Aylesbury were unable to improve on their dismal record at The Eyrie – or against Bedford Town in general – as they conceded three goals to the Eagles for the fourth meeting in a row.
With a number of the squad carrying knocks after a gruelling FA Trophy encounter two days earlier, manager Ben Williams opted to make five personnel (and several positional) changes, and gave a debut to on-loan Wycombe goalkeeper Cameron Yates.
The Ducks had made a decent start to proceedings and actually forced the first save of the night when the recalled Harry Jones ran into space but saw his shot beaten away, the unfortunate Benjy Aghadiuno slipping on the greasy turf as he closed in on the rebound.
Within 90 seconds Bedford were in front, with what was their first meaningful attack.
Callum Mapley charged into an ill-advised challenge on Jordan Jarrold as he attacked the area, and having got nowhere near the ball left referee Mr Barry little choice but to point to the spot. Ashton Grant stepped up to send Yates the wrong way and bring a quick end to any thoughts of a debut clean sheet. 1-0 Bedford
From that point Aylesbury found themselves outplayed by a very good Bedford team.
The Eagles were buoyed by their goal and quickly went in search of another with Jermaine Osei playing a neat one-two before seeing his long shot saved by Yates.
At the midpoint of the first half a superb flowing move saw Grant picked out Jarrold scampering forward from left back whose cross into the middle was fired over first time by Osei, who wouldn’t have to wait long for his first goal in Bedford colours.
Before that, Aylesbury registered as an attacking threat when Ben Seaton threaded Aghadiuno through and his low ball into the box deserved better than Prosper being unable to get a clean shot away.
Slick build up play involving Dan Walker then resulted in a tremendous goal-saving block from Jack Wood in the box, but two minutes later Bedford doubled their lead.
Former Luton Town man Walker was regularly proving too hot to handle, and his intelligent backheel found strike partner Osei whose 20-yarder arrowed perfectly into the bottom corner past the desperate dive of Yates. 2-0 Bedford
A long range curler from Aghadiuno was all that remained in first half action, as the Ducks left the pitch for the interval facing a second half mountain to climb.
Half-time: Bedford 2-0 Aylesbury
Their task wasn’t helped by the enforced withdrawal of Aaron Berry, who hadn’t been moving well for much of the first half, and he was replaced by Max Hercules.
Hercules was quickly involved when he made space for a thumping shot that just curled away from Niall Cooper’s near post.
The Eagles wrapped up the scoring just past the hour mark. Walker was the provider again when he crossed from the right to Osei. Yates saved the initial shot but Osei made himself first to the rebound to fire home the loose ball. 3-0 Bedford
Aghadiuno nearly pulled a goal back almost immediately when a ball played through in his direction wasn’t cut out by a defender, allowing the Barnet striker to screw a shot back towards goal which was just about clawed away by Cooper.
Bedford turned up the pressure again as they sought a fourth goal with substitutes Ben Ford and Taylor Rhiney combining before the latter shot wide from 20-yards.
Ford’s corner two minutes later resulted in a Rhiney shot which deflected over, and from the second corner kick Gavin Hoyte towered above the defence but saw his header hit Kierran Lataille on the line and deflect through to Yates rather fortuitously (or not, depending on your persuasion).
To their credit, with the game all but settled as a result and time ticking away, the Ducks never stopped playing and when they earned an 80th minute free kick substitute Matt Peake-Pijnen drew another good save from Cooper who got across well to tip the ball away at his right hand post.
With veteran Paul Benson (7 goals from 11 games this season) able to remain on the bench, Bedford demonstrated an almost their incredible offensive strength in depth as they were able to introduce striker Nathan Frater – signed earlier in the day from AFC Dunstable – for the closing stages.
Although he didn’t find the net his volleyed effort well over the bar on 81 minutes was the final attacking action of the game.
The win for Bedford sees them move up to sixth in the table, whilst for Aylesbury this was a game that came at the wrong time, so soon after the tough encounter with Mildenhall.
United will now look to regroup, and hopefully take less of a patched up squad when they make a first ever trip to Coleshill Town at the weekend.
