St Ives Town suffered a costly defeat in their chase for Southern League Division One (Central) promotion.

The Saints were stung by a late goal by struggling Aylesbury United when slipping up at ProEdge Westwood Road today.

Ricky Marheineke’s men slipped from second place in the standings after being beaten by a team who climbed out of the relegation zone.

Marheineke admitted: “It’s disappointing to lose any game of football – and even more so when it is in a fixture we are expected to win.

“Aylesbury might be second-bottom in the table, but they performed well in difficult conditions, took their chance when it arrived and deserved their victory.

“We didn’t create enough chances and with the few that we did carve out, we didn’t work the visiting goalkeeper.

“The pitch cut up following a midweek game and was very sticky, but we certainly can’t use that as an excuse.

“We have played on it week in, week out for the last two seasons and picked up results on it.

“We were off the pace, we didn’t play with tempo and we didn’t do enough to win the game.

“We’ve often managed to find a way of winning when involved in tight games, but on this occasion it was Aylesbury who did that.

“But we must not dwell on it as we have a big game to prepare for on Tuesday night.”

St Ives are now third in Division One (Central) and seven points behind the table-topping AFC Rushden & Diamonds side they face on Tuesday at the Dog & Duck Ground in Wellingborough.