Hendon made it 14 games without defeat, but there was disappointment at Claremont Road on Saturday as the high-flying Greens were held to a 1-1 draw by basement-dwelling Aylesbury United.

An unchanged starting line-up got off to a good start and it should have brought reward in the 4th minute, when the ball fell to an unmarked Dale Binns, 14 yards from goal. Almost any shot on target towards the far post would surely have brought the opening goal, but Binns fired a foot wide of the post.

Aylesbury made Hendon pay, 3 mintues, later, as Alvin Bubb got around the back of Iain Duncan and delivered a low cross. Donovan REED arrived late and was unchallenged as he knocked home the loose ball.

In the 18th minute, Hendon had loud penalty appeals turned down by referee Gary Evetts (Herts). Duncan chased a loose ball with Daniel Mead and got to it ahead of the defender, but was then bundled over. Mr Evetts, not as well placed as his assistant to see the incident, made sure the flag-waver didn't see anything untoward before waving aside the penalty claims.

Within two minutes, Duncan had left the pitch, replaced by Antony Howard, who was making his first appearance for five weeks. He had been on the pitch for only a couple of minutes when Dave King produced an excellent save to deny Matthew Brandish, who had been able to run onto a loose ball just outside the penalty area and his powerful drive was arrowing towards goal.

Andy Cook had Hendon's next chance, but he was unwilling to try a 20-yard shot deciding, instead, to pass to Steve Forbes, who was less well placed. It was clear that Hendon were getting frustrated as frequent misplaced passes and crosses as well as some questionable offside flags hampered their progress.

In the 36th minute, the Greens got the equaliser they craved. A free-kick just outside the right angle of the penalty area was crossed in by Scott Cousins and while Aylesbury defenders tried to stop Cook and Steve Butler getting to the ball, they allowed FORBES plenty of space and he powered a header beyond Rashid's dive.

Five minutes later, another penalty appeal was turned down. This time it was Dwayne Plummer who was tripped. He had got in front of Daniel Gordon and went down as the defender's challenge clipped his heel and not the ball. It may well be that the way Plummer went down was the reason for Mr Evetts to decide there was no foul.

Hendon started the second half just they ended the first; on the offensive. In the 50th minute, Binns had another chance to get on the scoresheet and he again failed to hit the target. Almost immediately Ricci Crace was brought on in Binns' place, but it didn't have the desired effect.

If anything, the move backfired on Hendon because although Crace did have two quick chances to score, it fell on his left side and he didn't take them. In effect Binns' two best opportunities fell on Crace's preferred side and Crace's clearest chances fell on Binns' better foot.

In the 58th minute, Aylesbury brought on former Hendon star Byron Bubb - a World Cup goalscorer for Grenada earlier in March - for Ryan Wiffin, whose reckless challenges, not malicious but nonetheless dangerous, had already brought him a yellow card - but he couldn't do much.

The second half became very scrappy and Hendon's most dangerous player was not top-scorer Eugene Ofori, or the ever dangerous Crace or Plummer. It was substitute Howard, who had acres of space to roam down the right flank. When he cut into the penalty area, in the 70th minute, he brought a fine save out of Rashid, then delivered a cross-cum-shot that just eluded both Crace and Ofori.

Hendon's two best chances to win the game came late on. In the 82nd minute, three minutes after Pat Gavin had taken over for Ofori, Howard again found himself in space and smashed a shot past Rashid. Unfortunately for him and the Greens, the ball crashed off the inside of the post and bounced away to the edge of the penalty area.

Then, in the second minute of stoppage time, a corner was cleared to the edge of the penalty area, where Forbes was waiting. It was a super drive that beat Rashid all ends up, but Jamie Moss - standing a foot and a half behind the line - headed the ball clear. His feet may have been well inside the goal, but his head clearly wasn't.

And, just to complete the Greens' frustration, the last action of the game saw Plummer pushed over by a tired defender as he got in a cross, but nobody was surprised that Mr Evetts wasn't interested, nor that either he or his assistant saw both hands going out into Plummer.

"I am a great believer in earning your own luck," said manager Dave Anderson, "but in the first 20 minutes we didn't deserve anything. We were really off the pace. If Dale Binns had scored in the first couple of minutes I'm sure we would have won the game. Still we remain unbeaten."