As Ducks fans nervously start to glance behind them at the wrong end of the table, matches such as today's encounter with Braintree are suddenly escalated to '6 Pointer' status.
Steve Cordery made changes to the team that lost to St Albans on Tuesday. Alex Stanley and Steve McGrath returned, with Craig Maskell and Greg Williams benched due to them both carrying knocks and Lee Worgan back at Wimbledon again. New signings Dwayne Plummer and Dominique Jean-Zepherin were in the side, as was the returning Alex Stanley and Julian Charles.
The opening exchanges were extremely positive for the Ducks as they passed the ball around well, with new midfielder Plummer at the centre of a lot of the play. Rory Hunter hit an early shot, which was caught by the wind and flew well over. At the other end a Braintree counter saw Paul Cobb spread the ball to an attacker, who drilled a shot wide of the post.
Kezie Ibe nipped onto a loose ball, before dribbling five yards and firing a shot just wide. Julian Charles was then given a talking to by the referee for a late tackle on Luke Hammond.
The Ducks continued their nice play, and Plummer played the ball forward to Ibe, who held up the ball and fed Charles. His shot was straight at keeper Paul Catley, who spilled the ball but was able to gather it in again.
Despite their nice exchanges, the Ducks had been unable to make their possession count, and all their hard work was undone on 23 minutes as Braintree took the lead. A corner was converted by Oliver Blackwell at the near post. 1-0 Braintree
Aylesbury's spirits were quite clearly dampened, and they could only create half-chances. As the ball dropped to Danny Gordon, the young defender hit a low skimming shot which went just wide. Adam Campion then cut in from the left flank, but his shot was straight down the keeper's throat.
The final chance of the half fell to Paul Cobb, as he broke free. Cobb's only option was to try his luck against Jean-Zephinen, but he could only find the side netting.
Half-time: Aylesbury 0-1 Braintree
The second half saw Joe Baker replace Adam Campion after seven minutes.
Braintree were running rings around the Ducks in the second half, as the home side seemed happy to try and hoof the ball forward against the strong wind. After a poor clearance from Jean-Zephinen, the shot from Cobb was blocked, before the ball fell to Riddle who shot well wide.
Craig Maskell replaced Julian Charles after 60 minutes.
From a corner the ball was tossed back in, and Tommy Noble reached the ball with a flying volley as the Ducks defence stood and watched. Fortunately the effort went over. From another corner shortly afterwards, Gary Waters headed over when unmarked. Cobb and Noble had further chances, as Cobb sent a shot wide and Noble badly mis-hit a volley.
Perhaps it was Braintree's missed chances that spurred the Ducks into action, as they suddenly seemed to burst into life, and the crowd soon picked up on the upturn in tempo. A crazy sequence saw Maskell and Ibe both have attempts on goal, with Plummer instrumental in both.
Craig Maskell then saw a goalbound effort cleared off the line, after the ball had been played back to him by Kezie Ibe. A Maskell free-kick was then saved by the keeper, before Stanley drove another free-kick wide.
Chris Bangura replaced the tiring young workaholic Rory Hunter as the Ducks went for broke.
With five minutes remaining, and Aylesbury looking like suffering another crushing defeat, a corner was nodded into the net by the leaping Steve McGrath. It may just proved to be a crucial goal. 1-1
Sadly the Ducks were unable to grab a winning goal, despite pressing forwards in the closing stages. Even so, this was a point rescued by the home side who were perhaps lucky to even get that.
