Hendon played out a third consecutive Saturday goalless draw, when they drew with Worthing at Woodside Road. Once again, they felt aggrieved not to have taken maximum points and, notwithstanding their attacking shortcomings, felt they were denied two clear penalties.

With Eugene Ofori sent home from the ground on the morning of the game suffering from a heavy cold, changes to the line-up were inevitable. Jason O'Connor came into start at right back, with Marvyn Watson moving forward to midfield, where he was joined by Shayne Demetrious, Dave Hunt and Danny Julienne.

In the first minute, the Greens should have taken the lead. From a free-kick the ball spun of Steve McGrath's head. It seemed as if Mark Ormerod would reach the ball first, but it bounced away from him and he and Watson reached it simultaneously.

The ball ricocheted towards the goal and seemed certain to go in, but after bouncing in the sanded six-yard box slowed down. René Street, following up, could have made absolutely certain, but before he could administer the coup de grace from six inches out, Mark Knee had hacked the ball clear.

In the seventh minute, good work from John Frendo took him past two defenders. He looked up and saw Ross Pickett in space. The pass to him was blocked by Marc Pullan, using an outstretched left hand. However, the officials decided that there had been no offence.

Hendon were still on top and goalkeeper Dave King very nearly got an assist in the 16th minute. He caught a cross and immediately threw out a long pass to Watson, five yards from halfway.

Watson controlled the ball and set off for the Worthing goal. He sprinted past two defenders and, 20 yards from the goal, fired a powerful drive that didn't quite dip enough to go under the crossbar. It would have been a magnificent goal had the ball gone six inches lower.

Worthing began to get into the game and they probably should have taken the lead after 37 minutes. A quick break led a free strike at goal for Andy Alexander. The shot seemed destined for the top corner, until King languidly stuck out his left hand and pushed the ball away over the angle of post and bar.

The only person in the ground to think Alexander had simply missed a golden opportunity was the referee and it took the furious intervention of a handful of Worthing players and the assistant referee's vigorous flag waving to attract his attention to this injustice. When the corner was finally taken, it was badly wasted.

A minute into the second half, the Greens again came close to breaking the deadlock. The home defence was caught out by Frendo and when the ball broke to Julienne, he spotted Ormerod off his line. The attempted curled lob was brilliantly pushed against the underside of the crossbar by the goalkeeper and the rebound was hacked away for a corner.

A 72 minute after James Burgess had replaced Hunt both teams were claiming a penalty. First, Sam Francis went down following a tackle from behind in the Hendon box. It looked as if the defender had actually played the ball, but only just.

Hendon broke away and Frendo, with defenders on either side of him, somehow forced his way between them to get a clear run at goal. He was hauled back and down by Pullan, but once again the officials ruled there was no foul. Frendo was so incensed he earned himself a yellow card. Ormerod told fans behind his goal that he couldn't believe a penalty hadn't been given.

Both teams made more substitutions late on and Worthing's young striker Tom Smith almost marked his home debut with a winning goal, but he fired straight at King.