After our two year absence from the Premier Division, the excitement at the traditional Boxing Day derby with Chesham was clear for all to see. After our two year absence, it was finally time to go head to head with our Buckinghamshire rivals once more.
Following a sloppy, scrappy opening five minutes, the game burst into life, and Aylesbury had the ball in the back of the net. An excellent move saw Chris Bangura put Craig Maskell through, and he beat his man before coolly tucking the ball past the keeper. Referee O'Sullivan saw differently to the crowd though, and awarded a free-kick for an alledged foul by Maskell on the defender.
The Ducks came close again in the next minute as a corner was met by the towering Fiston Manuella, whose powerful header rattled the crossbar. At this point it looked like the Ducks would take control of the game and win comfortably. Unfortunately this was as good as it got for the home side in the first half.
Chesham started to gain momentum, without truely threatening their hosts' goal. A deflected shot was enough to worry the home fans, but it fortunately went wide with home-debutant James Heeps rooted to the spot. A free-kick from the visitors caused nothing more than delight as ex-Duck Dwain Clarke skied the ball.
Aylesbury fashioned a couple of half chances midway through the first half. First Joe Baker received the ball from a poor Chesham clearance. He teased his defender, before whipping in a low cross. The ball was smashed behind before any damage could be done by the waiting Manuella, though. Fist had the next chance, as he connected with a volley from a chest-down by Bangura. Unfortunately the lanky midfielder got under the ball and it sailed well over.
As the game reached the half-hour mark, disastor struck. After a free-kick from the right, the ball went loose and Dwain Clarke hammered it towards goal. Heeps did well to make a save, but unfortunately could only punch the ball into the net. 1-0 Chesham
Aylesbury had totally lost the plot now, and seemed incapable of doing even the simplest things. At half-time they were lucky only to be 1 goal behind, as Chesham had a couple of chances to go 2 up before the break. A ball down the right resulted in a low Chesham cross, which was hacked behind for a corner. Right on the stroke of half-time Fontinelli waltzed untackled towards goal. Fortunately his venomous striker went over, as the crowd held their breath.
Half-time: 1-0
The second half started brightly once again, as Gareth Risbridger found himself in plenty of space, but took too long deciding what to do, and had to make do with a corner. Just like in the 1st half, the ball ended up in the Chesham goal, and it was disallowed once again. This was just another ridiculous decision though. The referee saw nothing wrong with the goal when standing 5 yards away, yet the linesman, who was 50 yards away decided there had been a foul on the keeper (ex-Duck Richard Hurst)
The home side lost control of the match, and despite their midfield containing 3 destroyers in Fist, Ris and Ellis, just couldn't get hold of the ball. Risbridger in particular was looking out of sorts, and it was a surprise when he finished the match. The ref lost control in a similar manner to the Ducks, and a minor brawl errupted involving several players. The resulting bookings went to Greg Williams and Wayne Brown. Brown's proved critical, as just 30 seconds later he received his second booking after stupidly and blatantly commiting a 2-in-1 foul right under the ref's nose.
Perhaps now the Ducks might start to get a grip on the game...Well you'd think wouldn't you? With an extra man advantage and everything. But no. Despite winning the ball back, the Ducks simply threw possession back to their opponents. The only chance of note was a Maskell quickly taken free-kick, which only embarassed a member of the Chesham wall.
Aylesbury were still playing badly, but creating chances. Adam Campion came on for Greg Williams in an attack minded switch. A free-kick from the far touchline nearly floated straight in, after clearing everyone in the box. Another ten minutes of nothing followed, before Joe Baker tried a curler from 25 yards, which summed up the poor performance from the entire Ducks team.
Suddenly it was 1-1. Out of nothing came an equaliser. Somehow the Ducks found themselves five against two with the Chesham defence, and Baker played the ball to Maskell. The Golden Touch kept his head and stroked the ball into the bottom corner, with his RIGHT foot! As I said, a goal out of nothing. 1-1
As the saying goes, goals change games, and damn right was the game changed. In another attacking switch, Kezie Ibe replaced the Fist, and the Ducks went searching for another goal. However, it was Chesham who had the next chance, as John Morgan wriggled his way into the box, and his left footed snap-shot was smartly saved by Heeps.
In typical fashion, Kezie Ibe won a penalty. Running into the box he was bundled over by Morgan just inside the area, no hesitation from the ref. There was also no hesitation when he went to his pocket and produced a red card. Maskell stepped up to slot home the penalty with no problem. 2-1 Aylesbury
With 9 men and a goal down, surely Chesham would have no chance now. Well it looked that way for a while, as the Ducks surged forward, easily overrunning Chesham's reduced manpower. Baker laid the ball off to the rampaging Maskell, who struck a curling shot with all his might. The ball shook the crossbar, and bounced down and out, denying the player-coach his hat-trick and a quite spectacular goal.
2 minutes later, and after gambling with two substitutions, Chesham found themselves outnumbered 1 against 5 on a counter-attack. Maskell ran with the ball at his feet, before feeding Joe Baker. Baker's curling shot went wide, much to the annoyance of the 4 other Ducks players in the box, who all felt they could have put away the deciding goal.
In the last minutes Maskell again tried for his hat-trick, this time from an almost impossible angle. The shot was saved by Hurst at his near post. It was the keeper who came to the rescue again soon after, as a curling free-kick from Joe Baker had to be tipped over to prevent it reaching the top corner.
As the stoppage time ticked on, the Ducks tried to hold the ball up in the corner, to the frustration of anyone involved with Chesham. It was evident that the home side were still hanging on, even with their 2 man advantage. In the words of a Chesham bench-member "You should be embarassed - we've got 9 men and you're still hanging on." It was perhaps this quote which summed up the match best. Aylesbury looked a different team to that which played against Hayes, and a performance such as this against Billericay, or worse still, St Albans and there will be a lot of long faces come 2003...
Unfortunately tempers boiled over after the final whistle, with a number of players deciding to start a ruck in the middle of the pitch. Nothing too serious, and it was all soon resolved.
