Leading almost from start to finish, Aylesbury were about 90 seconds from following up their first win of 2022 with another victory at 8th-placed Harlow Town, but were cruelly denied maximum points by a stoppage time equaliser from the hosts.

Ducks boss Ben Williams made three changes to the starting XI from the previous weekend's game against Hertford. Dave O'Connor, Jamie Rudd and Ezra Anthonio-Forde were all absent from the squad, replaced by Jordan Jenkins, Ben Seaton and Tyrone Lewthwaite respectively. New signings Phillip Appiah, Luis Fernandes and Daniel Ball were all named on the substitutes bench.

The game started in lively fashion, and would continue that way for the rest of the first half and beyond. Ben Seaton made the first attempted shot of the game, unfortunately sending the ball sailing high and wide in the 3rd minute, and three minutes later Harlow came close as their skipper Syrus Gordon pulled the ball back to Jared Small on the edge of the area only for his shot to fly over the bar.

With just seven minutes on the clock, it was United who made the early breakthrough. A perfectly weighted Ollie Hogg pass dissected the hosts' defence and found the run of Tyrone Lewthwaite who, despite not making the cleanest contact with his shot, did enough to put the ball in the back of the net for his second goal for the Ducks. 1-0 Aylesbury

Following the goal, the hosts responded with a veritable barrage on the Ducks goal. Small shot over in the 8th minute, then less than a minute later Alexander Read crept in behind the Ducks line of defence but couldn't quite capitalise as a defender got back in time to block his effort, and from the resulting corner a hard shot on the turn from Oluwakemi Osinfolarin was stopped by another brave Duck putting his body on the line.

With Aylesbury fans breathing a sigh of relief after that spell of pressure, the game became more even, and often end-to-end, for the rest of the first period, with Harlow naturally trying to tie the game and United looking dangerous on the counter. Sonny French struck a low effort wide on 16 minutes, while three minutes later Read's shot was blocked by Ducks captain Jack Wood, before a swift counter resulted in a weak Lewthwaite shot at the other end. On 25 minutes, Harlow left back Layne Eadie curled his free kick very narrowly wide of the post, with many of the vocal young home supporters in the opposing stand prematurely beginning to celebrate an equaliser that was not.

A slight lull in goalmouth action ended in the 37th minute as Harry Scott struck well over the bar for the Ducks, before a minute later Archie Davis was finally forced into his first save of the contest, showing tremendous reflexes to deny Osinfolarin at point blank range. The action continued to be fast and furious as half time approached, with the Ducks unfortunate not to add to their lead on 43 minutes, as Scott set up French for a tete-a-tete with Dev Bhamra only for French to shoot straight at the home keeper. Sacré bleu! Harlow came close to an equaliser a minute later as Small's hard header against the ground was brilliantly parried by Davis, and two minutes into first half stoppage time Osinfolarin threatened yet again, but somehow conspired to head wide at the far post from only a few yards out while under pressure from Davis.

Half-time: Harlow 0-1 Aylesbury

With United going into the dressing room with a half-time lead for the third consecutive game, no doubt 'game management' would have been chief among Ben Williams' thoughts once again as he gave his team talk. This was reflected in a significantly more cagey second half, with the Ducks counter-attacking threat much more muted, while Harlow were largely forced to rely on set-pieces to pose any problems for Aylesbury. The hosts did however start the half strongly, with a great effort from 25-yards by Marcus Marku clattering off the top of the Ducks' crossbar on 48 minutes, before a dangerous Read cross from the right just evaded the oncoming Small three minutes later.

Aylesbury's only real chance of the second period fell to Harry Scott on 56 minutes, but he could only hit his shot straight at Bhamra, while on the hour a Harlow long throw was flicked hard toward the goal by centre back Joshua Steele only to be plucked out of the air by Davis. The final half an hour came and went with the Ducks defending resolutely against the hosts' free kicks, corners and long throws. The home fans, previously very loud and enthusiastic, were becoming increasingly subdued and in some cases beginning to turn on their team with their hopes of a late playoff charge dwindling fast – frustrated cries of “Do you even want to win this Harlow\'” and “Try something different!” would have been music to Ducks ears.

Unfortunately for Aylesbury, who had done such a professional job of holding the home side at arms length in the later stages, Harlow were, perhaps inevitably, able to produce a final burst as the clash entered the five indicated minutes of stoppage time. A series of corners resulted in some frantic defending and a clearance off the line, before a long throw from the left was headed down and bounced to Hawks substitute Emmanuel Harvest, who lifted an unstoppable shot over Davis and into the far corner to set off the celebratory air raid sirens for the hosts. Having led for no less than 88 minutes, the Ducks had sadly been pegged back four minutes into added time. 1-1

The action was not quite over as, with the home crowd now roaring them on again, Harlow flooded forward for a winner in the remaining seconds, producing a chance for another substitute, Amar Lewis, to complete the turnaround, but fortunately for United he fluffed his lines and the final whistle sounded moments later. While no doubt such a late equaliser will have been a bitter pill to swallow for the players, a draw away to a top half opponent remains a commendable result, and Aylesbury crucially move another point closer to securing their place at step 4 for another season.