Aylesbury United's hopes of ending their poor run of form were dashed as they fell to a 1-4 home defeat by title-chasing Berkhamsted in their Pitching In Southern League Division 1 Central Boxing Day local derby at The Meadow, Chesham.

The Ducks had gone into the game on the back of a 5 game winless streak in all competitions, not including their abandoned game at Real Bedford the previous Saturday.

United went into the game in 8th place in the table, 2 points behind 7th placed Welwyn Garden City with 6th placed Hadley a further 7 points ahead, albeit with Aylesbury having a game in hand over both Welwyn and Hadley.

Meanwhile, Berkhamsted had gone into the game on the back of a 4-1 away league win over Kidlington the previous Saturday, which was their 5th straight win out of a total unbeaten run of 8 games in all competitions since a 1-2 away league defeat by Barton Rovers on 29th October.

That win over Kidlington plus results elsewhere the same day left Berkhamsted 4 points clear at the top from 2nd placed Real Bedford, with 3rd placed Flackwell Heath, 4th placed Barton and 5th placed Thame United all a further 3 points behind and separated only by goal difference.

The first chance came Aylesbury's way just into the 9th minute when Will St Clair-Burton's threaded diagonal through ball from the halfway line on the right found Luqman Kassim. He took a touch to control before sending a low through ball down the middle to the on-running Morrison Hashii 35 yards out, who beat the offside trap and ran on into the box before firing his low first time right foot shot from 12 yards wide of Berkhamsted keeper Josh Bowler's left hand post.

Berkhamsted took the lead in the 12th minute, when Jonathan Lacey ran forward on the right of middle before sending a low through ball to Rayan Clarke. He ran forward to the right hand corner of the box before checking and pulling the ball back low for Luke Andrews, whose first time cross found Adam Watkins 8 yards out with the ball going in off his right thigh to wrong-foot Ducks keeper Jack Hopwood on its way into the keeper's hand corner. 1-0 Berkhamsted

A chance came the visitors' way in the 15th minute when Jack Tompkins played a neat one-two with Andrews on the right before having his shot from 12 yards saved by Hopwood, with the ball rebounding off Tompkins and past Hopwood's right-hand post for a goal kick.

Then right at the end of the 19th minute, it was 2-0 when Andrews' low ball infield from 25 yards out found Lacey, who took a touch to control before turning and firing his low right foot shot from 25 yards into Hopwood's left hand corner. 2-0 Berkhamsted

The visitors made their first change in the 20th minute when Tom Newman came on to replace the injured Clarke.

The Ducks went close in the 21st minute when Tom Cove's low ball infield found Ben Stallard 22 yards out, who ran forward a couple of paces before having his right foot shot from 20 yards palmed away past his left hand post for a corner.

Another chance came Aylesbury's way in the 30th minute when St Clair-Burton chased a ball down on the left before slipping it inside to Cove just inside the box. He took a touch to control before recycling the ball across the box via Kassim to Hashii. His diagonal low ball found Liam Batchelor-Morgan, who took a touch to control before eventually firing his right foot angled shot from 8 yards past Bowler's left hand post.

The Ducks suffered a blow when Charley Tuttle sustained an injury soon after and after treatment, he was replaced in the 31st minute by Kian Henry.

Then in the 42nd minute, the hosts pulled a goal back when Cove's low through ball down the left found Kassim, who ran on before putting Charlie Johnson under pressure. Kassim won a challenge before running on into the left hand edge of the box and crossing low across goal to the far post, where Hashii fired his right foot shot from 10 yards past Bowler to give his side a possible lifeline with half time approaching. 1-2

With the 4th Official having indicated a minimum of 2 minutes added time to be played at the end of the half, Aylesbury went close to equalising just into the 2nd of those minutes when Jake Bewley's left foot free kick from 20 yards out near the byeline on the right was pushed out by Bowler but there was no Ducks player there to capitalise.

Half-time: Aylesbury 1-2 Berkhamsted

The first chance of note in the second saw Berkhamsted extend their lead in the 50th minute, when Tompkins ran down the right beating 2 or 3 men inside the right of the box before eventually pulling the ball back for Newman to fire his right foot shot from 10 yards into Hopwood's right hand corner. 3-1 Berkhamsted

An opportunity came the visitors' way in the 54th minute when Lacey turned 35 yards out on the left of middle and made a diagonal run to his right before sending a low diagonal ball to Newman outside the right hand corner of the box. He took a touch to control and cut in before firing his right foot shot high, wide and not very handsome over the bar to Hopwood's right.

United made their second change in the 60th minute when Haziz Kone came on to replace Brandon Green. Meanwhile, Berkhamsted made their second change in the 62nd minute when Louie Collier came on to replace Lacey. A chance came Berkhamsted's way deep into the 67th minute when Watkins played a one-two with Andrews 30 yards out before eventually feeding Bernard Christie, who fired his right foot shot way over the bar.

Aylesbury made their third change in the 68th minute when Kacper Kloc came on to replace Bewley.

Berkhamsted went close to extending their lead further in the 69th minute when, from Newman's cross from the right, Hopwood came for the ball but didn't get it and Andrews' upward header fell to Christie 12 yards out. He took a touch to control before having his right foot shot from 12 yards superbly blocked with his leg by Hopwood.

Berkhamsted made a double change deep into the 71st minute when Matt Bateman came on to replace Christie and former Duck Jordon Frederick came on to replace Watkins.

Then in the 74th minute, it was 4-1 when Ross Oulton's low through ball down the middle found Charlie Johnson, who took a touch to control before passing to his left to Collier. He beat Batchelor-Morgan and crossed to the far post, where the on-running Johnson sent his header from 10 yards in front of Hopwood's left hand post into his right hand corner for his 1st goal for the club. 4-1 Berkhamsted

The visitors made their final change just before the end of the 81st minute when Dan Newton came on to replace Andrews. What proved to be the last chance for either side came Berkhamsted's way in the 83rd minute when Tompkins' driven left foot free kick from the right found Bateman, who sent his flying header from the right hand corner of the 6 yard box over the bar.

With the 4th Official having indicated a minimum of 2 minutes of added time to be played at the end, the final blast of Wokingham referee Ollie Kaya's whistle after an eventual total of 2 minutes 18 seconds of added time brought the game to a close and confirmed Aylesbury's latest defeat.