Following the no score draw at home to Leverstock Green, the Ducks travelled to Marlow, to meet the Blues for the first time in a League encounter since the 2017/18 season. Changes to the starting XI saw Prince Madu return to the defence in place of Charley Tuttle, with Ben Peters and Nasha Mukwada chosen in midfield in place of London Brookshaw and Brandon Green; finally, the injury suffered by Leandro Jardim saw a return to the team for Powfil Raposo.

The Ducks started brightly, with Marlow conceding a free kick 35 yards out in the first minute. Hayden Beadle played the ball into the penalty area which was headed across goal by Madu to Jed Layman, but his shot from 12 yards was rushed and straight at Ryan Moore in the home goal.

Despite looking bright in the opening stages, the Ducks fell behind in the 4th minute a corner taken from the right by Cheyce Grant was met by an unmarked Seb D’Aversa 10 yards out, planting a firm header past Jack Hopwood. 1-0 Marlow

Four minutes later Mukwada had a great chance to level the scores, staying alive to a weak back pass from D'Aversa and nicking the ball away from North, but the keeper recovered well to block his shot from the edge of the penalty area.

From the next attack, Beadle found Layman in space on the left; he beat Abdallah Khalil for pace and pulled the ball back from the bye line to Remel Larwood whose shot from 15 yards was just the wrong side of North’s right-hand post. Two minutes later, Liam Batchelor-Morgan found Beadle in the right channel 30 yards from goal; he played the ball into Raposo 15 yards out, but his shot was over the bar.

Despite being under pressure in the first 20 minutes, the hosts started to gain more control of the game. Peters misplaced a pass in the centre of the park, which was collected by Darnell Luke, who slid the ball inside Batchelor-Morgan to Grant, but as he made his way into the penalty area, he saw his shot whistle wide of Hopwood's near post.

In the 36th minute the Ducks were forced into a reshuffle, with Jake Bewley forced off by injury, to be replaced by Green. To facilitate the change, Batchelor-Morgan switched to left back, Peters to right back. As the half reached added on time, The Ducks had a good chance to equalise, when a Beadle corner was met by Madu, but the young defender saw his header sail wide of the target.

Half-time: Marlow 1-0 Aylesbury

Into the second half, and the hosts had a good chance in the 53rd minute, when the ball bounced to Kwesi Ntim on the edge of the penalty area, but his shot was well saved by Hopwood. Four minutes later, Layman did well on the left to outpace D’Aversa and crossed to the near post, where North dropped the ball, but recovered before a Ducks player could get a telling touch.

Half way through the second period, substitute Naheer Nawaf played an infield ball to Ntim, whose shot from 25 yards was saved well at the foot of his post by Hopwood. In the 71st minute, Khalil slid the ball into the run of Luke, but his shot from the edge of the penalty area was too high to trouble Hopwood.

Five minutes later, ex-Duck Luqman Kassim, on a substitute, combined well with Nawaf, before the latter fired a shot from 15 yards over the bar.

With 9 minutes left on the clock Kassim doubled his new team’s score; Nawaf was again impressive on the right and crossed deep to the far post, where Kassim got ahead of Peters to bundle the ball home. 2-0 Marlow

A minute later Kassim got his second, and Marlow’s third goal, latching on to an astute pass inside Peters, to advance and curl the ball into the far corner past Hopwood. 3-0 Marlow

The final chance fell to the Ducks in the 93rd minute; Green’s cross from the right was cleared to Beadle 20 yards from goal, but his shot was disappointingly wide of the goal. So, despite being competitive in the first 30 minutes, once again the Ducks fell to defeat, and a 3rd successive game without scoring. Thanks to the early FA Cup exit at Ardley, the next match will be played at newly promoted Milton Keynes Irish on Sat 23rd August.