Hendon had to rely on another second half fightback on Saturday to secure as much as a point from a home game they should, on paper, have won. This time it was Harrow Borough who were pegged back at Claremont Road. That said, it was the Greens' first home point against Borough since December 1997.

Following the heartbreaking defeat against Emley in midweek, Hendon boss Dave Anderson made a number of changes, some forced, others tactical. In came Mark Cooper, Rob Haworth, and Dale Binns at the expense of Steve Forbes, Eugene Ofori and Kieran Gallagher. On the bench were new signings Lee Harvey and Lee Endersby, plus Gallagher, Ofori and James Burgess.

Harrow should have taken the lead in the opening 30 seconds. Neat interplay on the edge of the Hendon penalty area released Richard Goddard. He went around Micky Woolner and had a clear run at goal. His shot was well saved by David Hook by his near post.

If that was a wake-up call, Hendon pushed the snooze button. The strikeforce of Haworth and Ricci Crace were feeding on sparse scraps, with Dean Marney snuffing out any danger from those two, while supporting Marvyn Watson in his battle against Binns. As soon as Binns received the ball, he was faced by two or three defenders and just couldn't get a cross in.

On the other flank, Paul Yates and Woolner again failed to deliver telling balls into the danger area. The lack of direction of balls into the penalty was especially disappointing because Mali international goalkeeper Keita Karamoko came for almost every cross and flapped at them with punches of varying degrees of weakness.

Former Hendon man Watson set up the opening goal. In the 27th minute, he ran towards the Hendon box, played a neat one-two and had his run brought to an unceremonious halt by a challenge 18 yards from goal.

Hendon players briefly questioned the penalty award, but referee Andrew Parker pointed out that the foul had been on the line of the penalty box and the line was part of the area. Mekel HACKETT stepped up and confidently lifted the spot-kick over the diving Hook.

Still unable to put any great moves together, at least Hendon showed a degree more urgency. One run by Binns was brilliantly dealt with by Marney, who matched him almost stride for stride and knocked the ball away when Binns tried to cut in towards the Harrow box.

In the 38th minute, Jon-Barrie Bates latched onto a ball 22 yards from the Harrow goal and let fly. Karamoko was moving across his goal when the ball struck Perry Norman on the head and flew away for a corner.

The half-time team talk was, in the words of Mr Anderson, "not for the faint-hearted," and it had the desired effect. Hendon were a different proposition after the break and they laid siege on the Harrow goal.

The final ball into the penalty area was, all too often, inadequate, but the antics of Karamoko gave hope to Hendon every time there was a cross. In the 54th minute, a corner from Binns was fumbled by the goalkeeper and headed off the line by Clemente Lopez. Six minutes later a Binns cross was met by Crace, whose header flew past Karamoko, but went less than a foot wide of his left-hand upright.

The equaliser arrived in the 64th minute and although Haworth scored it, the real credit belongs to Binns. He ran towards a cross beyond the far post and shaped to hit the ball on the volley. Marney, who was covering with Watson out of position, had to try and block a possible shot rather than shepherd the winger away from danger.

Binns brought the ball down, used the yard of space he had made for himself to run towards goal at an acute angle, then again shaped to shoot. This time it was Karamoko who had to adjust his position, to get closer to his near post.

Instead Binns dragged the ball across the 6-yard-box and Karamoko was at full stretch as he tried to gather the ball. He wasn't tall enough to grab it and when the ball rolled away from him, HAWORTH had the simplest of tasks to lift the ball into the net.

Within a minute, referee Mr Parker made a decision which cost Hendon a probable winning goal. Harrow conceded yet another corner which Binns again curled in towards the near post. For just about the only time in the half, Crace was not standing in front of Karamoko.

He was, instead, standing on the penalty spot when the ball was kicked and timed his run to perfection, powering a header home from 3 yards out. Mr Parker disallowed the goal and said, after the game, it had been because Crace had impeded the goalkeeper.

In the 73rd minute, both Crace and Mark Cooper had goalbound shots blocked on the line in a desperate scramble, which resulted in another corner, this time on the left. Yates curled the ball in and Karamoko punched it over the bar as it curled towards the goal. In all Hendon forced 12 second-half corners.

A minute later, Endersby replaced Binns, but he couldn't fashion a winner. Nor could Ofori, who replaced Crace 7 minutes from time.

Harrow were hanging on and their time-wasting frustrated the home fans, but although Mr Parker didn't take direct action, he did add the time on. Nevertheless, Borough could have snatched an undeserved winner in the 88th minute, when Hackett lost his marker at the far post and had a tap-in from 8 yards to score. He went for power and glory but ended up with embarrassment as the ball sailed high out of the ground.

At the other end, Ofori was half a yard short of controlling a downfield pass when given a clear run at goal and Karamoko was able to come off his line and gather the ball before Ofori could reach it.

Mr Anderson didn't pull any punches with his post-match summary, saying, "Our first half deserved an apology. I will not accept a backlash from Tuesday as an excuse. If we had not improved in the second half, the boys would have been in for training on Sunday.

"Although I am happier with the second half display, you can't play 45 minutes that poorly and expect to win the game."