With the heavy home defeat against Cambridge City proving to be the final match of Glyn Creaser’s reign, caretaker manager Ben Williams was faced with selection problems ahead of the clash with top of the table AFC Rushden & Diamonds. The unavailability of Alex Collard meant a call up for former Duck Shane Wood, who partnered brother Jack at centre back. Gavin Hinds-Cadette returned at full back, with Ollie Hogg replacing Ben Seaton in midfield. Finally, Bruno Brito was recalled to the subs bench for the first time since he was injured against Fleet Town 10 weeks ago.

After the mauling against Cambridge City, the team started well, determinedly contesting tackles and matching their high flying opponents. The first goal mouth action of the game came in the 9th minute, Jake Bewley found Connor Furlong on the left whose shot was deflected away for a corner. Furlong was again the danger man 4 minutes later, latching on to a Hogg pass; a good tackle by Blaize Punter saw the ball rebound to Furlong, but his dangerous low cross was well held by keeper Ben Heath.

With 15 minutes gone, Jack Wood was harshly penalised for a 50/50 challenge 5 yards outside the penalty area. Ex Duck Liam Dolman stepped up and curled a shot narrowly wide of the near post.

On 23 minutes came the game’s most contentious incident. A weak back header from Shane Wood was never going to reach Sillitoe. Ben Farrell latched on to the ball and attempted to lob the keeper for the ball to rebound off of him. Referee George Warren adjudged it to be handball outside the area and produced the red card, despite Sillitoe’s protestations that the ball had hit his chest. So, for the second game running against Rushden, veteran Greg Williams donned the keeper’s jersey and gloves, as he had done two seasons previously when Zaki Oualah had been sent off. From the resulting free kick, Luke Fairlamb saw his shot deflect off the wall for a corner, which was well cleared by the defence.

It took just 6 more minutes before the scoring was opened. Farrell won the ball in midfield and fed Tom Lorraine in the right channel, who advanced towards the penalty area and drilled the ball across Williams to score. 1-0 Rushden

If the Ducks were disappointed by the setback, it didn’t show, Sonny French sprayed the ball wide to Bewley, who again found Furlong wide on the left, but the winger again saw his cross deflected for a corner; this was delivered by Bewley, but was just too high for Shane Wood to make a good connection on the ball when unmarked.

Two minutes from half time and Tre Mitford had a great opportunity to equalise. A ball in from Bewley was left by Dolman, with the striker alive to the chance, but his stabbed shot was well saved at close range by Heath. The action switched straight to the other end, and Fairlamb turned well on the edge of the box to fire in a shot which was well saved by Williams.

Half-time: Aylesbury 0-1 Rushden

The first action of the second half saw a long ball forward mis-headed by Shane Wood, and fall to Farrell, but his shot was wide of the goal. Two minutes later and Farrell had another opportunity, this time Sam Brown robbed Hogg on the left and found his team mate, but again his shot didn’t trouble Williams, sailing wide.

On 63 minutes Jack Wood was penalised for what looked like a fair tackle on Tom Lorraine, receiving the yellow card for his troubles. This was to come back to haunt him 7 minutes later, as a late tackle on Lorraine was again penalised by the referee with a second yellow card, reducing the Ducks to 9 men. From the free kick, Joel Gyasi forced Williams into a fine diving save.

This was really becoming a backs to the wall effort for the home team, but they showed fight and resolve to repel the attacks of the visitors. A good passing move between Hinds-Cadette and French found Mitford outside the penalty area, but his shot lacked the power to trouble Heath.

With 15 minutes to go, manager Ben Williams chose to freshen things up and made a triple substitution, with Brito, Seaton and Couch joining the fray.

Williams was having an outstanding match in goal, but his best was yet to come. Joe Curtis fed the ball to Farrell, whose shot was well saved, but as the ball rebounded back to Farrell, Williams was up quickly to superbly block his second attempt. With 4 minutes on the clock, substitute Darryl Smith again tested Williams from outside the box, but the stand in did superbly well to touch the ball round the post for a corner.

With 2 minutes of added on time played the Ducks resolve was finally beaten. A loose clearance fell to Lorraine and this time he made no mistake in slotting the ball past Williams to double the lead. 2-0 Rushden

After 3 more minutes of added time, the referee blew his whistle to end the game, leaving the Ducks disappointed at the defeat, but mostly because decisions had gone against them which ultimately decided the outcome. Manager Williams has certainly had a baptism of fire, but he will have learned an awful lot about his squad and their ability to compete, which was sadly missing in the previous game. Against the odds and with a depleted team, they battled hard, with no question about their commitment. While the whole squad deserve credit for their efforts, not for the first time veteran midfielder Greg Williams showed once again what a legend he is for the team, excelling in his emergency goalkeeper role.