With a good win under their belt against high-flying Waltham Abbey on Saturday, the Ducks went into the match in good spirits, hoping for 3 more points to help pull themselves away from the lower reaches of the table. Just one enforced change saw Derek Feyi replace the unavailable Jake Bewley in the heart of the defence, with the welcome sight of Max Cavana on the subs bench, returning on loan from Wycombe Wanderers.

The visitors have seen their form slump over the past 6 weeks, coinciding with the loss of much of their squad and management, leaving them forced to look to younger players to see the season out.

The opening exchanges were quite cagey, with little in the way of goalmouth excitement to thrill a larger than average crowd on Non-League Day. It took until the 19th minute for the first effort of note, when a throw in from Harrison Furlong found Victor Alvizu Hernandez 25 yards out, but his speculative shot was wide of the near post.

The Ducks fashioned an opportunity of their own from their next attack, when a long clearance by James Callan found Tom Cove on the left flank; he passed infield to Ken Feyi, who in turn played the ball to Dave Pearce whose shot from the edge of the penalty area was just too high.

Three minutes later a headed clearance by Jack Wood was collected 40 yards out by visiting skipper Michael Hopkins, who saw an audacious shot from 35 yards well fielded by Callan.

The opening goal came immediately afterwards in the 24th minute, when a throw in from Keegan Bloom found Brayden Daniel inside the penalty area; he turned and played the ball into the path of Pearce who hit an unerring shot from 20 yards past Timmy Mungall in the North Leigh net. 1-0 Aylesbury

The Millers came close to an equaliser in the 26th minute, when Connor Barrett played a ball inside Daniel to Furlong, who crossed to Hernandez, but his header was narrowly wide of the far post.

On the half hour Pearce found Bloom overlapping on the right, he got to the bye line and fizzed a cross onto the head of Feyi, but he couldn’t direct his header on target. Seven minutes before the break a long ball found Barrett unmarked wide on the left; with defenders chasing back he cut inside Charley Tuttle and got a shot away which was well saved by Callan.

Shortly afterwards David Lynn did well to win the ball on the half way line and pass to Hayden Beadle; he spread the ball wide to Cove on the left, who cut inside, but saw his shot flash across goal.

The last action of the first period saw Pearce chip the ball forward to Daniel who found the target with his header, but celebrations were short lived as the flag went up to indicate offside.

Half-time: Aylesbury 1-0 North Leigh

Into the second period and the visitors came close to an equaliser in the 57th minute, when a nice passing move saw Furlong get to the bye line- and stand-up a cross which substitute Luca Alonzi headed goalwards, only to find Wood well placed to clear off the line.

Just past the hour the Ducks extended their lead. A Pearce corner from the left was headed out and returned into the penalty area by Pearce; a second clearance fell to Lynn, 25 yards from goal, who hit a sublime right foot half volley which flew into the net with Mungall rooted to the spot. 2-0 Aylesbury

Two almost became three five minutes later, as another Pearce corner was met by Wood, but he saw his header cleared off the line by a defender. Ten minutes later a long clearance by Callan found Cove wide on the left. The winger controlled well and chipped the ball into the penalty area towards Daniel, but Mungall came off his line bravely and cleared the danger.

That was the last real action of the match, as the Ducks saw out the final quarter comfortably to claim another 3 points and a long-awaited clean sheet. Up next is a trip to struggling Kidlington on Wednesday evening.