Hendon were extremely unlucky to be undone by Sutton well into the last of four minutes of stoppage time at Vale Farm on Saturday afternoon. It was a match that, in truth, neither team deserved to win - or lose.

Peter Dean and Brian Haule came into the starting line-up at the expense of Harry Hunt and Yacine Hamada, who both dropped to the bench. Goalkeeper Berkley Laurencin was named to the substitutes bench with Lubomir Guentchev the one to drop out of the 16.

Sutton should have taken the lead in the fifth minute when a through ball found Stefan Payne all alone, with only goalkeeper James Reading to beat. The former Wycombe youngster was equal to the task, however, and he produced an excellent save.

The first half was dominated by the visitors, who were a couple of metres faster to the ball than their Hendon opposite numbers almost everywhere on the pitch. Defensively, Dave Diedhiou, Craig Vargas, Marc Leach and James Burgess were kept very busy, but the eager Sutton strikers were guilty of some wasteful final balls.

With Dean playing a little deeper, Haule was almost a lone front man and he got no change out of the veteran Jason Goodliffe and the assured Karim El-Salahi. A long-range shot from Dean and a free-kick from Leach were both on target, but were directed straight at Kevin Scriven.

Scriven, however, did extremely well when, having just been booked for a clumsy foul, Billy Hawes deflected Wayne O'Sullivan's free kick towards his own top corner. The goalkeeper acrobatically pawed the ball away from the target and it was hastily cleared by an amber-shirted defender.

After 32 minutes, Sutton took a deserved lead. There didn't seem to be much danger as the ball rolled towards the right touchline, but Hawes kept it in play and knocked downfield.

Kenny Beaney got around Vargas and delivered a low cross, which Payne helped on, just eluding a lunging defender's attempted block. From Danny Phillips, the ball was helped on to Sam GARGAN, who had the time and confidence to side-foot past Reading.

Five minutes later, Scriven produced a double save which Sutton manager Paul Doswell described as, "the best I've seen at this level." Haule did well to get around Hawes and slid the ball into the path of the on-rushing Dean.

Dean did what he thought all he required to net the equaliser, but Scriven twisted in mid-air and somehow blocked the ball. It fell for O'Sullivan, whose strike was also saved by the goalkeeper. This time the rebound went inches away from Dean and the danger was cleared.

At half-time, Hendon made an enforced change, the injured Kevin Maclaren being replaced by Sam Berry. A more attacking option, he made an immediate difference and it was quickly obvious that as well as the tempo being upped, Hendon were in control.

Chances on target were still few and far between, but Sutton were now forced to defend very much more deeply and they struggled to make any impact on Hendon, having ceded midfield. Jamie Busby was much more of a force going forward and he probably took wrong option in the 55th minute when he elected to pass to O'Sullivan when given a clear sight of goal 20 metres out. The shot was blocked by Hawes.

Dean then decided to go for goal when an almost unmarked Haule would have had an easier chance. Scriven made a comfortable save, but would probably not have had a chance had the ball been squared.

But it was not long before the Greens got their equaliser and it was as merited as had been Sutton's opener. Busby found O'Sullivan, who knocked the ball out to the wing where Vargas was waiting.

His cross was hit very early and Berry timed his run into the box perfectly. Scriven saw the danger and came off his line, but realised he would not reach the flat cross before the substitute made contact.

He was thus left in no-man's land as BERRY lobbed a header over him. The ball dipped just in time to clip the underside of the crossbar and bounce down on the goal-line, though probably not over it. However, once it hit the roof of the net, there was no doubt it was a goal - and Dean made absolutely certain with his follow-up.

After 69 minutes, a decoy run by Dean was ended by a trip from Gargan. Referee Degnarain, played a good advantage, although it came to nothing and when the ball went out of play, some 20 seconds later, Gargan was shown a yellow card.

Three minutes later, with the Us in danger of being over-run, they made a trip substitution, Bradley Woods-Garness, Matt Hann and former Hendon favourite Steve McKimm coming on for Payne, Bentley Graham and Beaney, respectively.

It turned the match, not so much because Sutton regained control, but they stopped Hendon from playing and the final 15 minutes were even.

Neither team really created much and the only incident of note was a caution for the otherwise superb Alan Bray, who had effectively turned the Hendon right into a no-go area, leaving James Bent and Diedhiou rather frustrated at their lack of progress.

Hendon made their final two changes in the last quarter of an hour, Haule and O'Sullivan making way for Hunt and Hamada. The former twice came close to reaching through balls, but Scriven was off his line quickly. Hamada tried his luck from distance but his effort was off target.

Four minutes of stoppage time was signalled, and with 30 seconds gone of the last of these, Sutton netted their winner. Reading tried to resume play quickly by distributing the ball short.

With so little time to go, launching it downfield might have been better. But Hendon's success has come from playing passing football and it was laudable to be going for the win at home rather than accepting a draw.

Sadly Reading's enterprise was very costly. His intended target wasn't expecting the ball and he was dispossessed by Woods-Garness.

The substitute made good yards down the flank and when he rolled the ball into the middle of the penalty area, there was GARGAN to slide home the winner.
Barely 15 seconds after play restarted the final whistle was blown.

Hendon manager Gary McCann was very disappointed, saying, "There is no question we deserved at least a point. We weren't as good as we have been, but I thought we bossed the second half."