Southern League Premier Division Saturday 22 April 2006 - Buckingham Road - kick off 3.00pm

Report taken from by Richard Gadsby

City had enough first-half chances to be out of sight by the break but instead allowed a dogged Aylesbury side, who were not as poor as the scoreline suggests, to fight back and give themselves a glimmer of hope. As usual, City took their time to get to grips with the game, but, with 15 minutes gone, finally started to create some pressure. Scott Partridge wasted the first chance by taking one touch too many on a run into the box before scuffing his shot wide. Ducks' keeper Reece Kirk did well to adjust and stop a deflected Tony Bird shot and Graeme Power crashed a shot over the bar from the edge of the box after 23 minutes. City were on top, but when the opening goal finally came it took everyone by surprise. The impressive Scott Rogers, who is hitting match fitness just at the right time, picked the ball up 30 yards out, took one touch and curled an powerful shot into the bottom right-hand corner. Partridge then wasted two great opportunities to put City further ahead as the visitors dominated, but, just when it looked like Aylesbury would hold on until the break, they found themselves level. Some innocuous jostling in the box in the build-up to a wide free-kick led to the linesman awarding a penalty to the home side for holding. Keeper Chris Astley managed to get an arm to Leon Gutzmore's low strike but could only push the ball into the roof of the net. The goal seemed to stun City and the rest of the half proved much more even.

It stayed that way for the second half but City restored their lead with their first meaningful attack on 56 minutes. A deep Rogers free-kick caught the Aylesbury defence napping and Jon Holloway nodded the ball back across goal for Tony Bird to drive home. The linesman evened up the penalty count minutes later after spotting a handball by Kyle Kilmartin as he tussled with Partridge in the box. Holloway blasted the spot-kick home and Aylesbury's heads dropped. The Ducks threw men forward, mirroring City with three at the back, but it only succeeded in giving the visiting strikers more space to exploit. Bird and Partridge both wasted great chances to increase the lead and it looked as though the scoring had ended when the pair went off with eight minutes to go. With two minutes left though Andy Sandell beat two defenders with some great footwork just inside the box before firing home to make it 4-1. And a miserable day for Aylesbury shot-stopper Kirk was complete when he raced out of his area to try and beat the onrushing Craig Davidge to a long ball over the top from Gethin Jones. The Ducks keeper completely misjudged the bounce and the ball skidded comically off the top of his head to present the still running Davidge with the simplest of tap-ins.