The quest for 2nd place followed a near perfect course for Aylesbury United, who took maximum points with a 3-1 defeat of London Colney, whilst rivals Oxhey Jets lost out 3-2 at Ampthill Town, to ensure the race will go right to the wire.

For the second home Saturday in a row, a crowd of over 200 turned out to support the Ducks, and they were rewarded with an early goal to cheer.

Only seven minutes were gone when, as the visiting defence stood like statues, the alert Stacey Field ran on to Ben Butler’s miss-hit shot and coolly slotted the ball past Tony Pritchard. 1-0 Aylesbury

Earlier, Colney had the first chance of the match when 31-goal striker Matt Newman took a through ball on his chest before striking the bouncing ball straight at Jack Sillitoe.

From Sillitoe’s huge kick downfield Louis Austin then went close as Colney’s defence failed to cut out the ball allowing Austin to volley just wide.

After the goal both sides had corner kicks, and from a subsequent long throw Newman saw a shot deflected wide. From a later corner Aylesbury countered and won a flag kick of their own, from which Jack Wood was picked out by Paul Edgeworth’s pinpoint delivery but powered his header over the bar.

It was the first a sequence of clear cut chances for United that should have resulted in a second goal, as next Austin played the ball back to Butler to whip in first time where Ben Baines headed over the bar from close range.

A minute later and Baines again headed over, this time getting to the ball at the near post after a cheaply conceded corner by the opposition.

London Colney fashioned their best sight of goal on 24 minutes, with Newman heavily involved again as the ball played into him was then squared for the supporting Danny Fitzgerald whose low shot was easily fielded by Sillitoe.

Baines completed his hat-trick of near misses when he hooked over another Butler delivery, but it took until the last minute of the half before another chance came United’s way, Field producing some magic on the edge of the box, spinning and shooting but his effort was held.

Half-time: Aylesbury 1-0 London Colney

The Ducks could have been out of sight by half time, but another goal quickly after kicking off settled any nerves. Austin was on a typically determined run into the box before being sandwiched between two defenders. Referee Mr Barnes sensibly consulted with his assistant before sending off the main perpetrator Shaun Murphy for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, and pointing to the spot.

Paul Edgeworth, after a jovial game of ‘paper, scissors, rock’ (which he won using paper) beat Stacey Field to the role of kick taker, and hammered an unstoppable penalty past Pritchard to double the advantage. 2-0 Aylesbury

Against ten-men, United were now finding more space and, having won a corner, Field somehow headed wide from three-yards from another telling Edgeworth delivery.

A third goal duly arrived three minutes later when Ben Baines passed square for Field who ran into the box and with a great finish casually guided the ball into the far corner past the rooted Pritchard for goal number 43 of the season. 3-0 Aylesbury

With the result well and truly beyond doubt, United were left reeling as Colney quickly hit back with a goal of their own. Steve Hatch’s clearance cannoned back off a team mate, landing kindly at the feet of hitman Newman who wasn’t going to turn down that kind of opportunity. 1-3

An Aylesbury team not possessing this group’s swagger of a 26-match unbeaten run might have pressed the self destruct button at this point, but the Ducks were unmoved by the minor setback and instead pressed on for a fourth goal.

Austin’s ball into the box was flicked just wide by Field on 79 minutes, before substitutes Daniel Jones and Ben Hill combined, as Jones played a lovely ball over the defence for Hill who poked it goalwards where it was turned behind for a corner.

Field twice went close to a hat-trick, firstly when he turned the ball over from a yard out after a corner kick was helped into his path, and then, in stoppage time, did have the ball in the net only to have his smile wiped out by the raised linesman’s flag.

It mattered little in the grand scheme of things as a 3-1 victory against a side who have twice proved to be very tough opponents, coupled with the news coming from Ampthill Park, gave Aylesbury plenty to celebrate at the final whistle.