The result also ended United's five-match losing run and proved that the team do still have something left in the tank at the end of this long season.

Although absorbing as a contest, the match was short on goalmouth action from the two teams playing their third match of the week having both been involved in Tuesday night games.

Aylesbury started well and had the majority of possession in the opening stages, and Chris Marsh had the first effort on the quarter hour when he ran through and prodded a chipped effort wide of the far post, though he was ruled offside in any event.

Efforts on goal were hard to come by, and Hawkins had a half attempt when he flicked Mark Jones' free-kick on and wide of the target.

The Adders' first shot on goal came shortly afterwards and Ross Lafayette, continuing as an emergency defender, did well to block Luke Barlone's effort on the line.

Sam Swonnell then came close to a rare goal when he caught a left-footed shot sweetly, but the ball whistled past the upright with visiting keeper Farhad Afandiyev beaten.

An opening goal arrived with half an hour on the clock, and went against the run of play with Atherstone taking the lead. United's defence were caught out by a long ball, and Ross Taylor was unfortunate in that he couldn't get enough distance on his clearance, the ball falling to Barlone who was subsequently brought down in the box by Vincent. Tom Bates stepped up to confidently dispatch the penalty. 0-1

Bates nearly doubled the lead five minutes later with a well struck free-kick which narrowly missed the far post.

Aylesbury's best remaining opportunity fell to Nathan Graham as Swonnell's pass put him clean through, but in trying to beat the keeper with an early shot he only managed to blaze well over the crossbar.

It was a similar story for the visitors when they also wasted a one-on-one situation moments before the interval. Ashley Wells was released and he threw his marker by cutting inside, but could only finish straight at Vincent.

Half-time: Aylesbury 0-1 Atherstone

The start of the second half was slow to get going as a spectacle, but began with a bizarre stoppage which was caused initially by referee Mr Field refusing to allow Tony Robinson to rejoin the game from the sidelines, to the fury of the away dugout.

This resulted in a long delay as the linesman was consulted and a number of Atherstone's coaching staff received warnings from the official.

Unfortunately it wasn't to be the last time the bench were to have a run-in with the referee as several similar stoppages occurred, and by the end of the match both manager Jimmy Ginnelly and assistant Dale Belford had both been sent to the stands.

It took a full twenty minutes before either side could muster an attempt on goal, and when it came it came Aylesbury's way. From a telling corner kick delivery Lafayette's header was blocked en route to goal, the ball rebounding to Graham whose low shot was also blocked in the area.

Afandiyev made a great save to deny his side's lead from another corner kick two minutes later when he reacted quickly to get down to Lafayette's well placed header as the Ducks began to increase the pressure.

That eventually paid dividends as United levelled the match with fifteen minutes to go. Graham got on the end of a through ball in the inside-left position before running on and producing an excellent finish across the keeper and into the far bottom corner. 1-1

Neither side were quite done yet and Atherstone's Tony Robinson made the most of a rare occasion where he managed to stay onside with an early snapshot that went all the way across Vincent's goal.

Aylesbury could have won it right at the death when Chris Marsh collected a loose ball and went on a teasing run into the area, but as the defence opened up he was only able to shoot straight at the keeper.

Mark Boyce hit a very ambitious effort way over the bar, as full-time soon followed. A draw was no more than United deserved for a much improved display, and the side will now be looking to build on the result with a win against Romulus.