The Ducks visited the Walnut Boys for their 3rd match in 6 days, all against fellow relegation strugglers. With disappointing performances, leading to defeats against Thame United and Kidlington, manager Dave Tuttle was looking for a reaction from his team, and hopefully 3 points to take from the fixture. Reacting to the two defeats, changes were made to the team that played at Kidlington, with George Joyce replaced at right back by Max Cavana moving into the defence from his midfield place on Thursday, which saw Hayden Beadle coming into the midfield; the Feyi brothers returned to the starting line up, Derek replacing the injured Charley Tuttle, in a move that saw Jake Bewley revert to left back, while Ken started in his usual striking role, in place of Dan West. Finally, Brayden Daniel retuned to start in place of Tom Cove.

Playing with a strong wind at their backs, the visiting Ducks started well; a long goal kick from James Callan found Daniel, who squared to Dave Pearce 20 yards out, but his shot was wide of the far post. Daniel had a great chance himself in the 19th minute, a clearance from Pearce found Kwai Marsh-Brown on the left, who hit a fine diagonal pass to Daniel, who initially controlled well, but saw the wind take the ball away from his touch, allowing goalkeeper George Whitehall to claim the ball as he rushed off his line.

Three minutes later and the home side had their best opportunity of the game to date; Kieran Gauthier passed to Josh Adepoju on the edge of the penalty area, who in turn found Erin Amu who turned Derek Feyi and fired a left foot shot just wide of the far post from 15 yards. On 27 minutes, sustained possession and pressure from the Walnut Boys saw the ball passed around confidently, finally reaching Charlie Black, who saw his shot from 25 yards well saved by Callan.

From the next attack the Ducks took the lead; David Lyn picked up the ball in the centre circle and passed to Daniel on the wide right; he made ground and played the ball infield to Pearce, who took the ball in his stride and hit an unerring shot from the edge of the penalty area to the keeper’s left hand. 1-0 Aylesbury

Three minutes before the break, the home side again showed great patience in their build up, passing the ball well, before skipper Lanre Ladipo pass to Adepoju 30 yards out, who shot but saw g-his attempt narrowly miss the target.

The final action of the half saw the ball go out of play on the half way line, where manager Tuttle collected it and prepared to throw it to Cavana to take the throw in; bizarrely Adepoju rushed over and tried to grab the ball, pushing Tuttle to the ground in the process. A small scuffle was soon quelled, after which Adepoju was shown a yellow card.

Half-time: Kempston 0-1 Aylesbury

Playing against the wind in the second period, the Ducks tended to sit a little deeper than was comfortable to the watching supporters, allowing Kempston time on the ball, but generally coping well when the ball was played towards the penalty area. Five minutes into the half Leo Farruch did well on the left, before finding Adepoju, who shot wide from 20 yards. Four minutes later, Courtney Massay cut inside Bewley and shot from 20 yards, forcing Callan into a fine save, pushing the ball wide for a corner.

On the hour, a crazy passage of play saw the ball played to Massay on the right; he crossed low into the 6-yard box, where attempts by both Amu and Adepoju were blocked by Jack Wood and Bewley, with Callan also making a fine point blank save to preserve the Ducks lead. Soon after, Massay did well on the right, and played the ball to Josh Francis overlapping; he cut inside substitute Cove and fired in a shot which flashed across goal and out of play.

From their next attack, the Ducks extended their lead; a long throw from Lynn was headed out by Malachi Soile, but only as far as Beadle, who hit a fine half volley that flew past Whitehall into the far corner of his net. 2-0 Aylesbury

Seven minutes later and two became three; Cove did well on the left flank and crossed into the penalty spot where Gauthier could only slice his clearance to Pearce on the edge of the penalty area; he moved the ball wide to Feyi who crossed low into the 6-yard box, where Cove arrived to shoot, only to see Whitehall block his shot; however, Cove reacted quickest to knock home the second chance from 2 yards. 3-0 Aylesbury

With 9 minutes left a headed clearance from Wood fell to substitute Edwin Daffern who hit a volley which was well claimed by Callan. In truth, by this stage, the stuffing had been knocked out of the home side, and it got worse for them in the 83rd minute. Pearce did well to nick the ball away from a defender on the left edge of the penalty area, before playing it across the 6-yard box where Daniel was on hand to score his 10th goal of the season. 4-0 Aylesbury

The icing on the cake was applied in the 92nd minute, Cove broke into the penalty area and was fouled by Daffern; with regular penalty taker Pearce having just been substituted, up stepped Ken Feyi to coolly despatch the spot kick past Whitehall. 5-0 Aylesbury

So, a comprehensive, if somewhat flattering, scoreline sees the Ducks return home with 3 points and a much-improved goal difference. In truth, were it not for some resolute defending and fine goalkeeping, especially in the opening stages of the second half, it could have been different. The second and third goals certainly seemed to knock the confidence out of Kempston, in their fight to climb off the foot of the table.

The job is not completed for the Ducks though, four games to play and still points needed to be mathematically safe from the threat of relegation to Step 5 football, but it is fair to say that the situation is much brighter than it was before the day started. Up next is the Community Day event, with free entry to registered supporters, against Ware FC.