I suppose it could have been predicted with ease. Remember Barking last season? Bottom club and whipping boys of the league...We travelled to them and came away with a defeat and were a laughing stock. So off we went to Hampton, where a win should be the only conceivable result, and we get duly beaten.
The Ducks turned it on right from kick-off, as they passed the ball sweetly between the front trio of Charles, Ibe and Maskell. In fact the Ducks took the lead as early as the fifth minute. A Rory Hunter surge and cut-back found Craig Maskell with space on the edge of the box, and he dug out a shot which went in off the post. 1-0 Aylesbury
Floodgates open now then, was the thought that crept into the minds of the Ducks faithful. Quite possibly the same thoughts entered the players' minds. The game was played almost at a friendly pace, with neither team taking much fight to the opposition. As the half wore on Hampton grew in stature, mainly through the Ducks lack of taking control of the game, although the home side were unable to test Lee Worgan in the Aylesbury goal.
Half-time: 1-0 Aylesbury
The second half started in much the same fashion, although the Ducks managed to create a few chances. Craig Maskell hit a particurlarly good first time drive, which flew just wide of Andy Iga's post.
The turning point of the match came after 70 minutes, when a highly contraversial penalty was awarded. Ashley Sestanovich weaved his way into the box, before being tackled by Mark Burgess, and falling to the ground. The referee at first wasn't interested, but the linesman flagged and so a penalty was given. Richard O'Connor stepped up to draw Hampton level. 1-1
With the Ducks appearing shocked and feeling hard done by, the hosts went about scoring their second. Sestanovich, now the most hated man in Aylesbury, went on a run past a number of flailing, desparing challenges from Ducks defenders, and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner from 20-yards. A goal worthy of winning any match... 2-1 Hampton
Aylesbury by now had totally lost the plot, and succumbed to another Hampton goal. Once more Sestanovich was at the heart of it. He somehow managed to get away from 3 defenders, and play a low ball across the area. The impressive Andy Cyrus stuck the ball into the net to score on his debut and send the limited home support into a frenzy. 3-1 Hampton
So we lost, and at the time I was totally gutted and felt like I'd never get over it. On reflection though, this Hampton team were well up for the game, and were just better than us over 90 minutes. Hopefully we can get a confidence boosting (and hopefully high scoring) win over Flackwell on Tuesday.
Some statistics of note - Hampton have now scored 11.5% of their league goals against us this season and gained 17.6% of their points against us?
