Hendon players were in at 9.00 on Sunday morning as a punishment for their 2-2 draw against 9-man Hitchin Town at Fishponds Road on Saturday afternoon. Amazingly, the result actually improved the Greens' position in the table as 3rd-placed St Albans and Sutton in 4th, both lost.

Rob Hollingdale had recovered from his virus (which claimed Eugene Ofori) and replaced the suspended Iain Duncan at left back, while on the other flank Micky Woolner took over from Jamie Burgess, The other change saw Paul Towler skippering the side as he came in for Paul Yates.

In the 10th minute a terrible pass from Ryan Frater put Ricci Crace in with a clear run at goal. The striker had trouble getting the ball out from between his feet, but he was 2 yards clear of the last defender as he approached the penalty area.

Crace's run was stopped by a clumsy challenge from behind by James Ayres, which sent him sprawling just inside the penalty area. Referee Mr S Beck (Southend) immediately awarded a free-kick and called over Ayres. Three Hitchin players went up to the referee with pleas for leniency, but they fell on deat ears as Mr Beck produced a red card.

Lee Endersby took a quick free-kick but failed to hit the target. Three minutes later, it was a different story. Martin Randall spotted Endersby making a diagonal run into the defence and he laid a perfect pass into his path.

Taking a touch to control the ball, ENDERSBY looked up and picked his spot. The low shot gave James Robinson no chance as it flew inside the goalkeeper's left upright.

Hendon were playing with confidence and seemed set to extend their lead in the next 10 minutes, but suddenly things went horribly wrong. After a spell of pressure, Hitchin hit back. In the 28th minure a cross from Craig Rydeheard took a bad bounce on the rock-hard surface and went beyond Mark Cooper and Lee Harvey.

Carl Drew arrived late on the scene and as he jumped for the ball, Hollingdale tried to get in front of him but succeeded only in nudging him in the back. Mr Beck, who allowed almost no physical contact in the first half, immediately pointed to the spot.

Dean BRENNAN sent McCann the wrong way from the penalty spot as the ball arrowed into the bottom corner.

Less than a minute later, a pass from Ricardo Alves was cut out by Brennan. He ran 30 yards before delivering a slide-rule pass that sent in DREW for a clear run at goal and he smashed the ball past McCann.

A minute later, after a jinking run past two defenders, Endersby set up Steve Forbes for a shot from 18 yards. It was perfectly struck, but Robinson produced a magnificent save to palm the ball away.

In the 36th minute, the game exploded. Randall was brought down by Jon Bone 5 yards from the angle of the penalty area. Alves ran over to the ball to take a quick free kick and tried to take the ball from Drew, who was deliberately delaying the action.

As Alves tried to gather the ball he was shoved in the face by Drew. There were no histrionics from the Brazilian, who staggered back after being hit and as Mr Beck blew his whistle Alves ran to the far side of the penalty area to await an orthodox kick.

Drew claimed that Alves had kicked him and his action was in self-defence, but the referee, who had been no more than half a dozen yards from the incident, was having none of it and showed the striker the red card. Drew reacted with a mouthful of abuse before turning to walk off.

In the penalty area, handbags were being waved all over the place. As Mr Beck was moving back the Hitchin wall, Forbes and a Hitchin player tussled with the result that Forbes was slammed to the ground.

Mr Beck called out both Forbes and Adam Parker and, after a lecture to them, showed yellow cards. Despite the incident occurring directly behind him, and without referring to his assistant, the referee claimed to have had a good view of the incident. Parker was aggrieved, feelng he was the victim of mistaken identity.

The free-kick came to nothing as a Hendon player was penalised for a foul on Robinson. In the 39th minute, Endersby set up Crace with a great chance but he failed to put the effort on target. Two minutes later, Brennan curled a free-kick that narrowly missed McCann's far post.

The second half was tale of embarrassing futility for Hendon. Alves and Harvey were withdrawn, in favour of Yates and Dale Binns. Manager Dave Anderson said, "I could have taken off about 8 different players, we were playing that badly." The replacements hardly covered themselves in glory.

In the 49th minute, a corner was flicked on and Forbes, at full stretch, hit the post with a second header. Five minutes later, Crace was all alone as he met another corner, but he failed to get close to the target from 8 yards out.

On the rare occasions they launched counter-attacks, Hitchin looked more dangerous than Hendon, whose passing and decision-making going forward were almost without exception flawed. The most dangerous attacker was centre-half Cooper, although a snap-shot was magnificent palmed away by Robinson.

Jack Midson replaced Hollingdale for the final quarter-hour, leaving Hendon with 5 strikers, Randall, Crace, Binns, Endersby and Midson. It was a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. A Crace turn took him clear of Frater, who appeared to tug his shirt as he squirmed clear. Crace went down rather than trying to keep his feet and the chance went begging.

In the 81st minute, Randall did well down the right wing and picked out Binns with a fine cross. On form and fully confident, Binns is a certainty to bury the chance, but he lacks both at present and his shot flew wide of the target.

As frustration grew, almost every Hendon set piece was directed straight to Robinson. This was never more evident in the 88th minute, when a corner by Endersby picked out Robinson, who was surrounded by 4 Hendon attackers, butat a height where only the goalkeeper could get close to the ball.

Finally, in the 89th minute, something worked for Hendon. A cross from Endersby drew Robinson off his line, but he couldn't get to the ball. It eluded the scrum of players around the middle of the 6 yards box and fell to an unmarked COOPER at the far post. He time for a touch before slapping the ball into the unguarded net.

Anderson pulled no punches in his post-match comment, saying, "It was an embarrassment to me, my staff and the club. This feels like a defeat, not a draw."