Aylesbury fell to their biggest home defeat since leaving Buckingham Road with a 4-0 loss at the hands of high flying Nuneaton Town. The Ducks' worst result on home ground prior to that was indeed the final game at their previous stadium, a 5-1 defeat to Bath City back in April 2006.
Nuneaton completely dominated the first half, and it was easy to see why they came into the game as the league's form side and are now well and truly back in the hunt for Leamington's previously unassailable looking leading position.
The Ducks were on the back foot from the first kick of the game, and after just three minutes Paul Spacey fired wide after an initial shot from close range had been well blocked on the line by Tom Vincent, although he can't have known much about it.
Robert Foster found himself clean through on nine minutes when Carl Kavanagh was caught in possession, but Vincent was off his line in a flash to save down low.
With Aylesbury barely able to get out of their half, it was only a matter of time before the visitors opened the scoring, and it duly arrived on twenty minutes. Gez Murphy turned Ross Taylor too easily inside the area from a throw-in, and squared the ball for Foster to easily finish. 0-1
Seven minutes later it was two with a classy goal by the Boro. The ball was sprayed across to the opposite flank where Robert Oddy cut inside and flighted a perfect left-footed ball over the Ducks' defence and Mark Noon had the simplest task of heading past Vincent. 0-2
At this point it looked like a case of ?how many' for Nuneaton as Aylesbury were outplayed and out battled in every area, and the chances kept on coming for the visitors.
A minute later the excellent Murphy cleverly back heeled into the path of Foster, but his shot in the area was blocked when he might have done better to pass the ball with options either side.
Foster had a goal ruled out on 36 minutes when he headed in Murphy's whipped delivery. Standing a yard out from the goal line, it was little surprise that the linesman's flag was raised.
In the closing ten minutes of the first half, Aylesbury dragged themselves up and finally started competing. With a great passing move they broke down the Boro defence for the first time by moving the ball quickly, eventually working it wide left to Chris Marsh whose cross fell to Matt Butler, but his crashing drive was well wide.
A minute before the interval Marsh, one of Aylesbury's more effective players on the day, picked up the ball in midfield and drove forward, riding a couple of challengers before going for goal with an early shot which might have caught Acton in goal cold if it hadn't been straight at him.
Half-time: Aylesbury 0-2 Nuneaton
After such a difficult first half, it would have been easy for Aylesbury to roll over and accept defeat after the break. But they stuck to their task well and were much improved in the second period.
The introduction of Mark Boyce at right-back gave United an extra attacking dimension as he raided at will down the flank. His great cross five minutes in was missed by the entire defence and goalkeeper, before presenting Kevin Mealor with a great chance, but he failed to make decent contact and his tame volley was straight into Acton's arms.
Nathan Graham had a shot blocked after Butler's head down, and Marsh shot wide, as Aylesbury enjoyed their best spell of the game without being able to find a way past Acton.
Boyce set up another Aylesbury chance when he played in Marsh in the area. He mis-hit his first effort, but the ball came back to him and his second chance was deflected wide. The resulting corner came out to Boyce who volleyed a powerful effort over the bar.
Nuneaton's clean sheet was somehow kept intact when Daniel Mead's free-kick from the edge of the area was diverted goalwards by Ben Stevens from close range, but miraculously scrambled away by a combination of defence and goalkeeper.
With Aylesbury failing to take their chances, Nuneaton killed the game off with a third goal twelve minutes from time. A free-kick swung in from the left flank was lost in flight by Vincent, and in the ensuing scramble Foster managed to scramble the ball home for his second goal. 0-3
Craig Henney and Mark Jones had both entered the fray as Aylesbury continued to chase the game, and Jones nearly set up Henney for a consolation with a slide rule pass, but Acton was up to the challenge of saving on his near-post.
Five minutes from time Aylesbury's assistant manager was punished for losing the ball in midfield with a fourth goal for Nuneaton. Breaking free there was no catching James Armson as he played a neat one-two with Murphy before sublimely lifting the ball over the advancing Vincent. 0-4
In the end Aylesbury were left to reflect on an afternoon where they had simply been beaten by a much better team. The performance in the second half was greatly improved on a disappointing first, but against a team that looked in a different class to runaway leaders Leamington, getting back into the game was always likely to prove difficult.
