Saturday 28th November 2009

Mens 1sts

Travelling to West London to face a high scoring Ramgarhia side, whilst in desperate search of some consistency and a desire to build a run of results, was never going to be easy for Aylesbury's 1st XI, still struggling to get a regular side out due to injury. From the start things looked good though with captain Gregory and the ever youthful Usherwood putting in the effort in midfield to block the talented Ramgarhia players from threatening the Aylesbury goal. With Penson and Spencer attacking down the right it looked to only be a matter of time before this week's birthday boy Higgerton put Aylesbury ahead.

Unfortunately Ramgarhia had not read the script, and after a rare Aylesbury mistake a stunning strike by the opposition centre forward flew past goalkeeper Skinner and the astounded Aylesbury defence. Going into half-time Aylesbury pushed for an equaliser with Greenlee supported by a rare appearance on field of fitness coach/physio Trotter causing confusion among the Ramgarhia back-line.

Coming out in the 2nd half Ramgarhia started to have a more equal share of the possession, and despite the hard work and heart shown by Smythe, Pridgeon and Austin at the back their hearts were broken by a quick succession of great strikes from the Ramgarhia centre forward whose touch turned everything to gold - and before they knew it Aylesbury found themselves 3-0 down. The Aylesbury coaching staff, led by Coote, though didn't give up, and attempted to shuffle things about, and with this the youngest Aylesbury player, Patterson, came into his own to look like a player who had come of age. He tackled anything that came within his reach, his passes were like guided missiles to Aylesbury sticks, his vision was eagle like and he ran until you could almost see the tracks he was leaving on the pitch. Despite this inspiring performance though Ramgarhia's defence held firm, whilst their forward line took advantage of the stretched Aylesbury team to pounce on two more chances with no reply, giving them a 5-0 lead.

Whilst this was how it finished, it felt unfair on a good overall performance from Aylesbury, who on a different day and with more luck might have been able to get something from this game. At home on the more familiar Halton pitch against title chasing Mill Hill next week, Aylesbury will be looking for everyone to replicate the performances of Patterson, Greenlee and Penson over the last few weeks, and get a run of results finally going.

Men's 2nd XI

Aylesbury Men's 2nd XI recorded their eight consecutive victory to remain joint top of the league. However, in contrast to last week's confident performance the game against Harrow 1sts was a scrappy affair and Aylesbury were fortunate to come away with a narrow 3-2 win with goals from Steve Elliott (2) and Ed Gurney.

Men's 3rd XI

The Men's 3rd XI faced an early start away to Staines 4ths and some last minute withdrawals due to illness and injury meant three 4th team players were called up. However, an outstanding team performance resulted in a 3-1 win against higher ranked opponents with goals from skipper Abel (2) and Wright, but the victory owed a lot to the efforts of goalkeeper Stephen Best.

Men's 4th XI

On a very cold November afternoon at RAF Halton, Aylesbury 4th XI hosted top of the table Reading University's 1st team. Aylesbury knew it was going to be a fast-paced, hard game but felt positive after last week's performance. Again fielding a changed line-up from the previous week, Aylesbury felt they could make Reading work especially as they were turned up with only 10 players.

Aylesbury started off passing the ball around quite well, making space. Soon Reading got on top and started running through the midfield at pace troubling the Aylesbury midfield and defence. Aylesbury held them at bay for a while, with the midfield running back as fast as possible to catch the Reading attack, but it wasn't too long before Reading scored. The experienced defence, bolstered by the return of Moseley, were often left rooted to the spot as Reading came through and took shots at goal. One goal came, and soon after the second one. Aylesbury heads dropped. Just before the half time whistle, Reading got their third goal.

Aylesbury had some good moves in the first half, with midfield connecting well with Jon Smith and Jack Rolfe up front. They had been unlucky not to be awarded any penalty corners. So after a good team talk by Mark Collins, Aylesbury came out fighting in the second half.

Absorbing several Reading attacks, Aylesbury managed to have several of their own. One attack resulted in a fantastic, almost impossible angle goal from the ever present and versatile Jon Smith. Driving to the back line drawing the Reading defence out of position ready for a cross back to the P-spot, Jon chanced his arm, took the shot at goal, and scored at the back post.

Aylesbury still had their tails up and pressed forward for the second goal that would confirm they were back in the game. Sadly, that never materialised. Reading broke with pace in the last quarter of the game as Aylesbury started to tire, leading to Reading's fourth, and probably their best goal of the game.

The final score 4-1 to Reading. Aylesbury's 4th XI are beginning to gel better as a squad, with the blend of youth and experience, as well as effort put in at training, coming together. Next week the 4th XI face Tring 3, who are only one point ahead of Aylesbury.

Men's Badgers

The Men's Badger team hosted Milton Keynes in a late afternoon start and eventually went down 5-0 to a more experienced opposition. Aylesbury's juniors, who were all Under 13, and many making their Badgers debuts performed well with outstanding performance from Jacques Tasker and Dominic Whaler, but Milton Keynes older and more experienced players proved too strong in the end.