The 2024-25 season arrived, with the customary Extra Preliminary Round tie in the FA Cup, but this season, unlike the previous 8 seasons, they were pitted against a fellow Step 4 club; not just any Step 4 club, but former landlords Thame United, managed by Ben Williams and with a host of ex-Ducks in their matchday squad.

In contrast, it has been another pre-season which has seen a large overhaul of the Ducks squad, seeing 6 players make their first starting appearance for the team, with 3 more making their debuts from the bench in the second half.

The home side started well, with ex Ducks striker Tom McElroy prominent in the early stages, creating problems for the defence. A ball into McElroy in the 8th minute saw him hold off Jack Wood and lay the ball back to Fabian Garcia, who saw a powerful shot from 15 yards touched over by the returning Jack Hopwood in the Ducks goal.

In the 20th minute, good work by Kwai Marsh-Brown saw him cut inside Oscar Lucy, who made a tackle, but only diverted the ball into the path of Jake Bewley 35 yards out; he travelled forward before unleashing a shot from 25 yards which went just wide of the target.

Two minutes later a corner for Thame, delivered by Harry Alexander was headed down by Mark Riddick to Alfie Tucker on the edge of the penalty area whose volley was too high to bother Hopwood.

The Ducks had a corner of their own three minutes later, which Charley Tuttle took short, but failed to get a telling cross into the penalty area; the cross was cleared to McElroy on the half way line, who held off Liam Batchelor-Morgan and exchanged passes with Rocko Tamplin, before breaking into the penalty area. Hopwood came out to force him wide, but McElroy was able to spot Tamplin in space on the 6-yard line and found him, leaving an easy tap in to open the scoring. 1-0 Thame

The Ducks came close to an equaliser in the next attack, when a loose pass across his defence by Leo Galpin was seized on by Morrison Hashii; he beat Garcia for pace and made himself a shooting angle, but saw his goal bound shot deflected out for a corner.

With 10 minutes to half time Kamil Zielinski did well to rob Galpin on the edge of the penalty area and attempted to chip Matty Crowther, but the keeper backpedalled well to catch the ball under his cross bar.

A foul by Will St Clair Burton 25 yards out gave Tucker the chance to test Hopwood, but the Ducks keeper did well to get a hand to the shot, touching it onto the post and back into the 6-yard box, where Bewley reacted quickest to clear for a corner. The hosts showed how to capitalise on a short corner, when Alexander and Tamplin combined, before Alexander crossed to the far post where Jefferson Louis had a free header and scored with ease. 2-0 Thame

Just as they had after the first goal, the Ducks created a chance of their own straight away, Hashii doing well to beat Josh Stranks on the left, before pulling the ball back to Ben Stallard, who hit a fine shot, but saw it rise just over the cross bar.

Half-time: Thame 2-0 Aylesbury

Into the second half, the early stages were most notable for a series of substitutions as the Ducks tried to change the course of the match; however, the match was controlled well by the home side, with Riddick and Tucker pulling the strings in the middle of the park.

With 20 minutes to go, the hosts almost notched a 3rd goal, substitute Zeid Hannachi was robbed of the ball by Curtis Brown, who was inches away from being the 3rd Ex Duck to score against them, seeing his shot from 25 yards crash against the crossbar. Hannachi lost the ball again in the 80th minute, McElroy before powering past Brandon Green, before hitting a shot across the face of goal.

The coup-de-grace was put on the scoreline in the 85th minute, when Garcia won the ball on the left and found Reece Cameron in space in the penalty area, who despatched the ball past Hopwood to score the third. 3-0 Thame

So, the Ducks exited the FA Cup at the first hurdle for the first time since 2016, in truth a fair result engineered by a more experienced Thame side, who saw all 3 of their goals scored by players who have all worn the green and white shirt previously. It will be a learning experience for the newly assembled squad, who will look to bounce back in the first League match of the season next Saturday, at Biggleswade FC.