Hendon, for the second time in three seasons, collected a point from their first post-Christmas match with a goal deep into stoppage time. In 2006, Ross Pickett cancelled out a strike from then Harrow Borough player – now a Hendon man – James Bent; in 2008 it was Sam Collins levelling matters after an opener from Sean Sonner.

There were two changes to the starting line-up from the one which lost to Billericay a week earlier, Brian Haule and James Parker returning to the starting line-up at the expense of Scott Shulton and Glenn Garner. For the second time this month, former Hendon full-back Danny Murphy made a debut against the Greens: on 3 December he had joined Harrow Borough from Northwood in time to play in the team which knocked Hendon out of the Isthmian League Cup.

Boreham Wood started the game at a high tempo and quickly forced Hendon back into a defensive shell. After four minutes, Louis Lee forced a fine save out of Will Viner after the Greens had lost possession inside their own half.

It took more than ten minutes for Hendon to make any impression on the Boreham Wood defence. Jamie Busby’s angled shot was going wide, but Anthony Anstead still made a sprawling save.

Once Hendon had got a toe-hold on the game, they looked comfortable and not under much pressure defensively. The midfield quartet of James Burgess, Busby, Kevin Maclaren and Sam Byfield had the measure of their opposite numbers, but neither attack had much of a look in. That is until the 19th minute, when Hendon really should have taken the lead.

A neat inside pass from Jamie Turley found Byfield in space and a clear 12-yard shot at goal, albeit at an angle. He wanted, however, to make sure and took a poor touch moving him across towards the middle of the goal but nearer to the edge of the penalty area.

Byfield did get off a shot, which Anstead might have saved had it been a yard inside the far post. Instead, the ball struck the upright and bounced away to safety.

The game became increasingly feisty and Harry Hunt was cautioned for following through on Murphy after a long run. Murphy’s retaliation took less than two minutes, a scything lunge which earned him a yellow card. Both teams would end with three yellow cards.

As the first half drew to a close it was Boreham Wood, again, who took over the ascendancy and Viner made another fine stop, this time denying Sonner.

For the start of the second half, Wood replaced Luke Donnelly with Kevin Stephens and they continued to be in control though Busby should have done much better from 15 yards when a loose ball fell to him. With a little composure and maybe some more confidence he might have hit the target. Instead the ball flew wide of the goal.

Sonner really should have given Wood the lead after 55 minutes when a break down the left resulted in him having an almost open goal. He delayed slightly allowing the recovering Viner to make a brilliant block.

However, it delayed the inevitable only a few minutes and it was little surprise when SONNER, when presented with another chance, took it, scoring from close range after the Hendon defence had again been torn apart.

With 15 minutes to go, Turley did well down the right wing and sent over a teasing cross. Yemi Atta couldn’t reach the ball but somehow Haule could. His looping header seemed to be drifting wide, but it was caught by the bitter, ice-cold breeze blowing at Hendon’s backs in the second half and the ball hit the inside of the post, bounced into the middle of the six-yard box and was hacked clear by a defender just as Hunt lunged for it.

Three minutes later, both teams made changes, Garner and Bent replacing Maclaren and Burgess for Hendon and Greg Morgan taking over from Mario Noto. Within five minutes Garner arrived late for a corner and had a free header. It was a spectacular effort, but it flew wide of the target and, for most Hendon fans, that was the signal that this was going to be another of those afternoons of frustration and no points.

It wasn’t. After a dreadful miss by Boreham Wood’s Chris Watters – which would have sealed the points for the visitors – Hendon threw everything into attack and, in the fourth minute of stoppage time, it paid off.

Collins collected the ball 15 yards outside the Boreham Wood box and ran forward. No defender came towards him, so he tried a pot-shot from 20 yards. It was well directed and powerful, but Anstead was able to block it although failed to hold on.

COLLINS didn’t stop his forward run and he reached the loose ball before any Wood player, or any in green, and he smacked it into the net. Fans and players alike celebrated wildly.

From the kick-off, Wood launched an attack down their right flank, but Collins, in his orthodox defensive position, made a superb tackle on Morgan to stop him in his tracks at the expense of a throw-in. It was the jolt of concentration the rest of the team needed and the Greens were able to see out the final couple of minutes of stoppage time without any further alarms.

The draw leaves Hendon still in trouble, in the bottom two, three points behind Ramsgate and Margate, with Harlow Town and Harrow Borough one and two points, respectively, better off. The Greens’ goal difference, however, is no worse than any team in the top half of the table and that, if they can match a few of their rivals over the remainder of the campaign, will be worth a point.

“I thought this was going to be another day when I was going to talk about having deserved to win the game but got nothing from it,” admitted manager Gary McCann. “But we never gave up and Sam Collins gave us the reward our play deserved.”

(Report By David Ballheimer - not to be reproduced without permission from the author)