Caretaker Boss Paul Batchelor rightly stuck with the same line up that did so well to put Highworth Town to the sword on Wednesday evening, although the visit of high flying Biggleswade FC was an altogether different test.

The Ducks did start well, with a searching cross from the right by Lee Stobbs headed out weakly by centre back Pat McCafferty to Tom McElroy, whose shot from 25 yards was narrowly over the crossbar.

The visitors hit back, when a throw in on the left from Luke Oswick found Alex Marsh, who laid the ball into the path of Kian Coles to fire in a shot from 20 yards, which Jack Hopwood did well to turn wide of the far post. From the resulting corner, Lawrie Marsh had a great chance, but his effort from 6 yards was straight at a grateful Hopwood.

A potential penalty for a tackle by Harry Jones on Tom Coles was waved away by referee Shaun Barry, showing the Biggleswade skipper a yellow card for simulation when the ball eventually went out of play.

The game turned in the favour of the visitors with two quick goals. First in the 22nd minute, a long ball forward by Alex Marsh was part intercepted by Alfie Anderson, but he could only divert the ball into the path of George Bailey, who took the ball around Hopwood and guided it into an empty net. 1-0 Biggleswade

A second arrived 2 minutes later, a ball forward down the right to Tom Coles saw him shoot towards goal, but Hopwood made a good save; however, the ball fell to Kian Coles at the far post who smashed the ball high into the net. 2-0 Biggleswade

It was almost 3 on the half hour, a throw in was flicked on by Coles to Alex Marsh, but his shot from 20 yards was well saved down low by Hopwood.

Straight down the opposite end, Stobbs put in a fine cross which was half cleared as far as Herbie Townsend, who hit a powerful shot with the outside of his right foot, only to see it drift just wide of the left-hand post with ex AUFC keeper Dan Green clutching at air!

In the 39th minute, McElroy chased a ball forward, outpacing McCafferty, forcing the centre back to pull him back at the expense of a yellow card. Sadly though, McElroy was injured in the incident and was forced from the field, to be replaced by George Joyce, with Harry Jones moving forward to a striking role.

Just before half time, a ball across the 6-yard box was met at the far post by Kian Coles, but his first-time effort was superbly blocked on the line by Jack Wood.

The Ducks came agonisingly close to getting back into the game as the clocked ticked deep into added on time; Joyce played a great ball into the penalty area, where Dave O’Connor got his head to the ball 10 yards out, but his effort was narrowly wide of the post.

Half-time: Aylesbury 0-2 Biggleswade

The main talking points at the start of the second half concerned O’Connor, who picked up two yellow cards in 7 minutes, firstly for a foul on Bailey. The second foul, again on Bailey, saw O’Connor injured himself, with the referee playing advantage, Alex Marsh fired over the bar. However, the second yellow and subsequent red was soon brandished in O’Connor’s direction. This saw Jordan Jenkins sent on to plug the gap in the defence, with Jack Moriarty sacrificed from midfield.

The game turned into a defensive effort after this, but the Ducks held firm with some resolute defending in the face of some swift attacking moves from Biggleswade. Just past the hour mark, Adam Hunt broke down the right and crossed to the near post, where Alex Marsh could only direct his header over the crossbar. With 15 minutes to go, Jack Dreyer exchanged passes with Alex Marsh, before hitting a powerful shot from 25 yards, but Hopwood was right behind the shot, saving comfortably.

Just a minute later and the Ducks almost created a way back into the game, but Jones was unable to beat Green from 15 yards after being played in by a good pass from Sonny French.

With seven minutes remaining on the clock, Jones fouled Tom Coles 40 yards out, but a good advantage was played, which saw Coles recover and shoot powerfully from 35 yards, which Hopwood was again equal to, making a fine flying save.

So, the Ducks succumbed to a defeat to Biggleswade, who climbed to 4th place in the league table as a result. After the final whistle, the club announced the appointment of Jack Wells as the new manager. We would like to thank Paul Batchelor for his hard work and efforts since taking over as caretaker manager after Ben Williams’ resignation, in what has been an extremely difficult period, with a difficult run of matches and having to cope with a number of players unavailable due to either long term injuries or suspension. We wish Paul well in the future, and welcome Jack to the club; we look forward to working with him and hope to see the team back to winning ways; the first match of his reign will be at Ware FC next Saturday.