Wells: We are in the trenches

Jack Wells says the Ducks are in for a relegation fight once again. Pic: Mike Snell.

The inconsistent Ducks were beaten 4-2 at Barton Rovers on Saturday, their opponents leap-frogging them in the table and leaving Aylesbury just one place above the relegation zone but with the sides below them having games in hand.

And speaking to the club’s media channels after a game that saw the hosts score twice in the last ten minutes to take the points, Wells was keen to highlight the danger the club are in.

He said: “We’re gutted. We didn’t understate how important today was going to be – we needed something from the game and to be honest if someone had offered us a point in those conditions before the game we’d probably have taken it just to keep the momentum, as that would have been three unbeaten for us.

"But we’re the other side of that now and are in the trenches – somewhere I didn’t want us to be and somewhere I didn’t expect us to be.

"But the reality is that this was a perfect example of a non-league game where we said it was all about mentality and nothing to do with how we set the players up. It’s about whoever competes the most and wants it the most goes and wins it.

"That’s not usually me or the way I come across but that’s the reality of it.

"It was the first-half that caused us problems because when we went 1-0 up we should probably go on and get two or three more but we didn’t take those chances and didn’t have that bit of grit about us. The two goals conceded were exactly the same which isn’t like us from set pieces.

"So there needs to be an understanding now that we’re going to have another one of those seasons where we have to fight for everything to stay at this level and the players need to know this football club needs them to show a little bit of character.”

One of the sides below Aylesbury, bottom-of-the-table Kempston Rovers, were due to the visitors on Tuesday night in a match that was played after this week’s Herald went to press.

The Ducks then face the challenge of going to high-flying Bedford Town on Saturday, with another promotion-chasing side in Biggleswade Town following a week later.