Reported by Jools Thomas

FC’s league campaign started with a disappointing 2-1 defeat against newly promoted Guildford City at the Affinity Investments Stadium. Aylesbury really had no excuse for this defeat as missed chances, poor defending and a failure to make numbers count all contributed to their downfall.

The afternoon started positively for FC when, almost from the kick off, Ollie Lynch found himself one on one with the keeper but City’s Antony Hall just won the race for the ball. Further golden chances fell to the home side in the first half, most of them to Brian Haule. A 16th minute header was guided wide of the target when just yards from the net; a 25th minute header flew over the bar and a 28th minute header was deflected over the bar for a corner. FC’s best chance came on 34 minutes when Haule’s long range strike was parried by the Guildford keeper and Wayne O’Sullivan’s follow up header was again superbly saved. These chances would prove costly when a couple of minutes before the break, Joel Hughes found himself with a clear sight of goal and he coolly slid the ball underneath FC keeper Simeon Charles.

Guildford could have doubled their lead on 57 minutes but a hurried shot was scuffed over the bar when a firm strike seemed inevitable. FC then hit back with the equaliser. An offence inside the box led to a penalty and although Brian Haule’s initial shot was saved, he followed this up with a header from the rebound. The game was now brewing nicely into a finale. However a halfway line melee turned into an ugly fracas with players from both teams involved. When the referee finally gained control he booked FC’s Brian Haule and dismissed City’s Elvis Derfeintas for violent conduct.

As is often the case in football, the team with eleven men failed to take advantage and just three minutes after the fisticuffs, City scored the winner. Again their strikers found far too much room in the FC box and Junior Kaffo struck a low shot much to the delight of his teammates and the small band of Guildford fans behind the goal. FC attempts in the final minutes to grab the equaliser came to nothing as Guildford regrouped and held out steadfastly for all three points.

Simeon Charles, Aaron Turner, Lee Grace, Ollie Lynch, Ben Stevens, Nick Leach, Ryan Blake, Daniel Jones, Brian Haule, Davis Haule, Wayne O'Sullivan Subs James Faulkner, Marcus Hussey, Craig Faulconbridge, Victor Borode, Luke Abraham