Hendon's fifth consecutive Ryman League Premier Division defeat against Wealdstone was as disappointing as most of the others, this time going down 2-1 in a dramatic encounter at Grosvenor Vale, Ruislip. Both teams finished with ten men, a player dismissed in stoppage time, and both had penalties missed by second-half substitutes.

The Greens played the same starting 11 as started against Canvey Island a week earlier and they kicked down the hill in the first half.

In the first minute, Harry Hunt had a chance, but his effort was saved by Sean Thomas. Four minutes later former Hendon favourite Davis Haule forced William Viner into a good save.

In the eighth minute, Hunt made a burst down the right side, rode a scything challenge from Alan Massey – like Thomas a former loanee at Claremont Road – and delivered a low cross into the box. Glenn Garner’s effort was blocked, but the ball rebounded back to Hunt who fed Jamie Busby. The midfielder made no mistake as he drilled the ball home past Darren Locke's despairing attempt to clear off the line.

Busby, Lee O’Leary and Hunt all had chances to extend Hendon’s lead, but the desperately difficult pitch made clean strikes very difficult and none really tested Thomas. A shot from Garner flew past the left post just before the break.

However, It was not all one-way traffic when Davis Haule had an effort pushed over the bar by Viner and a low left-wing cross needed only a touch to bring an equaliser. It wasn’t to be and the half-time whistle went with Hendon deservedly holding the lead. The feeling, however, was that one goal was probably not enough.

Both teams suffered injuries early in the second half. First Wealdstone lost Darren Locke and he was replaced by Greg Ngoyi, a former Hendon youth-teamer.

In the 64th minute Danny Spendlove was brought down by Mark Kirby in the penalty area. Up stepped Ngoyi, but he was denied by VINER’s fine save. The rebound was also blocked and Hendon fans breathed a sigh of relief … but not for long.

Two minutes later, a bad challenge by Lee Chappell on Hunt earned the defender a booking and the striker a ride around the pitch in the arms of physio Mark Findlay and assistant manager Freddie Hyatt.

Hunt was replaced by Kevin Maclaren. It was Hendon’s second change because Brian Haule, had already replaced the tiring Garner. It was the second time the younger Haule has come off the bench for Hendon to play against his brother.

In the 70th minute, Hendon failed to deal with a set piece from the left side and when the ball fell to Ryan ASHE, he drilled it through a crowd of players into the bottom corner of the net. It was no more than the Stones deserved on their second half performance.

Without Hunt, Hendon really lacked a cutting edge, but the game was now very open. Brian Haule might have restored Hendon’s lead when the ball fell to him in a good position, but the mud caused him to delay too long and his shot was blocked.

More bad luck struck Hendon in the 82nd minute, when the excellent Mark Kirby suffered a head injury in an aerial challenge and he was led, dazed, from the field, to be replaced by Sam Collins.

Three minutes later, Wealdstone had their winner. Both Maclaren and Collins should have done better with a ball by their own left corner flag, but the latter’s clearance was easily controlled by Davis Haule. His cross eluded James Parker and NGOYI did the rest.

But the drama wasn’t over. In the last minute of normal time, a flailing arm from Davis Haule made contact with Lee O’Leary’s nose. The referee pointed to the penalty spot and cautioned the senior Haule while the younger brother lined up the spot kick. Davis was somewhat fortunate his angry reaction to the caution didn’t get a second yellow, and while Thomas’ gamesmanship/time-wasting could have brought him a booking too.

The tactics worked, because Brian Haule was very tentative as he ran up to the ball and Thomas chose the right way to make a relatively comfortable penalty save. From Thomas’s parry, Haule followed up and although Massey pulled him down, no second penalty was forthcoming.

Instead, the ball was played to just outside the penalty area where Collins was unceremoniously dumped to the ground by Ngoyi. This time the referee produced a red card, prematurely ending an interesting afternoon for the striker. As he was walking towards the dressing room, he was announced as man of the match. In his 33 minutes on the pitch, he had a penalty saved, missed a good chance, scored the winner and got himself sent off.

In the fourth minute of stoppage time, Hendon, too, were reduced to ten men when James Burgess was as crude as Ngoyi had been a minute earlier, Chappell his victim.

“We didn’t deserve to lose the game,” said manager Gary McCann. “But we should have taken more of our chances in the first half. It was very hard going up the hill in the second half.”

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