Hendon and Tonbridge Angels played out a very poor goalless draw at Claremont Road on Saturday. While the result keeps Hendon in 11th place and the possibility of a top-seven remains a possibility, the Angels remain in the bottom three with four games to go.

With Rene Street away on business, Dean Coppard returned at the centre of the defence, while James Burgess emulated his departed twin brother Mark in taking on the captain's armband. Recently resigned Marvyn Watson took a spot on the bench.

In the opening six minutes, Hendon could have scored four times, but never once turned an excellent opening into a clear chance. This was to become the trend for the afternoon: Good approach play followed by the wrong option, either a wayward shot, a poorly directed cross, a tentative pass or a vain attempt to go alone.

A perfect example of this came in the sixth minute when Ross Pickett spotted Jamie Turner out of position. He could have passed to an unmarked John Frendo, but backed himself to strike a dipping volley on Richard McDonagh's through ball. The wind took the ball a couple of inches too far and Pickett's shot bobbled slowly along the ground to the relieved Turner.

The one time Hendon had a clear first half opening came in the 23rd minute, when Eugene Ofori found Dave Hunt in yards of space. Hunt had enough time to steady himself, look up, control the ball and shoot for goal, but not enough time to steady himself, look up, control the ball, steady himself again and shoot. As a result Craig Roser dived in to make a block on the tardy shot.

Two minutes later, the game should have taken a decisive turn Hendon's way. Ofori was chasing a long pass from Burgess and had half a yard on Angels player-manager Tony Dolby. The striker was denied the chance to go for goal because the defender palmed the ball back to Turner, waist-high, as he entered the penalty area. However, no penalty was awarded.

Tonbridge contented themselves with long-range efforts from Jay May and Nick Barnes, neither of which troubled Dave King. The goalkeeper gathered pretty much every cross that came into the box and if didn't make it, then either Coppard or Steve McGrath was able to deal with the danger. In any case, most of the play out wide foundered on the rocks of challenges by full-backs James Parker and Rob Courtnage.

Early in the second half, Hunt and Roser chased a ball back towards the Tonbridge goal and it appeared, again, that the defender prevailed using his hand, but the outcome was the same. In the 52nd minute, a first time shot from Frendo whistled inches wide of Turner's right post with the goalkeeper well beaten.

Three minutes later a powerful header from McGrath was headed away by Roser under the shadow of his crossbar. The ball would probably have hit the inside of the crossbar, though whether the rebound would have gone into the net is a moot question.

Turner did have to make one save, and it was an excellent one in the 71st minute when Burgess struck a 20-yard drive. The ball took a couple of deflections and the goalkeeper had to stretch just to tip the ball around the post as it bounced towards the goal. King was also required to make a save, but it was far more routine as Dolby struck a 25-yard free-kick straight at the Hendon keeper.

Danny Julienne replaced McDonagh, while Tonbridge sent on central striker Luke Piscina for their only wide player, Steve Sodje, ensuring things got even more clogged up in the middle of the pitch. Watson then came on for Pickett, who had just been cautioned for miscontrolling a ball and trying to win it back.

Even the final whistle had a touch of controversy, because the game ended just as a free-kick was hit into the Tonbridge box.

"You can't afford to start a game flat and expect to be able to build up momentum," said manager Gary McCann. "We were the flattest we have been since I took over and it was the poorest we have played. It was a very frustrating afternoon for everyone, players, management and fans alike."