Hendon drew their latest friendly at Chalfont St Peter, this being their fourth draw in seven pre-season matches. Although Chalfont St Peter are two levels below The Greens, this was a creditable result for Hendon given that they had to play with 10 men for 47 minutes, Daryl Atkins being dismissed just before half-time.

Hendon named 16 players for the match including five trialists, though all had made appearances in earlier fixtures. The only trialist not to start was James Archer, starting places being given to Noel Imber, Lawrence Yaku, Elliott Godfrey, and Atkins.

The match got off to an explosive start, with Atkins receiving a caution in the first minute for an unnecessary challenge on Lewis Cumber. Following this, the match quietened down, though for much of the first twenty minutes the silver-shirted Dons had the better possession. However their attacks foundered on the Chalfont defence, where John Carroll and Daniel Hicks started extremely well, though they struggled more late on. Chances fell to Atkins, Yaku, and Godfrey, and there were several goalmouth scrambles following corners and free kicks, where Dave Diedhiou caused the defence some problems. Chalfont’s defence held firm, however.

Chalfont had enough of the play to cause Hendon some problems of their own, particularly on the flanks where Terrell Lewis on the right and Michael Lewis on the left showed plenty of pace and trickery, winning several corners and putting in crosses that had the Greens defence in some discomfort.

The match sprang into life in the last few minutes before half-time, starting with Hendon’s inability to clear a corner comfortably. When the ball was crossed back in, Daniel Ailey rose above a statuesque defence to head past Imber and give Chalfont the lead after 42 minutes.

Within two minutes Hendon were down to 10 men. From the kick-off Atkins got behind the Chalfont defence and was penalised and severely spoken to by the referee for a collision with the ‘keeper. From the ref’s angle, it appeared that Atkins had gone in to challenge the keeper with studs raised and no attempt to play the ball. However it was clear to the few Hendon fans at the side that Atkins drove the ball into the keeper’s midriff and hands from a range of no more than two feet before the collision. Having received the lecture, Atkins transgressed again within a minute when Lewis Cumber went down in a challenge and the referee deemed that Atkins had used his elbow. The only possible outcome was Atkins’ dismissal. Nothing further developed in the last minute or so of the half.

Officials from both clubs asked the referee during half-time to allow Atkins to be replaced, but he refused, as of course he had every right to do.

Hendon replaced Imber with Berkley Laurencin and Scott Cousins with James Burgess at half-time, Craig Carby moving from central defence to left-back. Chalfont took control at the start of the second half, the extra man helping in this, while Hendon tried to reorganise the team and their method of play. During the first 20 minutes of the second half Chalfont looked more likely to score, and Laurencin was the busier of the two ‘keepers.

After 69 minutes Chalfont got their second. An incisive ball got an attacker to the byline and when he crossed the ball in there were three attackers to one defender; Ailey having the simplest task to turn the ball over the line from a few feet. Before the match restarted, Archer replaced Diedhiou.

The changes seemed to unsettle Chalfont, as their second goal was the first of five goals in 10 minutes. Hendon had improved from the start of the second half, but it was still a surprise when they pulled a goal back after 74 minutes. A defender’s intended headed clearance screwed off towards Godfrey, who swivelled to fire a waist-high volley from the edge of the box past Mark Oliver. Hendon then replaced Yaku with Bradley Ambrose, their final change for the night, Junior Lewis remaining on the bench.

A minute later Godfrey had his second. A sliced clearance from a defender struck a colleague on the hand, and the referee had little option but to award a penalty as the culprit had clearly moved his hand to the ball. Godfrey placed the ball on the spot and beat Oliver, placing it past his left hand into the corner of the net.

After 78 minutes the ten men were gifted the lead through an own goal. The Greens won a corner on the right that was not properly cleared and when the ball came back in, three defenders rose together in the six-yard box and the ball ended up in the net. Carby was the nearest Hendon player, but he was not involved in the challenge for the cross.

A minute later the match was all square again. Chalfont attacked down the right, and when an angled cross came in, the smallest man on the field, Daniel Tomlin, who had been playing for just six minutes, rose to head past Laurencin’s despairing dive.

Neither side settled for the draw, and there were scares at both ends, but nobody was able to fashion a good enough chance to score the winner.