Hendon travel to Kettering Town on Saturday knowing that a win will guarantee them a second place finish in the Ryman League Premier Division after the woodwork and misfortune denied them the victory they craved over St Albans City. The 1-1 draw was a disappointing return for the Greens at sunny Claremont Road in front of the largest home crowd of the season.

Steve Butler passed a fitness test before the game to retain his spot and Dwayne Plummer and Ricci Crace returned to the starting line-up at the expense of Dale Binns and Martin Randall, both of whom dropped to the bench. They would, nonetheless, play major parts in the game.

The Greens should have taken the lead after barely 60 seconds. A cross from Scott Cousins found Crace completely unmarked 8 yards from goal. He nodded the ball downwards, past George Clark, but watched in horror as it bounced up and hit the underside of the crossbar. Clark was able to gather the ball before Crace could bundle the rebound over the line.

In the seventh minute, Eugene Ofori received a pass from Andy Cook, controlled the ball on his chest, swivelled and struck a sweet volley that Clark was superbly positioned to save just below the crossbar.

St Albans started to get into the match and a teasing cross from Greg Deacon was palmed away by Dave King. However, in the 15th minute, King could not get to another cross from Deacon because Lee CLARKE met it with a header that flew into the net.

In the 18th minute, Ofori and Gary Wraight clashed in midfield leading to a brief square dance involving about 16 players. The main protagonists were pulled aside by Bucks referee Mark Scholes, who showed both yellow cards.

Five minutes later, a tussle between Dwayne Plummer and Chris Zoricich as they challenged for the ball ended with the Hendon man going to ground inside the penalty area. Zoricich was booked, but the free-kick was awarded not where the final foul took place, but 10 yards further away, three from the edge of the box. The free-kick came to nothing.

Another rapid break led to more Hendon misfortune in the 27th minute. Steve Forbes was on the end of a pass from Ofori but the tiniest of bobbles took the ball a centimetre too far away from Forbes, whose drive cannoned off the inside of the post and flew across the face of goal.

In the 31st minute, Crace beat the Saints' offside trap and had a clear run on goal. Clark came off his line and used his legs to deny the tentative-looking Crace an equaliser.

Binns replaced Dave Hunt at the start of the second half. Binns went to his usual left side, sending Cousins to the right and giving Plummer a freer role behind the front two.

In the 55th minute, Crace went for a loose ball just outside the St Albans six-yard box and went down in an accidental collision. It was his bravery, rather than foul play that caused the injury. He required treatment and was taken off, to be replaced by Randall.

In the 63rd minute, a throw-in from Antony Howard, taken without penalty 15 yards nearer his own goal with a replacement ball as the match one bounced down Claremont Road, went to Mark Burgess. Burgess immediately sent a super 45-yard pass into the path of Cousins.

The cross from Cousins was absolutely perfect. It curled just enough to make Clark leave his line but stop because it was out of his reach. RANDALL, meanwhile, lost his marker and was ideally placed to rise and carefully guide the ball just inside the post with a flick of his head.

Hendon redoubled their efforts to snatch a winning goal, but a combination of ill fortune, poor decision-making and desperate defending kept the scores level. St Albans were not without chances and, in the 72nd minute, Richard Thomas started and finished a superb move that was matched only by King's save.

The best chance the Greens had to snatch all three points came in the 81st minute, when Plummer danced through three tackles and fired a wicked, curling shot that was booked for just inside the near post, until Clark made a fine, low save, holding onto the ball with Ofori sniffing a rebound opportunity.

"I thought that we did enough to win the game today," said a disappointed Hendon boss Dave Anderson. "I don't like using this as an excuse, but we really didn't get any luck at all today."