Leighton Town 1 - Aylesbury 2

On a cold windy afternoon at Bell Close both Aylesbury and Leighton played out an open yet scrappy start to the game. Neither side had any real chances in the opening exchanges of the match as both sides pressed into the opposition half but both defences were well drilled for the start of the first half.

The first half chance of note went to Aylesbury as Garath Price put in a nice low cross into their striker Brian Haule but the cross was cleared for Aylesbury’s first corner of the match. The resulting corner led to a tame shot from Aylesbury that was well cleared. This clearance led to Town’s first half chance as they went up the other end and won a free kick in a dangerous area out on the right wing. The ball was floated into the 6-yard area and headed away by a Aylesbury defender and Craig Maisiri just couldn’t quite reach the second ball.

A better chance came for Aylesbury when former Town player Kieron Schmidt won a free kick just on the edge of the D, his shot hit the wall but the rebound came out and the resulting shot was straight at Bradley Kirkwood who made an easy save. Aylesbury are a tall side meaning that from goal kicks and set pieces they were getting to the second ball a lot of the time and Leighton struggled to hold possession, when they did have possession they would try to counter through the likes of Maisiri and Alex O’Brien but the Moles defense were well drilled as Aylesbury were starting to seize control of the game.

Jonny Montgomery produced the games best chance of the match so far as he played a superb ball into Linton Goss who should’ve scored from mere yards out but he couldn’t quite connect. Then perhaps Aylesbury should’ve have had a penalty on the 30th minute as Goss was challenged in the area, it looked like a pen but the ref was unimpressed with his theatrics and gave Goss a yellow for diving. It looked like one of those decisions where he was damned if he gave it, damned if he didn’t.

However on the 37th minute Leighton got the games first goal through striker Curtis Shaw. The move started through a superb defense splitting pass to O’Brien who went 1 on 1 with the Aylesbury keeper James Weatherill and his low drive came off the post to Shaw who picked up the ball and thumped it into the top left corner by being in the right place at the right time as all good strikers are.

Leighton finished the half as the better side by taking the game to Aylesbury and playing a lot of football in their half with the best opportunity coming from Maisiri whose cross into the 18 yard box was hastily clawed by Weatherill.

Leighton started the second half as they finished the first as O’Brien was unlucky yet again a ball was played into him from a Jack Copson free-kick but his effort was cleared off the near post. O’Brien was the man of the moment and he had another good chance following great hold up play from Dave Brown who played him in but his first time shot on the edge of the D was well over.

However the game soon swung back in Aylesbury’s favour and the Mole’s equalized on the 67th minute through Haule. Substitute Jamie Rudd played in a inch perfect cross into Haule on the left wing who had a free header and calmly nodded the ball home.

The Moles then had a great chance to go into the lead as Goss was fouled in the box again after being pushed from behind resulting in the penalty this time being given. Aston Goss stepped up to take and Kirkwood saved it brilliantly getting down low quickly to deny A.Goss as the ball headed to the bottom right corner.

Aylesbury were now back in control of the game who hit the post but Kirkwood just about clawed it clear who once again was having a great game in goal. As the game went into the last ten minutes the game descended back into a scrappy affair as both teams looked destined for a point with the wind not helping either side.

The pivotal moment came just minutes from the end when O’Brien went 1 on 1 with Weatherill again with a chance to score the winner but his effort was straight at the goalie. Aylesbury then went straight up the other end of the pitch and grabbed the winner in the 89th minute with Haule grabbing his second of the game through a lapse of concentration from the Leighton defense as a wayward shot snuck into the bottom corner.

The end of the match was similar to the Royston game as a lack of concentration led to a loss where yet again Town should have got a point out of the game. All Town can do is keep on going and next Saturday they are away to Petersfield Town in 15th place.