Hendon were indebted to substitute to Brian Haule for salvaging a point against Hampton & Richmond Borough at The Beveree on Saturday afternoon. The teenage striker came on in the 88th minute and scored the equaliser with his first touch in senior football.

Dale Binns was not fit to start - a result of the groin injury he picked up at Canvey Island on Tuesday - and the squad was further weakened by Rob Haworth and Kieran Gallagher's absences too. It meant that Leon Woodruffe came into the starting line-up while Haule and Chad Coombes - a New Zealand Under-20 international - joined Pat Sappleton, Warren Kelly and Eugene Ofori on the bench.

The Greens started very brightly and Ricci Crace fired a shot just wide of Andy Iga's goal after barely 30 seconds. Hampton, who boasted just one player who had appeared for the Beavers prior to this season, were in danger of being overrun as Hendon peppered their goal.

However, apart from a long-range shot from Paul Yates, there was nothing in the opening 20 minutes that unduly troubled former Hendon man Iga. However in the 20th minute, a corner from Iga was met by Paul Towler, whose looping header beat Iga all ends up but hit the underside of the crossbar before being cleared by Ben Proudfoot.

Martin Randall then tried his luck with a 20-yard snap shot that Iga was glad to see dip a few yards after going past the top of the bar. In the 31st minute, Ashley Sestanovich, Hampton's best player on the day, charged down an attempted downfield pass by Towler and ran 40 yards before forcing David Hook into a sprawling save from his swerving low shot.

The course of the match changed in the 38th minute, when Steve Forbes went off, to be replaced by Ofori. It meant a change in Hendon's formation, with Crace dropping back into the right midfield role and Yates moving into the centre of midfield, alongside Jon-Barrie Bates. For all of Yates' and Bates' industry, the absence of Forbes was keenly felt and Hendon were simply not as penetrative.

As much as Hendon were on top in the first half, so Hampton enjoyed the upper hand after the interval. They did not look particularly dangerous until, in the 63rd minute, manager Ian McDonald made three substitutions, including the introduction of debutant Frank McCormack on the left wing.

He has proved a thorn in Hendon's side on more than one occasion, especially when a Harrow Borough player, and McCormack did it again, taking advantage of Hendon's weakness down that flank. Two dangerous crosses elduded everybody, but Hampton's belief was evident.

Even after Sappleton had replaced Woodruffe, who had been peripheral in the second half, Hendon remained unbalanced. Their best players were Steve Butler and Mark Cooper, while Jamie Burgess was forced to deal with Sestanovich, who moved to the right flank upon McCormak's introduction and he fared no better than Towler had in attempting to quell the 20-year-old whose playing experience had come in both Belgium and Ireland.

Almost inevitably the opening goal went Hampton's way. A long cross from substitute Dave Cory appeared to be going out of play near to the corner flag, but McCormack reached it just before the line and worked his way past Towler. He cut inside the penalty area and tried a shot which was blocked. When the ball fell to Billy MEAD, he mishit his attempt but it had enough power to cross the goalline before Hook could get to it.

A minute later, Hampton should have made the game safe. A fine cross from McCormack found Mead, but he powered his free header from 8 yards out inches over the bar with Hook well beaten.

It was much more of a surprise that Hendon fashioned an equaliser. Haule came on for the final few minutes, taking over from Randall. He had not touched the ball when Hampton conceded a corner. The ball came out to Yates, who shot from 20 yards out.

Iga should have done better with the attempt than just parrying to his left. It gave HAULE the chance to latch onto the ball and he fired the ball into the net off Iga by the near post. Haule, younger brother of former Hendon striker Davis, had been on the field for 75 seconds.

Amazingly, having scored with his first touch in senior football, he almost got another with his second. A cross from Crace was fumbled by Iga and Haule could not quite get enough power on a header to direct it towards the unguarded goal.

"The kid has been doing well in the reserves," said manager Dave Anderson of Haule, "and we took him along for the experience today. But then we found that neither Kieran Gallagher nor Rob Haworth could make it, so we put him and Chad Coombes on the bench. With 5 minutes go, we had nothing to lose and, full marks to him, he scored."