Codicote suffered their third SSML Division One defeat of the season so far as a late Ampthill Town penalty gave the visitors the three points at Gosling Stadium.

The home side started brightly on Tuesday night and it wasn’t long before the Town keeper fumbled a long range effort, allowing James Tizard to poke the ball home to give Codicote the lead.

Codicote looked to capitalise on their early goal, but it was the visitors who were creating the chances.

The most notable of these came when Ampthill’s central defender had a clear sight of goal, but directed his header over the bar.

The away side continued to create opportunities in the second half.

Once again poor marking let the home side down as from a corner the Ampthill central defender had another free header and this time he made no mistake to bring the game level.

Things went from bad to worse for Codicote when James Taylor was adjudged to have pulled over an Ampthill attacker as the opposition swung in another aerial ball.

The referee pointed to the spot and up stepped Ampthill’s skipper to give his side a deserved 2-1 lead.

Codicote pressed for an equaliser and Jahmell Mullings was denied a penalty when the referee chose to play advantage and Sam Stephenson hit the post.

That was as near as the Villagers came as time ran out for the home side as they remain winless in the league so far this season.