Hendon and Ford United played out a superb 2-2 draw at Claremont Road on Tuesday night. It was breathtaking stuff and both managers walked off at the end of the game wondering exactly how their charges had managed to get only one point from the game.

The Greens suffered a blow before the game when Antony Howard was ruled out because of injury. Mark Burgess came into the side for him, while Scott Cousins returned after suspension at the expense of Dale Binns.

For the second consecutive game, Eugene Ofori wasted a golden opportunity to give Hendon the lead in the opening 30 seconds. On this occasion, Ricci Crace, recalled in place of Pat Gavin, went around the back of the Ford defence and dragged back the ball towards the penalty spot.

Chris Perkins missed his attempted clearance, the ball going through his legs, and it left Ofori with the chance to grab his 20th goal of the season. Unfortunately, the striker had gone slightly too far forward and, stretching backwards, flicked the ball over the top of the crossbar.

Four minutes later, Ford struck a superb opening goal. Attacking quickly on the break, the ball was spread out to the left side by Glenn Poole and when the ball was crossed into the penalty area, Craig EDWARDS nipped in front of his marker and side-footed the ball past Dave King.

Hendon tried hard to hit back and, in the 20th minute, Crace was denied an equaliser by a fine save from Jamie Lunan. Seven minutes later, Ofori did well down the left wing and his cross was an inch too far away from the late-arriving Andy Cook, whose giant frame could not stretch quite far enough.

Then, in the 36th minute, the Motormen struck a savage blow. Ofori slipped in possession just inside the Ford penalty area. Ben Lewis swept the ball away from him towards the centre circle. There Robbie Reinelt was quick to feed possession out to the right wing and when the ball was knocked back into the penalty area Alan McLEOD was waiting to score a fine goal.

With the wind at their backs in the second half, Hendon weren't completely out of the game, but they needed to make a good start. The portents certainly didn't appear good when a header from Steve Butler narrowly missed the target, a misplaced header from Perkins flew inches wide of his own far post and another clearance was a hair's breadth away from an own goal.

In the 62nd minute, it seemed that this was not going to be Hendon's night when Ofori arrived late to meet a Cousins corner. His downward header bounced off the normally dead Claremont Road pitch and rebounded off the crossbar before being hacked clear by a grateful defender.

In the 70th minute, the luck, and the tide, changed. Binns, who had replaced Crace early in the second half, tried a shot that ricocheted across the 6-yard-line. Lunan came off his line, but Butler arrived first and the ball bounced off the goalkeeper into the path of OFORI, who wasted no time in banging the ball into the net.

Redoubling their efforts, Hendon tried everything to get an equaliser. Jon-Barrie Bates, Iain Duncan and Butler all attempted long-range efforts without success. Every time the ball came into the box there was a blue shirted defender throwing himself in front of it or hacking it clear. It wasn't pretty defending, but it appeared to be effective.

Until the 87th minute, that is. Then, when the ball pin-balled around the penalty spot before bouncing out to the edge of the "D", Dwayne PLUMMER was waiting. His shot struck an outstretched boot and Lunan was unsighted until it was too late for him reach the ball as it flew just inside his right post.

"To come back from 2-0 down showed great spirit," said manager Dave Anderson. "At half-time I didn't think we had played that badly but we had a few things to say to the players and the attitude after the break was first class. Games like this will bring back the crowds."