A challenging evening looked to be ahead, facing in-form Leighton Town, unbeaten since losing at Biggleswade on 13th Jan, winning their last 7 matches. After the disappointing defeat against lowly Kidlington on the previous Saturday, there were four changes to the starting line up. New signing Benji Kakembo made his debut in the front line alongside Pow Raposo who had recovered from injury, with Kian Henry and Ash Rai starting in defence.

From the start the visitors threatened, with Kyal Williams collecting a ball forward in the 1st minute, before turning and firing a shot from 25 yards which forced Jack Hopwood into a diving save. A corner from the right was met by Luke Pyman, who was unmarked 10 yards from goal, but his effort was cleared off the line and smuggled away from danger.

The visitors were proving dangerous from set pieces and in particular corner kicks in the opening minutes of the game, and it was from a corner that the breakthrough came, although not in a conventional sense. Tolu Ikuyinminu took the corner from the right, the ball was recycled back to him by Charlie Pattison, before he swung the ball in low, which caused confusion as Kakembo appeared to leave the ball but it left Hopwood wrong-footed, with the ball sneaking past him, the Ducks conceding another soft goal. 1-0 Leighton

The Ducks responded well to the setback, Raposo winning the ball off Ben Farrell in midfield, before advancing and shooting from 25 yards, but his effort was wide of the right hand upright. Ten minutes before half time a free kick was awarded after a foul by Luqman Kassim 25 yards from goal; Williams stepped up and saw his shot saved comfortably by Hopwood.

Three minutes later the best chance so far for the Ducks came after a Charley Tuttle cross was fumbled by George Rose and fell to Will St Clair-Burton 15 yards from goal, but the ball bounced awkwardly, causing his shot to rise and kiss the top of the crossbar.

The visitors had a great chance straight after, when Lynton Goss held the ball up well under a challenge from Henry, before laying it off to Sam King up in support, but his shot was weak and hit the side netting from 8 yards, when he would have hoped to have worked the keeper.

Ben Peters then won the ball well in midfield, before feeding Kakembo, who advanced and shot, but saw his effort deflected for a corner.

With 3 minutes remaining, Raposo collected a ball forward, cut inside Ikuyinminu before squaring to Kassim, who took a touch and fired a shot from 18 yards just wide of the far post. The last play of the half saw another Ikuyinminu corner headed back across goal by Sam McLelland to Pattison, but his volley was too high to trouble Hopwood.

Half-time: Aylesbury 0-1 Leighton

Into the second half, just before the hour mark a ball in to Haziz Kone was collected before he passed it infield to St Clair-Burton who swept a half volley just wide of the far post. A corner from Tuttle was palmed out to Kassim, who played the ball square to Jake Bewley who hit a left foot volley across goal. Three minutes later a run down the left by Kassim saw him combine with Raposo, before setting up Kakembo who saw Rose make a good save from his left foot shot.

The game settled into a midfield battle with few chances being created by either team in the closing minutes, leaving the visitors to notch up an 8th successive victory, and sadly for the Ducks, a sixth successive defeat; however, there were some bright moments to reflect back on, the team worked hard and probably deserved a point from the game, against a team in much better form.

We move on to a match at Welwyn Garden City on Saturday, in the hunt for the point that is still required to confirm mathematical safety from relegation this season.