Hendon picked up another point as they looked to banish their lingering fears about relegation. The 1-1 draw at home to Staines Town on Monday night was the right result in as much as the Greens had the better of the first half and the Swans were in charge in the second.

Brian Haule's injury on Saturday meant that Takumi Ake made a rare start. The bench included Franklyn Morris for the second time, although he - like Danny Rouco, Jazz Rose and Dale Archer - would not be used.

The Green made a perfect start, taking the lead after just six minutes. It was a fine move and it ended with Davis Haule feeding Jamie Busby, whose cross was met by the unmarked Wayne O'Sullivan. His header gave former Dons keeper James Courtnage no chance, though he had a right to expect at least one defender to have made life difficult for the goalscorer.

Staines are dangerous on the counter-attack with the lightning-quick Mark Nwokeji a constant danger. While Marc Leach and James Parker coped well with him, full-backs James Burgess and Craig Vargas were able to get forward only sporadically.

The absence injured of the younger Haule and Darragh Duffy and the suspension being served by Dean Green did leave the attack rather punchless. Certainly, there was little teamwork between Ake and Belal Aiteouakrim; the two players have rarely been paired together and they struggled to form an understanding.

O'Sullivan joined the attack on numerous occasions and he looked dangerous, even coming close to a second headed goal before half-time. As the period drew to a close, however, Staines began to take control and a terrible miss by Nwokeji - firing over the bar from close range - ensured Hendon enjoyed the half-time break with the advantage.

The lead lasted just four minutes into the second half and its arrival was not a surprise. Ake lost the ball near the Staines penalty area and it was passed rapidly downfield. Staines forced a throw-in near the edge of the Hendon penalty area and Leach had to leave Nwokeji to cover a run.

The ball was quickly flicked on to Nwokeji, who found Howard Newton in acres of space and he shot past Richard Wilmot for the equaliser.

Almost immediately, Hendon should have regained the lead. Leach curled in a corner and Rakatahr Hudson crashed a header against the crossbar. Once again the Staines defence was guilty of allowing a free header.

It was a rare good moment for Hendon in attack. What frustrated the bench most of all was a succession of free-kicks and the odd corner which were won but wasted horribly by crosses that sailed either harmlessly beyond every green shirt or straight into the arms of Courtnage, who was under no pressure at the time.

Wilmot was the busier goalkeeper in the second half, but Nwokeji has yet to harness his dangerous pace with accurate shooting. Without his regular striking partner, Ali Chabaan, Nwokeji and the Staines front men rather lacked penetration, though that should not detract from Parker and Leach's good work.

The game became very scrappy towards the end, though Davis Haule had one fine run end unfortunately as he stepped on the ball. He looked around accusingly as if he had been tripped, but the culprit was being hurriedly cleared by a Staines defender.

Ross Pickett came on for Ake with around ten minutes remaining. Almost immediately, Hendon had claims for a penalty correctly waved aside as a bouncing ball went through a crowd of players and hit the stationary arm of a defender. The player could barely have seen the ball before it hit him, let alone taken any sort of evasive action, so any decision against him would have been harsh.

With four minutes remaining, O'Sullivan finished off an excellent 50-yard run with a fine 25-yard shot that flew narrowly past the angle of post and crossbar with Courtnage well beaten.

"At training on Thursday night," promised a disappointed Hendon manager Gary McCann, "I've told them that every player is going to be given a ball and we are going to spend all of the time on set-pieces - and nothing else. We wasted so many great opportunities tonight.

"Overall, I think we dominated the first half and they had the better of the second, so the result was probably just about right - even if we did come closer to getting a winner than they did."