After the disappointment of going out of both the FA Cup and Trophy in the last 2 matches, Ben Williams rotated his squad in an effort to arrest a run of games that has seen us lose 3 games without scoring. Archie Davis returned in goal after serving his one match suspension, with Jake Bewley taking his place at left back, with Harry Jones moving forward to the right flank. Three of the midfield from Wednesday’s match against Evesham, Ben Seaton, Nasha Mukwada and Alfie Anderson dropped to the bench to accommodate the return to the team of Jamie Rudd and Mark Riddick after his recent illness. Also on the bench were the two new signings, Jack Moriarty and Joseph Chidyausiku.

The hosts have had a difficult start to the season, also going out of bot FA competitions early and failing to score more than one goal in any of their matches so far this season, only winning one of their four league matches so far. However, the hosts started brightly and took the game to the Ducks. They opened the scoring in the 9th minute, when a lack of communication between Riddick and Jack Wood saw the ball elude both of them and fall to Josh Hutchinson on the edge of the penalty area. He moved the ball wide to Cheyce Grant who crossed deep to the far post where Joe Dearman rose above Anthony Ball to head back into the 6-yard box, where Max Jessop was on hand to tap home past Davis. 1-0 Welwyn

7 minutes later and the lead was doubled; Ball conceded a hotly contested free kick for a challenge on Dearman; Grant delivered the set piece into the penalty area, where Alieu Njie rose highest to place a firm header into the corner of the net. 2-0 Welwyn

On the half hour, Grant had a great opportunity to extend the lead further. Bewley was caught upfield as the hosts broke quickly, the ball being played to Grant on the right; he advanced into the penalty area but could only slice his shot wide of the near post under pressure from the covering Wood. The winger had a second opportunity three minutes later, as he collected a throw in and turned past two defenders, breaking into the penalty area; however, again Wood was across to cover and forced him to place his left footed shot high and wide of the far post. The Ducks first chance of note in the match arrived in the 41st minute. A deep inswinging corner from Bewley finding Wood at the far post, who headed back to Jones, but his hooked volley was wide of the far post.

Half-time: Welwyn 2-0 Aylesbury

The second half saw the Ducks more on the offensive; In the 66th minute, a ball forward saw Sonny French clear of the defence, with the home side calling in vain for the offside flag; he lobbed the advancing keeper, but saw his effort from the edge of the box going narrowly wide of the far post. In the 73rd minute a corner from substitute Anderson was cleared as far as Herbie Townsend, who hit a good shot, but saw it clawed out by Charlie Crowley. In the 77th minute a free kick taken by French on the right was headed towards goal by Riddick, but his effort was wide of the post. Despite having a fair deal of the play in the second period, the Ducks conceded another disappointing goal in the 79th minute, when an inswinging corner from the left by Dearman was met with a towering header by the unmarked Joseph Russell who planted a firm header past Davis. 3-0 Welwyn

The final chance of the match came in the 83rd minute, as a long ball from Dave O’Connor was collected by Townsend on the left; he controlled well and played it across the 6-yard box, where an unmarked David Aluko-Olokun could only lift his effort over the crossbar with Crowley stranded.

A sobering defeat, and a performance which Ben Williams and his coaching team will dissect and react to. With two weeks before the next match, there is plenty of time to plan and train, before we return to action on Oct 1st with an away match against FC Romania.