Aylesbury’s bid to improve their dire home form fell flat against a high-flying Egham Town side who were always going to provide a tough test, the visitors securing a fifth straight victory with what was eventually a comfortable win.
The two sides were evenly matched for the first half hour or so, but once the Sarnies opened the scoring and then added a quick second, there was to be no way back.
Ducks boss Glyn Creaser welcomed back Greg Williams after a two-game absence, whilst also restoring Bruno Brito and Nathan Tshikuna to the starting lineup.
It was Aylesbury who threatened first when Lewis Osborne latched onto a flick on from Tyrone Taylor but saw his shot blocked, but it was United’s goalkeeper who was first to be tested as a low shot from Bajram Pashaj was on target but lacked the power to beat Zaki Oualah.
Five minutes later and Pashaj was close again when he bent a curling effort just past the far post with Aylesbury struggling to clear their lines at a corner kick.
Fellow striker Ryan Debattista should have done better soon afterwards but could only hit the stanchion behind the goal after the ball broke to him at the end of a quick counter attack.
On 20 minutes the Ducks fashioned an opening of their own as Jake Bewley and Bruno Brito combined down the left, the former flashing in a low cross that was only half cleared as far as Shaun Owens who took too long to get a shot away, the ball breaking to Greg Williams whose follow up effort was blocked.
The visitors then forced a succession of three corners, Debattista going close from the second with a header that took a nick on its way just over the bar, but the striker – who had five goals in his first eight games Egham – spurned a glorious opportunity when a free kick dropped invitingly at his feet but he put wide.
From an Aylesbury corner Jack Wood found himself unmarked to arch a header goalwards which was well saved by Jamie Norris, and they went close again when Tshikuna took a throw in and jinked his way into the box before shooting into the side netting.
The opening goal wasn’t long in arriving, and went the way of the away side. Some poor defending allowed Pashaj to seize possession in the box, and with at least two players diving in around him he was able to keep a calm head and find the net. 1-0 Egham
Losing full back Elliott Carey to injury had no affect on an Egham side clearly buoyed by their goal, and they could have doubled the lead when a ball over the defence found the advancing Debattista who was foiled by Oualah who was quickly off his line.
The resulting corner came all the way across to Reece Yorke whose cross into the box was headed straight at Oualah by substitute Jake Cass.
Pashaj curled a fine effort just past the post, but in first half stoppage time he had his second goal. A cross in from the left was cleared by Alex Collard only as far as the Egham striker, who duly found the bottom corner from just outside the box. 2-0 Egham
Half-time: Aylesbury 0-2 Egham
The second period started with Aylesbury still on the backfoot, yet it was the Ducks who had a penalty appeal waved away when Bruno Brito appeared to be felled in the area having got on the end of a long ball.
An early double substitution saw a welcome return to the fold for Sonny French after a spell away, and he joined recent signing Reece Cameron who entered the fray for his home debut.
An intricately worked, ‘training ground’ free kick routine would have brought about a third Egham goal had it not been for the alert goalkeeping of Oualah, who was off his line quickly again to smother at feet.
Opposite number Norris was soon in action himself, Brito not waiting for a whistle that never arrived as the Egham defence stood still and drawing a decent stop from the goalkeeper.
Whilst the first corner came to nothing, the second was headed out as far as Williams who was desperately unlucky as his well struck shot crashed off the crossbar via a combination of two deflections and the goalkeeper.
The second right back of the afternoon then left the field injured, as Aylesbury’s Rajaram was replaced by Ricky Brown just before their third corner of the sequence, but this one was less profitable and instead set up an Egham break from which they looked certain to score as Chris Henry squared to Kurtney Brooks in the area, but Bewley got back to make a superb intervention at the last second.
Henry had looked lively since his introduction in place of Debattista, and he should have been celebrating an assist and Pashaj his hat-trick when he raced away and cut the ball back, but Pashaj somehow contrived to blaze over the bar.
Two minutes later and Henry took it upon himself to finally wrap up a third Egham goal when he raced onto a long ball over the defence, and made the most of an unfortunate fall by Jack Wood to slot past Oualah when one-on-one. 3-0 Egham
He could have had another when one ball forward took out the entire Aylesbury defence and sent him scampering away, only to fire wide at the end.
In the closing stages Jack Wood headed the ball off the line, before the game’s only note of controversy saw substitute Ricky Brown sent off for two yellow cards in the space of a minute – the first shown to him rather than Wood, who was the correct offender.
The game was rounded off by a typical strong run from French ending with a pass to Tshikuna who curled the ball narrowly wide, as Aylesbury were unable to add to their tally of 11 home league goals for the season.
Similarly to at Royston a week earlier, this was ultimately a comfortable win for Aylesbury’s opponent, and the games don’t get any easier for the Ducks with Premier Division Leamington visiting the ASM Stadium in midweek before a trip to another high flying side in Chalfont St. Peter.
