Following defeat in the FA Trophy at Stanway Rovers in their last outing, the Ducks line up saw a number of changes. Both Liam Batchelor-Morgan and Kian Henry were unavailable, meaning Luke Martin and Prince Madu came into the defensive line, and Ben Peters, Hayden Beadle and Rocko Tamplin started in midfield, with Sonny French, Remel Larwood and Brandon Green taking a seat on the bench, alongside the welcome sight of Benji Kakembo, having recovered from the injury he sustained in the pre-season friendly at Winslow.

The game kicked off under leaden skies and in pouring September rain, and settled into a midfield battle in the early stages. The first real opportunity fell to the visitors, as a misjudged back pass from Beadle was seized on by Dan Williams 25 yards from goal; with Jack Hopwood committed out of his goal. However, the Ducks keeper did well to force the striker wide and his shot from the angle was wide of the target.

From the next move, Madu sprayed the ball wide to Jed Layman on the left flank, who beat Nasir Sharifi and reached the bye line, before pulling the ball back to Pow Raposo, who turned Jack Empson 8 yards from goal and calmly wrongfooted Sam Morris to find the back of the net and notch his first goal for the club. 1-0 Aylesbury

In the 36th minute, a throw in from Mack Miskin found Harry McKenna in space 25 yards from goal, but fortunately for the Ducks, his snapshot was straight at Hopwood who made a comfortable save.

However, the visitors did equalise in the 40th minute, when a long ball forward was missed by the defence and fell to Williams 25 yards from goal, who arrowed a shot past Hopwood into his right-hand corner. 1-1

As thoughts turned to regrouping at half time, the team talks were turned on their heads as the visitors took the lead in added on time. A free kick 35 yards out cleared the heads of the Ducks defence and fell invitingly at the feet of the unmarked Manny Folarin, who slotted the ball home from 10 yards. 2-1 Northwood

Half-time: Aylesbury 1-2 Northwood

On the hour mark, a long free kick saw substitute Reece Price-Placid win the ball and cut inside the defence before feeding the ball to Devonte Totesaut who shot from 18 yards, but saw his effort hit the side netting.

There was another scare for the Ducks, as more indecision saw the ball lost on the left, allowing Totesaut to pass inside to Williams, with the ball eventually reaching Osaretin Otote who saw his shot from 18 yards deflected, but Hopwood was able to make a comfortable save.

With the Ducks faithful fearing another fruitless afternoon, fortunes changed with 5 minutes left on the clock. Kakembo, on as a substitute held off the challenge of Folarin and turned away towards goal, before sliding the ball into the path of Layman, who showed great composure to get ahead of Empson and slide the ball past Morris from 16 yards. 2-2

Three minutes later, a weak clearance fell to Beadle 30 yards from goal, who took aim, but his shot was straight at Morris. That was the last real action of the game, with a draw probably the right result. Another enforced break ahead, with next weekend being the designated FA Trophy weekend, before a run of 8 games in 36 days that will give us a true representation of where the season is headed. Next up is a trip to Hertford to play Enfield FC on Sat 27th September.