Hendon remained on top of the Ryman League Premier Division despite going down 1-0 to Braintree Town at Cressing Road on Saturday afternoon. It was a lacklustre performance and the Iron clearly deserved the points from a rather dull encounter.

Without the suspended John Frendo and Mark Nicholls, Hendon gave first starts to Usif Bangura and Tony Robinson. Coming onto the bench was Martin Delaney, a player who spent five years in the Greens' youth policy from the late 1990s, but he did not come on.

Braintree almost took the lead in the opening half-minute. A diagonal ball over the top found the pacy Louis Riddle in space. He worked a good opening, but Dave King saved well with his legs, the ball looping high and wide of the goal.

Five minutes later, Eugene Ofori had a scissors-kick effort sail inches over the bar, but the referee didn't see the goalkeeper get the faintest of touches to the ball. It must be said, however, that the goalkeeper's intervention didn't affect the likely outcome of the shot.

After half an hour, Braintree were awarded a free-kick five yards outside the Hendon box. Riddle drilled the ball over the wall, but he was again denied by a magnificent piece of goalkeeping by King.

Robinson and Bangura struggled to get into the game, while the reliable veteran Ollie Adediji showed he had lost none of his positional skill in keeping Ofori quiet. The one time Robinson got around the back of the defence, instead of trying to set up the well-place Ofori, he shot into the side-netting, with Gay already covering the near post.

What was probably Hendon's best chance of the half was brought to a halt by referee Mr M George's half-time whistle. There were two men unmarked in the penalty area when and only one defender in front of Ofori has ran entered the box. As he was about to pass or shoot, the whistle blew. Although the laws of the game say the referee was quite correct in blowing up when he did, it is more common for the official to wait for the ball to go out of play or be in a neutral part of the pitch before whistling.

Dave Nolan was unable to continue for the start of the second half and Dave Hunt came on for him. This forced Bangura into a more defensive role, leaving Hendon even weaker in attack.

In the 50th minute, Robinson struck the outside of a post with another drive from a good position, but Braintree will feel much more aggrieved about the ill-fortune of James Baker, who rattled the Hendon crossbar from six yards out after 53 minutes, and Riddle, who hit the left upright with a shot King might just have got a hand to. Hendon then went close when a corner was headed off the line by Billy Burgess.

The introduction of Braintree substitute Steve Sodje proved to be decisive for the second time in a week. Last Tuesday he set up Bertie Brayley for a last-minute winner against Wealdstone. This time, in the 77th minute, his second dangerous run gave BAKER the chance to slot home from close range and the teenager took the opportunity with aplomb.

Scott Williams had already replaced the struggling Bangura and Martin Vrhovski then came on for Richard McDonagh, but Hendon didn't really look like snatching an equaliser until stoppage time. Then a fine save from Gay, pushing an Ofori shot over the crossbar held the Iron's lead.

From the corner, King joined the attack and he was furious that Wayne Carter failed to get beyond the first man at the near post with the kick. It led to a break for Braintree, but Gavin McGowan didn't have the confidence to shoot at any empty goal from 55 yards.

A free-kick to Hendon again saw King join the attack, but the ball was once more played nowhere near the tallest player in the penalty area.

"I am very disappointed," admitted manager Tony Choules of the performance. "It was a soft goal to concede. If we do the basics we come away with a 0-0 draw. I thought the game had 0-0 written all over it."