Aylesbury disappointingly crashed out of the FA Cup with a humbling 3-0 home defeat by Essex Senior League side Walthamstow in a Sunday encounter at The Meadow to leave their unbeaten start to the season already seem a distant memory.
It was a match which saw the Ducks - second best in every area of the pitch - concede three penalties (the first of which was saved) and convincingly beaten to such an extent that the scoring could ultimately have been higher.
United suffered a blow in the loss of striker Ken Feyi in the warm up, and with it the focal point of so much of their attacking play this season, as he was replaced in the team by on-loan Hemel Hempstead youngster Sydney Ibie.
Nevertheless, there was reason for early optimism as Aylesbury moved the ball about well in the opening exchanges, and Ibie had a couple of probing runs to the byeline.
But Walthamstow arrived full of confidence thanks to their own strong start to the campaign, and quickly showed they meant business. United had already once struggled to clear their lines seconds earlier, and when it happened again the ball came to Callum Ibe his trickery made room for a shot but the ball flew well over.
After just eight minutes and the Stages were gifted a chance to go in front when one ball over the top had the defence floundering and Dave O’Connor fouled his man for a clear penalty. Jack Hopwood made a good save and Aylesbury seemed to have been let off the hook.
United were clearly rattled, though, and three minutes later a throw in from the right lead to a poor defensive header that came to Emiel Aiken whose shot was blocked by Jack Wood.
On the quarter hour mark a rare moment of attacking quality from Aylesbury saw Sonny French drive through midfield with the ball before slipping it through to Ibie who snatched his shot wide of the near post.
The next action of the game saw the visitors deservedly ahead. A fine ball through the defence released Samrai Gebrai and although Hopwood made a good sprawling save, Danny McCullock was first to react and fire home the loose ball. 1-0 Walthamstow
Things got even worse 90 seconds later as Hopwood spilled a long shot and in desperately trying to retrieve the ball fouled his man. A change of penalty taker saw Billy Jones step up and make no mistake in sending the keeper the wrong way. 2-0 Walthamstow
On 34 minutes manager Ben Williams opted for a substitution to try and change the course of proceedings, with Greg Williams coming on in place of Ben Seaton.
Soon afterwards and United mustered their first effort on target when the ball was worked forwards to Ibie who controlled it on his chest before firing in a fierce shot that was beaten away.
It marked the start of a brighter end to the first half as the Ducks ended the first period on top. Melvy N’Somi should have scored when a defence-splitting pass put him one-on-one with the keeper, but his woeful miscue only skewed badly wide.
Half-time: Aylesbury 0-2 Walthamstow
Unfortunately, Aylesbury weren’t able to keep their momentum going and the second period started with McCullock seeing a shot blocked in the area.
The old cliche goes ‘goals change games’ and in the space of a minute Aylesbury went from seeing two shots cleared off the line, to their visitors extend their lead further to kill off the tie.
Jack Wood’s header into the box from a free kick resulted in two efforts heroically cleared - the latter from Ibie - allowing Walthamstow to break quickly. When the ball came to Ibe he cut inside Jordan Jenkins only to be taken down for referee Mr Danaher’s third easy penalty call of the afternoon.
Cue a third different penalty taker - Gerbai this time - who found the net to effectively end the contest. 3-0 Walthamstow
Aylesbury tried in vain to get themselves back in the game but only had long shots from Wood and Dave O’Connor to show for their efforts.
Instead, it was the visitors who had the better chances - notably a counter attack that saw substitute Dwade James break free before squaring to McCullock who shot wide with only Hopwood to beat.
Greg Williams and Ibie had half chances, whilst Ollie Hogg curled a 25-yard free kick over the bar and as time ticked by it was clear this wasn’t to be Aylesbury’s afternoon.
In stoppage time Walthamstow found themselves clean through again when Gerbai ran in behind the defence, but, apparently caught in two minds, he found himself smothered by the approaching Hopwood and the chance was gone.
For the Ducks this was a thoroughly disappointing end to their FA Cup hopes for another season, but we wish the Stags well in the next round and for the season ahead.
Aylesbury will be looking to bounce back immediately with another home game as Coleshill Town visit in the league on Saturday 14th September.
