Hendon Under-21s were authors of their own misfortune as they slipped to a 3-2 defeat at Wilberforce Wanderers on Saturday afternoon. Admittedly, the Greens were without both their first and second-choice goalkeepers and were forced to play defender Jake Manzi between the posts, but they had more than enough chances to have won the game handsomely.

The only first-half shot on target mustered by Wilberforce also was the only goal of the period, while Hendon spurned numerous opportunities. A stiff half-time talking to brought results as Carl Ciagoro netted an equaliser before the hour mark. And just before the midway point in the half, Ciagoro was on target again to give Hendon the lead.

It seemed as if it would be enough to gain the points, but three turned into one when a 90th-minute Wilberforce raid brought them an equaliser. And it got even worse for Hendon in stoppage time as Wilberforce scored again to snatch an unlikely victory.

"We were caught on the break," bemoaned joint manager Eamon Finn. "But I was very annoyed with our lack of organisation and application. Our finishing was very poor today, though our approach play was good, but we gave them a very early Christmas present. My man of the match was Gianni Maratta, who played very well in defence and got an assist for one of Carl Ciagoro's goals."