Hendon missed the chance to return to the top of the Ryman League Premier Division when surprise strugglers Billericay Town showed more of the form expected of them at the start of the season. The game, played in heavy, wet conditions ended goalless at Claremont Road on Saturday, though it was not without interest, thus proving there can be exciting and entertaining 0-0 draws, even on pitches which are far from perfect.

The starting 11 which had done so well at Folkestone a week earlier was retained and with none of Davis Haule, Belal Aiteouakrim and Ben Hudell fit, the bench had only one change, Ivalio Dmitrov taking over from goalkeeper Luke Blackmore.

After trojan work on the Claremont Road pitch throughout the morning from four volunteers - manager Gary McCann, assistant Freddie Hyatt, Steve Rogers and Nick McMullen - the referee ruled that the game could go ahead, but it was touch and go. And, in the first dozen or so minutes, Billericay must have been wondering if it had been the right decision as they were under the most extreme pressure.

In the fourth minute, Wayne O'Sullivan had a clear run at goal. He knocked the ball wide of goalkeeper Jack Buckfield, but the goalkeeper lifted his leg to make O'Sullivan's hurdle of him more difficult and the Hendon player stumbled on landing. Although there was no contact, the goalkeeper's action clearly caused O'Sullivan to go down, but the referee ruled no penalty.

Four minutes later, the Blues defence was again torn wide open. This time it was Scott Shulton who had a clear run at Buckfield and the goalkeeper again won the duel. On this occasion, he used his body to make a fine block of Shulton's effort.

Hendon's best player in one-on-one situations is Brian Haule but his effort, a few minutes later was a header which Buckfield could only parry. The ball fell to Rakatahr Hudson, who drilled the ball goalwards, but was denied by the save of the game, a brilliant goalline header by full-back Dave McSweeney, who threw himself in front of the powerful drive.

The Greens still looked dangerous from set pieces and a couple of corners resulted in headers from Casey Maclaren and Sam Page, but neither could direct their efforts on target.

Gradually, Billericay began to weather the storm and they started to launch attacks of their own. Bradley Woods-Garness proved especially dangerous on the right wing. His close control and dancing feet took him past markers with great ease, but the final ball was not quite of the standard of his approach work.

In the 35th minute, a corner from the Billericay left flashed across the face of the Hendon goal, but the ball had just too much pace for a Blues player to get a decisive touch.

Then, on the stroke of half-time, Billericay had the ball in the Hendon net. It came from Tony Boot, but he had strayed offside as Rikki Burbridge did well to hold up the ball, turned past a couple of defenders and slid in the pass towards Boot. It must be said the flag was raised even before Boot touched the ball.

The Blues started the second half buoyed by their improved performance as the previous period had advanced and they contrived to miss a fantastic chance after 60 minutes. Neil Marron did well down the left flank and he rolled the ball across the six-yard box to where Burbridge was advancing. The striker did have to stretch a little but he lunged at the ball and blasted it high over the crossbar to the dismay of his teammates and bench.

O'Sullivan continued to cause problems when he ran with the ball, but the surface was not conducive to his most damaging runs. Nevertheless, he seemed to be unlucky not to get a penalty when Jamie Dormer appeared to trip him just inside the penalty area.

As the game progressed, it became clear that one goal would win it and both teams displayed some nerves, aware that an error would be the most likely reason for there to be an opening. Each team tried their luck with long-range efforts that didn't go close to the target.

Then, with five minutes to go, Hendon almost snatched the spoils. A corner on right wing was played out diagonally by James Burgess - on a substitute for Shulton - into the path of Sam Collins. His drive beat Buckfield all ends up, but the ball crashed off the underside of the crossbar, bounced away from four oncoming green shirts and was cleared, at the second attempt, by former Green Steve Heffer.

"I quite enjoyed that," said manager Gary McCann. "It proves there can be good 0-0 draws and that was certainly one.

"I was very comfortable with the way that we played, but it was one of those games where we could have played for another hour without scoring."