Following the disappointment of defeat at home against League leaders Berkhamsted, the Ducks faced a very different task this afternoon, visiting bottom of the table Barton Rovers. At the start of the day the Ducks sat just above their hosts, 2 points clear; Jack Wells was forced into one change to the starting line up, Anthony Ball rushed back into action after a lengthy lay off in place of Harry Jones, who suffered an injury in training. There was also the welcome sight of both Tom McElroy and Mark Riddick returning from lengthy lay offs to take a seat on the subs bench.

The weather was to be a big influence on the match, a strong wind blowing across the pitch, with, at times driving rain also adding to the poor conditions. Playing down the hill in the first half, the hosts came close to opening the scoring in the second minute. A free kick from the half way was delivered to the edge of the penalty area by Lewis Williams where it was headed down to Jemale Olayinka 8 yards out, who saw his shot saved well by the feet of Jack Hopwood.

On the quarter hour the Ducks came very close to scoring themselves; a great cross from the right by Lee Stobbs was met by Nasha Mukwada 5 yards out, but keeper Josh Mollison made a fine block at point blank range, diverting the ball into the path of Tyriq Hunte, but the striker’s effort flashed across goal and away to safety.

Mukwada came closer still in the 20th minute; Ball won a tackle in his own half and made ground into the opposition half, before passing to the young winger. He advanced to 20 yards and fired in a shot which was palmed onto the post by Mollison.

The deadlock was broken in the 29th minute, and what a goal it was. Jake Bewley won a header outside the penalty area, with the ball falling to Mukwada on the half way line. He looked up and played the ball on to Hunte who spotted the run of Sonny French outside of him, finding him with a fine flicked pass. French cut inside Matthieu Racine and curled a fantastic shot beyond Mollison and into the top corner of the net. 1-0 Aylesbury

Ten minutes before half time, a ball was played to the edge of the penalty area, where it was collected by Scott Joseph; he exchanged passes with substitute Lewis Horn-Haynes before firing a shot from 20 yards over the crossbar.

Half-time: Barton 0-1 Aylesbury

The second half saw an early substitution for the Ducks, Jordan Jenkins replacing David Lynn in the centre of defence. On 55 minutes a free kick was headed down by Olayinka to Joseph, but his effort was wide of the near post. Three minutes later, Ball made a mazy run across the pitch before passing to Bewley, who evaded two tackles and shot from 25 yards, but his effort was wide of the goal.

In the 68th minute a corner into the Barton penalty area saw a sickening clash of heads as Jenkins challenged for the ball with Racine; unfortunately for him, the home defender came off worse, requiring a lengthy spell of treatment before thankfully being able to walk off the pitch as he was substituted.

The home side's woes continued in the 80th minute, with Horn-Haynes forced off with an injury, reducing his team to 10 men for the remainder of the game, all 3 substitutes having already been made.

The gloss on a decent performance was applied as the game approached added on time. A Barton free kick was headed out by Jenkins and played forward to Hunte, who rolled Williams and raced away from him, before firing past Mollison from the edge of the penalty area to wrap up the 3 points. 2-0 Aylesbury

So, 3 important points gained and just importantly the win took us above both Highworth, whose match today was postponed and FC Romania, who were well beaten at Berkhamsted. With the squad now at just about full strength, the hope is that the team can build on their recent form and continue the climb up the table, starting with the match next Saturday at home to Hertford Town.