After despatching struggling Dunstable Town last week, the squad for this match at bottom of the table North Leigh was unchanged. Looking to gain revenge for a humiliating 4-1 home defeat in November, the Ducks started the game strongly. After just 3 minutes, Sonny French won the ball in midfield and fed it out to Jake Bewley wide on the left. He in turn found Oran Swales, whose shot from 20 yards was dragged wide of the left hand post.

In the 11th minute, the busy French again robbed the ball off of Ben Barratt 30 yards from goal. The defence opened up in front of him, giving him a clear run towards the penalty area, but Barratt stopped him progress by pulling him back, conceding a free kick 20 yards from goal and receiving a straightforward yellow card for the foul. Max Hercules lined up the free kick, but couldn’t keep his down, keeper Eddie Cavanagh watching it sail over the bar.

Three minutes later and another good opportunity presented itself. A long ball forward from Hercules saw French beat Cavanagh to the ball as he advanced from his penalty area. The ball fell to Ollie Hogg who passed to French, but his shot from outside of the area was narrowly wide of the far post when it really should have been the opening goal.

The home side’s main attacking threat had so far come from a succession of corner kicks, all successfully dealt with by the Duck’s defence. However, in the 22nd minute, skipper Henry Landers sent over another corner from the left which was met by young central defender Alfie Grant 6 yards out to open the scoring. 1-0 North Leigh

Coming something against the run of play, it was a hard pill to take, but hopes were high that the Ducks could fight back and find an equaliser. This was made harder on 30 minutes, with talisman Greg Williams forced off after sustaining an injury, being replaced by Harry Tucker.

In truth, far from the Ducks threatening the next goal, it was the home side that took the initiative, helped by some poor defending by the Ducks. On 36 minutes, good work by Noah Alabi on the left wing saw him beat Anthony Ball and cross towards the penalty area. The clearance was half hearted and fell to debutant former Ducks striker Tyriq Hunte, who gleefully blasted the ball into the centre of the net from 15 yards. 2-0 North Leigh

Hunte almost doubled his tally two minutes later, a long ball forward from Grant saw him outpace the defence, but could only shoot wide of Archie Davis’ goal. With half time approaching, the home side scored a decisive third goal. Again, a straight ball through the defence saw the offside trap beaten, this time by Barratt, who outpaced last man Jake Bewley to despatch the ball past Davis from outside the area. 3-0 North Leigh

Half-time: North Leigh 3-0 Aylesbury

Hoping for a reaction from his team, manager Ben Williams would have been pleased to see them pass the ball around nicely, albeit not creating any clear goalscoring opportunities in the opening exchanges of the half, the nearest being Aaron Berry’s speculative strike from 40 yards which never troubled Cavanagh’s goal.

Things were to go from bad to worse on 54 minutes, as a ball forward found Hunte 20 yards from goal. A quick turn and powerful shot saw the ball fly into the goal for his second goal of the game. 4-0 North Leigh

Immediately after this, Williams made his second change, introducing top scorer Tre Mitford for Oran Swales. Immediately afterwards a free kick from wide on the right was cleared as far as Tucker, who shot high over the bar from 18 yards.

With the score line so overwhelming, the game entered something of a lull, with few opportunities for either side. Good work from substitute Harry Jones, on for Hercules, saw him cross to Mitford, who cut inside and shot, only to see his effort saved low down at the near post. With 8 minutes remaining the Ducks won a corner on the left, Hogg’s delivery flicked on at the near post for Jack Wood to finish from 6 yards. 1-4

With the game entering added on time, the ball fell to French 30 yards out. His shot was well saved by Cavanagh into the path of Jones who could only put his attempt wide of the post.

Three minutes of added time had been played when a cross from Berry was headed down to Mitford, who buried his shot in the net for his 12th goal of the season to reduce the arrears and to give the score line a more flattering appearance for the Ducks after a disappointing and lacklustre performance against the bottom side in the league. 2-4

With a number of tough matches coming up towards the end of the season, based on today’s performance it is hard to imagine a similar positive run to that which happened at the same time last season.