An historic occasion for Aylesbury United as the Ducks hosted their first competitive game at new home Haywood Way, as they took on Wroxham in an FA Cup Preliminary Round replay.
Jon Franklin?s men were hoping to follow up on a creditable result in Norfolk on Saturday with a similar result to the 4-2 win achieved by
Danny Nicholls? very different Aylesbury side at Buckingham Road less than a year ago.
United fielded an unchanged starting line up for the first time this season, although midfield man Nando Perna returned to the squad, taking Roni Joe?s place on the bench.
Tim Vincent was first called into action 13 minutes in as he made a comfortable save from Josh Carus?s looping header, and seconds later Aylesbury created their first opportunity of the night. The dynamic Justin Gordon?s ball put through Andy Shed whose shot was wide of the post.
The visitors took the lead on 19 minutes following a goalmouth scramble which seemed to create sheer panic amongst the Aylesbury backline. The ball eventually rebounded into the arms of Vincent but his weak clearance/pass only found its way into the path of Coren Hardy, who was able to waltz through the defence and drive the ball home past the former Tring goalkeeper.
Within three minutes United were level in comical fashion following a corner kick. A Wroxham clearance was charged down by Liam Smyth and the ball deflected off the right winger?s backside right across the face of goal, finding Shed at the front of the queue to tap in and equalise.
Despite the Ducks? leveller, the Norfolk side were enjoying the lion?s share of possession, as the more direct Aylesbury struggled to hold onto the ball and were made to chase on a regular basis by Wroxham?s impressive passing game. As a result United were unable to capitalise on any expected momentum change and became frustrated, with midfielders Enzo Silvestri and Matt Butler both finding their way into the referee?s book.
On 44 minutes, events took a dramatic turn for the worse for Aylesbury as Brett Court was adjudged to have pulled back a Wroxham as he ran through on goal and proceeded to show the former Chesham defender a red card for what was deemed a professional foul.
The Ducks? ten men were unfortunately then dealt another crucial blow two minutes into first half stoppage time, as a Wroxham corner was headed back across goal into the path of Carus who headed home what turned out to be the winning goal.
Aston Goss was introduced early in the second half in place of the ineffective Sam Swonnell and while it took the young wideman some time to get into the game, once he did so the substitution very nearly reaped dividends.
A spectacular volley from Matt Butler flew wide just after the hour mark as the Ducks began their best spell of the game, finally succeeding in pushing back Wroxham on a regular basis despite their numbers disadvantage. On 66 minutes Goss burst through the visitors? defence and was allowed to continue by the officials despite the apparent use of his hand to control the ball. Unfortunately for Goss he was unable to take full advantage as his 25-yard shot sailed high and wide.
Three minutes later Aston was at it again as he sprinted at Wroxham with frightening pace before spraying the ball wide to Liam Smyth, whose cross Andy Shed could not quite connect with as he would have wished.
Sadly United could not keep this momentum going and the game somewhat petered out in the closing twenty minutes, with the substitution of strikers Richard Pringle and Shed for the fresh but unproven Craig Henney and Luke Melisi only producing a late booking for the latter after a poor challenge on Wroxham keeper Andy Jackson.
So Wroxham will make the trip to Woodford United on the 16th and Aylesbury?s dreams of revisiting former FA Cup glories are over for another year, however the impressive turnout despite the currently limited facilities at Haywood Way was proof if any were needed that there is still a real future for the club with some of the most loyal fans you will find at any level.
