After a ten-day break from action, Aylesbury got back to winning ways in the league by dispatching Colney Heath 2-0 in awful conditions.
Persistent torrential rain from start to finish made any kind of football difficult, but an early goal, two others disallowed and a saved penalty before Ezra Anthonio-Forde finally settled matters in the second half had United run out worthy winners.
Colney have so far struggled to make the step up to Southern League football following their summer elevation in the pyramid, and after just two minutes Ollie Hogg’s driving run had them on the back foot with Ty Deacon tapping home after Conor Sansom had parried away the midfielder’s shot, only for the linesman to rule the goal out for offside.
Aylesbury love an early goal this season and did indeed go ahead after just eight minutes. A long ball over the defence had Martin Standen floundering as Deacon raced in behind him, then kept his composure to slot a finish into the bottom corner and maintain his ‘goal-a-game’ ratio this season. 1-0 Aylesbury
Five minutes later a positive run from Harry Jones ended with his daisy cutter of a shot being saved by Sansom, but on the whole chances were few and far between from that point.
Some good play in the 24th minute saw Max Hercules and Jake Bewley combine down the left with the former’s cross retrieved by Ben Seaton who in turn teed up Hogg but his shot was charged down in the box.
As half-time approached Aylesbury received something of a let off when Standen got on the end of a long free kick to head, for some reason unopposed, goalwards only for the ball to loop over a stranded Archie Davis’s bar.
The Ducks then had the ball in the sodden net again in similar fashion to the start of the game, Jamie Jellis’s long slaloming run ended with a shot spilled by Sansom, Hercules this time first to the rebound to score but, like Deacon earlier, looked up to see the flag raised.
Half-time: Aylesbury 1-0 Colney Heath
The second half started with the concerning sight of Ty Deacon receiving treatment, and with a big FA Cup match against Ebbsfleet United on the horizon, no chances were being taken as he was quickly replaced by Ezra Anthonio-Forde.
It didn’t take long for the substitute to make an impact, as he nipped in ahead of Sansom to a Jake Bewley pass only to be sent sprawling in the box and win his side a penalty four minutes after arriving on the pitch.
Unfortunately, Sansom was up to the task of saving well from Jellis’s spot kick as the seasons-old curse of the penalty kick returned to haunt Aylesbury United.
United kept probing in their quest for a second goal to finally kill the game, and it finally arrived after 66 minutes. Max Hercules’s free kick took a nick off the defensive wall as it flew just wide, and from the resulting corner Jordan Jenkins headed goalwards and will claim the ball was going in before Anthonio-Forde’s intervention sent the ball cannoning in. 2-0 Aylesbury
The substitute went close again a minute later when more good interplay down the left between Bewley and Hercules ended with a cross headed just wide by Anthonio-Forde.
On 76 minutes the Ducks had Davis to thank for preserving their clean sheet when substitute Dan Ferrigno swung in a wicked cross that Jon Clements met with a header only for Davis to acrobatically tip the ball over the bar with a superb save.
It was fair warning that Aylesbury couldn’t expect an easy ride to the final whistle, and they responded with some good football to end the game as a neat passing move undid the visiting defence but Jellis could only shoot into the side netting.
Another slick move five minutes from time then saw Jones thump a fierce shot just wide, but there was to be no increase to the scoring and it was a case of ‘job done’ and an important three points collected for the Ducks.
