Match Report: St Neots Town 1 - Aylestone Park 2

St Neots are making very hard work of their desired objective of a place in the promotion play-offs at the end of the season.

Meantime visitors Aylestone Park in their first season at this level took another step towards achieving a home play-off match in their quest for back-to-back promotions.

With Newport Pagnell salvaging a point at promotion hunting Racing Club Warwick, Cameron Mawar’s side still needed two points from their remaining three matches to ensure their play-off place in their first season back at level five.

They started well in this match but conceded two goals in a quarter of an hour spell early in the second half and could only muster one in reply.

Again, team changes seemed to upset the balance of the side with Chris Tavernier, Nabil Shariff, Charlie Bowen and Magloire Muyembe all restored to the side with Nathan George, Connor Furlong, and Dean Dummett rested alongside Michael Amaeshike on the substitutes’ bench.

The first half hour of the match saw St Neots take the game to their visitors.

Rhys Thorpe had an early net-bound effort blocked and Nabil Shariff saw a header sail harmlessly over the crossbar.

Following a corner Magloire Muyembe fired across the face of goal and Jordan Brown was also off target.

Gradually the visitors forced their way into the match with Matt Langham contriving to head over the bar from about three yards and several other promising openings cut short by the offside flag.

Lee Barrett fired wide when well-placed, and Louis Samuels cruised past two defenders but shot wide. On the stroke of half time Brown was upended in the penalty area but St Neots penalty appeals fell on deaf ears.

The visitors moved up a gear after the break and were rewarded within two minutes of the restart when following a shot blocked by a defender, Matt Langham got a lucky rebound to force the ball home from close range to open the scoring.

St Neots responded with defender Charlie Bowen firing over the bar following a corner, and from a second Rob Parker corner, Chris Tavernier forced visiting keeper Nykah Liburd-Hynes into the save of the match at full stretch as he turned the ball over the bar.

Then after 62 minutes a cross from the right saw visiting substitute Billy Key nip in from of James Goff at his near post to claim the visitors’ second goal.

Again, St Neots rallied and with substitutes Israel Ajana and Dean Dummett on they saw their attacking play afford them the better share of possession.

However, they wasted their most promising openings with James Hatch heading wide from a Parker corner, and Tavernier shooting wide from a second. With nine minutes left Jordan Brown gave them some hope when he converted a Thorpe knock-down to reduce the arrears but that was as good as it got although James Snedden had to clear off the visitors’ goal-line in injury time to preserve their victory.

St Neots: Goff, Parker, Culkin, Tavernier, Brookes, Bowen, Brown, Muyembe, Shariff, Hatch, Thorpe Subs: Ajana (for Muyembe 69 mins), Dummett (for Shariff 67 mins), Nickels, Amaeshike, and Akinbobola Cards: none

Aylestone Park: Liburd-Hynes, Kilburn, Watts, Preston, Peace, Sneddon, Keenan, Barratt, Langham, Buccalossi, Samuels Subs: Kee (for Samuels 54 mins), Seal (for Keenan 77 mins), Hulley (for Langham 85 mins), and Holyoak Cards: Preston (Y – 66 mins), Kee (Y – 90+2 mins)

Referee: Anthony Leadbitter (Peterborough).