Following the narrow victory at Chalfont St Peter on Tuesday, manager Glyn Creaser made just one enforced change to the starting line up, bringing in Chris Cordara-Soanes for his 5th appearance of the season to partner Alex Collard at centre back, in place of the recently departed Ryan Kinnane.

The visitors, sitting 5th in the table before the game started, began well. A cross from the right found James Hall, making his debut on his return to the club after a spell at St Ives, free in the penalty area, but his shot was straight at Jack Sillitoe who saved well.

The first opportunity for the Ducks fell to Tre Mitford; a mix up between Jordan Gent and Ryan Towner in the middle of the field saw the ball drop to the striker, but his shot was wide of the right hand post. Immediately afterwards, a Jake Bewley cross was met with a weak defensive header and fell to Sonny French on the edge of the area, but his volley was again wide of the same post.

The visitors were starting to dominate proceedings and a cross from Salim Relizani on the left found Ryan Towner, but his header didn’t trouble Sillitoe, clearing the cross bar. The first goal was not long in coming; in the 16th minute Ben Robinson was afforded far too much space on the right side and picked out Hall 10 yards from goal who side footed home past Sillitoe. 1-0 Cambridge

The Lilywhites were attacking at will by this stage, just two minutes later a throw in found Hall, who played in Relizani, but the winger’s shot was always rising and cleared the cross bar. The lead was doubled in the 19th minute, a cross was not dealt with by Cordara-Soanes and was half cleared by Greg Williams, only as far as League top scorer Ryan Sharman who sidefooted the ball past Sillitoe. 2-0 Cambridge

Two minutes later and it could so easily have been three. A long ball forward saw Nathan Olukanmi first outpace Collard on the left, then cut back inside him and fire a shot cum cross which flew just wide of the far post, narrowly evading the attempt of Hall to reach it.

Nice play by Ollie Stanbridge saw the ball find its way to Williams on the left of the penalty area, whose dinked cross was headed just wide of the goal by Mitford.

On 38 minutes Relizani again found space on the right and with defenders backing off giving him room to shoot, he forced a fine save from Sillitoe. As the half came to a close, Williams robbed Ross Paterson in midfield and advanced towards goal and shot from 20 yards, but sadly just wide of Conroy’s right hand post.

Half-time: Aylesbury 0-2 Cambridge

The second half started well for the Ducks. Just two minutes after the restart, a short corner routine saw the ball passed back to Connor Furlong, who carried the ball to the edge of the area and fired a low left foot shot from 20 yards into the far corner to give the Ducks fans some hope. 1-2

This heralded a bright spell for the hosts; Williams did well to make a driving run through the middle, to be halted by a foul 25 yards out in a central position. Unfortunately Mitford’s effort from the free kick was weak and easily saved by Conroy.

That was as good as it got for the home side, as the visitors stepped up their game. On 56 minutes a long ball forward was missed by Cordara-Soanes, allowing Hall to get in behind the defence and cross to Sharman who side footed home from the edge of the penalty area. 3-1 Cambridge

Three minutes later, Sharman completed a clinical hat trick; a deep cross was headed back into the penalty area where the striker fired a powerful shot high into the net, giving Sillitoe no chance. 4-1 Cambridge

As if to rub salt into the wounds, City chose to replace both wide players following this goal, and it was to be the substitutes who added the coup-de-grace for the visitors. On 66 minutes Tom Knowles beat Cordara-Soanes on the left, played a one-two with Sharman and beat Sillitoe from the edge of the penalty area. 5-1 Cambridge

Not to be outdone, four minutes later Knowles’ fellow substitute Jack Vasey was allowed a free header from a Mason Spence cross to the far post which he despatched firmly past Sillitoe. 6-1 Cambridge

This prompted a double substitution from the Ducks, with Harry Jones and Ollie Hogg replacing goal scorer Furlong and Williams, but it was too little, far too late.

On 82 minutes a cross from the left cleared Cordara-Soanes and reached Sharman, but this time his shot was well saved by Sillitoe. The final action of the match, deep into added on time, saw a ball half cleared as far as Knowles, who looked up and crashed a shot from 25 yards against the cross bar with Sillitoe well beaten.

A sobering afternoon for all in green, albeit against very good opponent who will surely not be far away from promotion at the end of the season. However, the defeat dropped the Ducks to 20th place in the table with a tough run of matches ahead in the run up to the festive period, starting with Rushden & Diamonds at home on Wednesday evening.