Hendon produced a good performance to hold early league leaders Hastings United to a goalless draw at Vale Farm on Saturday afternoon. With the two sides having scored 13 goals between them in their opening two matches it was perhaps inevitable that the match would end goalless and so it proved after an absorbing affair.

Gary McCann made one change to the side that beat Concord Rangers in midweek with Michael Peacock swapping places with Matt O'Brien and the former Wimbledon and Northwood defender put in a faultless performance in his first Hendon start.

It took a quarter of an hour for either side to make any impression on the opponent's defence and it was Hastings who created the first opportunity of note. Kenny Pogue did well to get a cross in from the right flank that Berkley Laurencin fumbled at full stretch. The ball fell for Russell Eldridge who was able to get his shot away. Unfortunately for him, Michael Peacock produced a superb clearance off the line diving to head the ball away for a corner.

Ten minutes later a spell of concerted Hastings pressure saw a John Beales effort from a corner headed off the line by Eddie Munnelly and soon after, the ball fell for Anthony Storey in space about 35 yards from goal. The former Tonbridge midfielder took a touch to steady himself and fired a shot towards the top corner of the net. It was more the placement than the power of the shot that caused Laurencin problems and the keeper did extremely well to tip the ball away for a corner at full stretch as it arrowed towards the top corner of the net.

Having weathered the storm, Hendon went on the offensive in the closing stages of the first half and probably should have gone in ahead at half time. With 5 minutes of the period remaining Aaron Morgan seized upon a poor headed clearance by a Hastings defender and after getting the ball under control he did well to play the ball into Lee O'Leary's path as the midfielder broke into the penalty area. He took his shot early left footed and fired high and wide when perhaps he should have hit the target.

A couple of minutes later, a long ball out of defence sent Morgan scampering in behind the Hastings back four. Clark Masters in the Hastings goal came out to narrow the angle and with the ball bouncing, Morgan tried to loft the ball over the goalkeeper. He failed to get the elevation he would have liked on the effort and Masters was able to make a comfortable save.

The second half began much as the first had, with Hastings in the ascendancy but failing to create a worthwhile opening. Just past the hour mark the home side took control and had three efforts go close to breaking the deadlock in a 5 minute period. Belal Aite-ouakrim, who was extremely well marshalled by the Hastings skipper Sean Ray throughout the game, found a yard of space and ran at the away team's defence. He played a one-two with O'Leary on the edge of the box and hit a powerful low shot left footed that was deflected wide of the upright. From the corner, O'Leary did well to get up at the far post but was unable to direct his header on target.

A couple of minutes later, a loose header out of defence by Hastings saw the ball fall for Lubo Guentchev about 25 yards out. With Masters out of position, Guentchev had no hesitation in hooking the ball on the volley over the goalkeeper. Unfortunately, he got a little bit too much on his shot and the ball kissed the crossbar on its way over the top.

Hendon, now enjoying their best period of the game, continued to push forward in search of a goal and a Munnelly cross from deep on the right flank was met by Aite-ouakrim with a powerful header from about 10 yards out. The connection from Tuesday's goalscoring hero was good enough, the direction was slightly lacking though as the ball flew over the angle of post and bar.

With opportunities going begging, there was always the nagging worry that Hastings would make the Greens pay on the break and they very nearly did so with 20 minutes remaining. Storey played a superb ball in between Peacock and Vargas that sent 2nd half sub Ade Olorunda clear on goal. He was well inside the area when he shot low across goal right footed and sent the ball fizzing just wide of the far post. It was the clearest sight either side had of goal throughout the 90 minutes, a fact that was not lost on the Hastings bench as one of their number commented "that was our chance".

Any hope Hendon had of winning the game seemed to disappear inside 3 second half minutes as Kevin Maclaren was shown two yellow cards in swift succession. The midfielder can have no complaints over his first caution picked up for pulling down his opponent after O'Leary had been dispossesed but was harshly punished moments later when he was a fraction of a second late in making a tackle and was immediately shown his second yellow card by the referee.

This left the home side with a quarter of an hour to survive a man down and with the exception of a mix up between James Parker and Laurencin that nearly let Ade Orolunda in, Peacock doing well to smuggle the ball clear, Hastings were unable to create any opportunities of note.

Indeed, the Greens nearly snatched the winner 2 minutes from time when a Danny Dyer free kick into the box was met by the head of Peacock. He directed his header down back towards the far post, but Masters was equal to the effort and got down extremely well to smother and preserve his clean sheet. The final few minutes passed without incident leaving both sides with a deserved point.