With defeat in last Saturday’s home match against Ashford still fresh in the mind, manager Glyn Creaser chose to rotate his squad for the visit of Egham Town. Nick Kalakoutis started his first match in place of Olly Stanbridge, while Troy Witter and Reece Cameron started in place of Bruno Brito and Gavin Hinds-Cadette, a move which saw Ollie Hogg playing at right back.

Playing an in-form Egham, who started the day in 6th position after an unbeaten run of 6 matches, the Ducks, with a strong wind in their favour, started positively. The game was only 6 minutes old when Jordon Frederick opened the scoring. After a Troy Witter effort was saved for a corner, keeper Jamie Norris could only palm Jake Bewley’s in swinging delivery weakly to the feet of Frederick. The midfielder did well to control the ball and fire a shot high into the net from 15 yards, crashing in off the underside of the bar. 1-0 Aylesbury

Just 3 minutes later and it could so easily have been two. Ollie Hogg did well to find Reece Cameron in the right channel, but his shot was just wide of the target.

Cameron went even closer in the 21st minute. A typically mazy dribble from Sonny French was followed by a good pass to Cameron, whose shot from 25 yards was touched onto the post by Norris at full stretch. The resulting corner was cleared for a throw in, but from the ball back in Troy Witter had a glorious chance to double the lead, but his free header from 10 yards was straight at keeper Norris.

Witter thought he had scored on 25 minutes; Kalakoutis and Cameron combined to set him clear of the defence and he shot across the keeper into the bottom corner. Unfortunately for the striker, the Assistant Referee’s flag was already raised for offside.

In the 27th minute Egham had their first sight of goal. Skipper Luke Neville took a free kick on halfway and found Brendan Matthew, but the centre forward’s header was weak and straight at Jack Sillitoe.

Three minutes before half time and the home crowd’s hearts were in their mouths, as Sillitoe came racing off his line to challenge Bajram Pashaj in the box. The striker went down and the ball went out of play, but referee Craig Simpson was well placed to determine that the keeper had got ball before player and awarded a corner.

A series of 3 corner kicks followed, from the last of them Ryan Kinnane headed clear and raced up field in support of Witter. The two combined and played the ball to French, who in turn laid the ball into the path of Cameron. However, the strikers shot lacked composure and cleared the bar to end the first half.

Half-time: Aylesbury 1-0 Egham

The second half started with the visitors making two changes, Richard Pacquette and Louis Stead, both who normally start games, coming on to add a more positive threat to what had been a weak attack in the first half.

Turning round to play against the wind, the home fans were hoping that the defence would be more resilient than last week in the same conditions. Seven minutes in and French picked up the ball on halfway and set off on one of his trademark driving runs at the defence. As he approached the penalty area a deft pass found Lea Coulter, however his finish didn’t match the build up, the shot going over the bar.

Two minutes later a long free kick from Ryan Phillips saw the ball half cleared and bouncing around in the box, before an attempt on goal was cleared off the line by Ollie Hogg. Just a minute later and Hogg was again the saviour, as a Phillips corner was headed goalwards by Luke Neville, the defender again well placed to clear. Just before the hour mark, Coulter was penalised for a foul on Neville 30 yards from goal; Pashaj hit the free kick with pace and power, but Sillitoe was down well at the base of his post to push the ball to safety.

In the 76th minute Cameron did well to feed the ball into the path of French, whose shot was deflected wide for a corner. From the resulting set piece, the ball was cleared up field, where Jordon Frederick misjudged his header as the wind assisted clearance bounced high on the dry pitch, setting Pacquette clear on goal. Sadly for the visitors, the striker’s attempt to lob Sillitoe was a poor effort, comfortably clearing the bar.

With 8 minutes left, Pacquette was denied again, this time Jack Wood doing well to block his powerful goal bound shot for a corner. In the 85th minute, great work down the left involving French and Brito saw a low cross fizzed across the area, forcing Yorke to concede another corner. French delivered a ball to the near post where Greg Williams arrived and timed his jump perfectly, but could only direct his header straight at keeper Norris.

As the match entered added on time, the Ducks had one final opportunity; French sprayed a cross field ball to Coulter, who in turn found Cameron, whose measured side footed shot was narrowly wide of the post.

That was to be the last meaningful action of the game, with the Ducks showing much more resilience against the conditions than they had the week before, generally defending well in the face of a strong wind, deservedly holding on to their slender lead to take all 3 points and dent the Sarnies hopes of a play-off place.The win lifted the Ducks 3 places in the league to 12th, within sight of a top ten finish.

Next up is a trip to Cherrrywood Road, the home of second placed Farnborough, who will be looking to consolidate their place in the play offs and keep up the chase on leaders Royston Town.