Men's 1s held to a goalless draw against West Hampstead 2s

Aylesbury men’s 1s took on West Hampstead on the third weekend of the season at RAF Halton. This weekend saw the return of Paul Gregory following injury and saw James Penson Make his first 1st team appearance of the season.

The match start with West Hampstead putting a lot of pressure on the Aylesbury goal without creating many clear cut chances. Aylesbury struggled to get through a high press played by West Hampstead but when Aylesbury did break though, the pacey Aylesbury forward line cause the back line of West Hampstead a lot on trouble. Jake Hodgins broke through the defence only to be stopped by a good save from the West Hampstead keeper.

Aylesbury’s backline who have had a really positive start to the season fine form continued with a lot of pressure being soaked up from the back line lead by Mark Bowes and Ben Ireson at full back. West Hampstead first real Chance came from a short corner. The straight strike was saved by Stephen Best in goal and with the forward coming in to pounce on the trapped ball Best swept it away with his stick.
Aylesbury’s best chance of the half fell to Austin Greenlee who found himself in the middle of the D on his reverse and rifled a shot past the keeper only to deflect off the post and out of danger.

The Second half started very much the same as the first, Aylesbury were soaking up a lot of pressure from West Hampstead but Aylesbury were creating chances on the counter attack only to be thwarted by the West Hampstead keeper. Paul Gregory received a green card and during his two minute sin-bin, West Hampstead had two really good chances to break the dead lock. The West Hampstead forward broke down the right hand side of the D but couldn’t lift the ball over the smothering Best in goal. The second chance looked to be a certain goal until Dan Lindars came from nowhere to get a crucial last ditch tackle in to maintain the A’s clean sheet.
With 20 minutes to go, Aylesbury lost Paul Gregory and Chris Hunter to yellow cards but instead of putting Aylesbury under more pressure, Aylesbury pushed forward and cause real trouble for West Hampstead. It was their turn to have their backs to the wall but between the defence and some good saves from the keeper. The final whistle came with the points shared.
Aylesbury have taken 5 point from a possible 9 leaving them 6th in the league after 3 games. Aylesbury are still undefeated in the league and haven’t lost all season including preseason. Only one goal has been conceded so far which will be a real confidence boosting statistic for the Aylesbury team.

Next week, a trip to bottom of the table Slough where Aylesbury will be looking to get back to the winning ways and maintain their undefeated status this season.

Man of the Match: Daniel Lindars