For the first home match of 2018, manager Ben Williams was forced to reshuffle the pack, with the departing Tre Mitford replaced up front by Bruno Brito, making his first starting appearance since September. The absence of the injured James Gurteen saw Jeanmal Prosper line up along side skipper Jack Wood in the centre of defence and Sonny French restored to starting XI. New signings from Beaconsfield Town, Callum Mapley and Kofi Lockhart-Adams were named on the subs bench.

A quiet opening period saw the visitors have the first chance on goal. In the 8th minute centre forward Dan Fleming won a header and controlled the ball when it dropped, then passed to skipper Jack Beadle on the left. He cut inside Ollie Stanbridge and fired a low shot from 20 yards which Jack Sillitoe saved well at his near post. Three minutes later Aaron Couch collected a long ball on the right and passed infield to Sonny French. He in turn passed square to Connor Furlong who sliced his shot wide of the goal.

Just before the 20 minute mark, Couch again found space on the right, this time passing to Stanbridge who found Brito unmarked 25 yards from goal. The Portuguese striker turned and fired an instinctive shot which was always rising and cleared the crossbar.

On 23 minutes, a glorious cross field ball from Ollie Hogg found Furlong on the left flank; the young winger beat his marker and cut inside, but like his previous shot, couldn’t find the target. Furlong was involved again a minute later, his neat backheel finding Jake Bewley on the overlap, but although he beat Tobin to the ball, his cross found the side netting. A foul on Greg Williams 30 yards out saw Hogg step up to take the free kick, but his effort was high and wide of the goal.

On 31 minutes the visitors thought they had taken the lead; a long ball forward saw Sillitoe advance outside of his penalty area, only to be beaten to the ball by James Cottee. His touch on the ball took it past the keeper into the path of Beadle who side footed home, however the assistant referee had already raised his flag to signal that he was offside.

Brito was next to threaten as a long throw by Wood was flicked to him by Prosper, but his first time shot was well saved at the near post by Tobin. With 41 minutes gone, a long ball found Furlong on the left; again he cut inside Samad Kazi but his shot with his weaker right foot was disappointing and failed to trouble Tobin. Just a minute later Tommy Brunton did well on the left and played a deep cross to the far post to Fleming, whose powerful first time volley was wide of the post. As half time approached good work between Brito and Couch saw Brito shoot just wide of the near post.

Half-time: Aylesbury 0-0 Ashford

The second half started with a ball played into the Ducks’ penalty area which was half cleared by Prosper, only as far as Brunton, but the defender did well to close the striker down and block his shot.

On 51 minutes Brito found French who sidestepped his defender and saw his shot deflected wide for a corner. From Hogg’s delivery, the ball was headed clear but played back in towards Prosper on the edge of the penalty area; as he attempted to reach the ball he was pulled back, resulting in the award of a penalty. Hogg stepped up and fired confidently into the bottom corner. 1-0 Aylesbury

Far from being downhearted, the visitors went on the attack immediately; a long ball into the penalty area was miscontrolled by Stanbridge and fell to Fleming, whose first time shot was well saved by Sillitoe at the expense of a corner. From the flag kick, Max Webb rose highest at the far post and powered home an equaliser. 1-1

The game was very even at this stage, with the visitors going close to taking the lead in the 69th minute. A long cross field ball found Fleming wide on the left; he cut inside Bewley and hit a left foot shot just wide of the near post.

On 70 minutes the Ducks made a substitution, with Lockhart-Adams replacing Brito up front to provide fresh legs to the Ducks attack.

From the very next attack, Alex Fisher passed forward to Brunton whose shot was blocked by Greg Williams, with the Ashford players appealing for a penalty for handball, but referee Moore was unmoved.

A series of substitutions interrupted the pattern of play as the game approached the final minutes. With the Ducks faithful hoping that their team could hold on and claim their first point since the win at Chalfont in November, things took a turn for the better. Good work down the right by Stanbridge and substitute Harry Jones saw the hosts win a corner. Hogg’s pinpoint delivery to the far post was met by the head of Jack Wood and his bullet header gave keeper Tobin no chance. 2-1 Aylesbury

Buoyed by this goal, three minutes later good work by Lockhart-Adams on the left found Furlong whose shot from an acute angle was just over the cross bar. The last action of the game saw Beadle doing well on the left and crossing to Cottee, but his header was wide of Sillitoe’s right post.

The referee blew his whistle shortly afterwards to give the Ducks a well-deserved 3 points, which should give caretaker manager Ben Williams and the team plenty of confidence ahead of games at home against Bedford on Wednesday and away at Barton next weekend.