his shot charged down where it looped behind.

The resulting corner was headed wide by Max York, whilst another move then saw Chris Hyem ride a challenge in midfield but his final pass was poor and sent the attacker too wide across goal, although Oualah still had to do a good job in smothering.

Aylesbury were next to hit the crossbar as Baines was cruelly denied a third Ducks goal. Sonny French lead a counter attack before playing in Baines to his left, the former Thatcham attack curling a perfect looking effort over Conroy where it struck the underside of the bar before bouncing down and away.

Back at the other end and Hinds-Cadette was in the right place to block a Cameron Watson effort as a throw in dropped to him in the area, whilst a number of further Histon corners came to nothing, and Yeomans tried his luck from range but could only produce a weak shot that was comfortably fielded.

As the minutes ticked frustrations started to bubble over for both sides, and, following a number of bookings shortly before, a bout of ridiculous handbags lead to two more for each team.

It proved to be the last action of the game, following seven minutes of stoppage time, as a rather overdue league win for the Ducks eventually arrived.