After defeat in the last game against Long Crendon, although still missing a number of key players, Ben Williams was able to name a much more familiar starting line up, with Jordan Jenkins, Jake Bewley, Mark Riddick, Max Hercules and Gavin James returning to the starting line up. They were joined by David Ozobia, a late signing from Harrow Borough, who lined up alongside Riddick in central midfield.

Despite being able to name a stronger team, Williams wouldn’t have been particularly pleased with how they started the game, with the visitors dominating the early exchanges, especially down the right flank, where full back Jared Small was particularly prominent, linking with Simon-Peter Omooba ahead of him. In the twelfth minute, the pair combined, with the latter receiving the ball and crossing deep to the far post, where Harry Jones made a great clearance to concede a corner, ahead of Alex Read who was poised to strike.

Three minutes later and Robbie Rees picked the ball up on the right and advanced, with good footwork taking him beyond Bewley and Jack Wood, but his shot was well saved by Archie Davis. The visitors were forced into an early substitution, when Omooba suffered an injury. He was replaced by centre back Josh Steele, which forced a reshuffle, with Small moving forwards to take up a more offensive role.

Two minutes after the change, Craig Alcock took a long throw, which was met by the head of Ruaridh Kay, but his effort was well tipped over the bar by Davis. From Small’s corner, Riddick headed clear but only as far as skipper Cyrus Gordon, whose first time volley was narrowly wide of the post.

The first effort of note for the Ducks came in the 27th minute; Ozobia picked the ball up in the middle of the park and passed to Hercules on the left side of the penalty area. He laid it back to Sonny French, but his shot was wide of the target.

Following a foul by Riddick on Read, Rees took a clever free kick which found Small down the side of the defence; he turned Bewley and shot from 20 yards, but the defender was able to deflect the shot just wide of the near post.

The Ducks had a golden chance to open the scoring when a throw in down the left touchline saw Kay slip, allowing James to get to the bye line and drive a cross into the 6 yard box; unfortunately, former Harlow man Jaedon Phillips had made a run to the near post, but James’ cross was directed towards the far post!

Much more in the game by now, that chance was quickly followed another; a deep cross from Phillips was headed down by Riddick to French, but again his shot was wide of the target. Just before the break French played the ball inside to Ozobia, who made ground and fired in a shot from 25 yards which again failed to trouble debutant keeper Jamie Grossart.

Following some words of wisdom from the coaching team, the Ducks came out and started the second half in a far more positive manner than the first. A ball inside Alcock allowed Hercules a run on goal; with Grossart out of his goal, the wingers shot was across goal and just wide of the far post. Just a minute later and Hercules was involved again, as he beat Alcock and crossed into the 6 yard box where Phillips challenged Kay and Grossart for the ball, with the keeper glad to clutch the ball before it crossed the goal line.

Half-time: Aylesbury 0-0 Harlow

Somewhat against the run of play in the second period the Hawks took the lead. A ball towards the left wing was misjudged by Jones, allowing Tiannie Wilson to collect the ball, advance to the penalty area where Read arrived on time to tap home. 1-0 Harlow

Just a minute later Wilson again outpaced Jones and crossed into the penalty area, where Small met the ball well, but Davis made a fine save. The game had become much more open in the second half, in it has to be said appalling weather as the rain fell steadily, making the conditions difficult and the ground very slippery. Two minutes later Bewley crossed from the left, James collected and turned, but his powerful shot was well saved at the near post.

The first (and only) yellow card of the match came shortly afterwards, when Kay fouled James 35 yards out. Bewley’s cross was clipped into the penalty area but was cleared back to him; his second delivery was met by Jenkins, who acrobatic attempt was over the crossbar.

On 65 minutes Wilson collected the ball on halfway and found Rees. He shrugged off two tackles and shot from 25 yards which skipped off the wet surface, but rebounded out from the base of the post with Davis beaten.

This narrow escape spurred the Ducks into more offensive action which resulted in two goals in two minutes. Firstly, a ball through the centre was flicked on by Phillips into the path of French, who showed strength to hold off Layne Eadie and slide the ball under the advancing Grossart. 1-1

From the next attack, Bewley combined well with Hercules and Riddick on the left, before passing the ball into James, who, unlike his previous effort was able to beat Grossart at his near post to give his team the lead. 2-1 Aylesbury

The final chance of the game saw Small cross from the right towards substitute Samson Maagbe, whose header was narrowly wide of the near post, with many in the ground believing that the visitors had equalised.

So, a much more positive showing than of late, allowing the Ducks to 7th place in the League table, just one point behind today’s visitors. The games coming up will be a stern test of the strength in depth of the squad; first up is the visit of the Eagles from Bedford Town, who went to the top of the table after winning today at play off hopefuls North Leigh, another chance for the Ducks to down a bird of prey!