Hendon moved out of the bottom two of the Ryman League Premier Division with an ultimately disappointing draw against the Metropolitan Police, a match between two teams both of whom had at least one eye on FA Cup with Budweiser first round proper ties 11 days hence.

The Greens made a few changes to their starting line-up with Howard Hall, Elliott Brathwaite and Jack Mazzone coming in for the suspended Scott Cousins and the injured George McCluskey and Greg Ngoyi, respectively. Hendon hope that both Ngoyi and the younger McCluskey will recover in time for the Aldershot Town clash, as will Isaiah Rankin.

This was a game of two halves, played on a very difficult surface affected by the mizzle that descended on Sudbury during Tuesday early evening. Players from both teams struggled to keep their feet and quick turns were distinctly tricky. Despite this, the first half was played a good pace and with free-kicks few and far between, the game flowed well.

Both teams had spurned chances to take the lead before Hendon went ahead midway through the period. Mazzone looked suspiciously offside when he received a through ball and broke clear of Steve Sutherland.

Jamie Butler came off his line, but Mazzone took the ball past him, stumbling in the process. This allowed Sutherland to recover, but Mazzone was able to prod the ball into the corner.

Two minutes later, he had a better chance, again one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but this time Butler won this duel. In the 30th minute, the conditions almost undid Butler as a long clearance bounced over the well-advanced stopper, but didn’t have the speed to reach the goalline.

And Butler had another escape soon after when he miscontrolled the ball and his clearance downfield skidded too fast for Michael Murray to be able to return the ball with interest.

It certainly wasn't one-way traffic and the Greens' defence had to be alert on a number of occasions to stop the prolific on-loan striker Jonte Smith. But he was not the only danger-man as Howard Newton proved with a cross-cum-shot which Berkley Laurenin tipped over the crossbar, while Steve Noakes drove a shot inches wide of the left post.

Possibly the best piece of skill in the match brought the Police their equaliser, a little more than a minute before half-time. It started when Mazzone waited too long for a ball to reach him and although he felt he was being held back, the referee thought it six of one and half-a-dozen of the other and allowed play to continue.

When the ball was switched to the Blues' right wing, a magnificent dummy and turn took out two Hendon players and there was acres of space in which Noakes could roam. His ball into the penalty area was half cleared by James Fisher, but Ryan Wharton couldn't stop Allan Tait having a shot.

The ball caromed away from the Hendon defence, right into the path of Tyron Smith, who wasted no time in slotting it home. On the balance of play it was no more than the Police deserved.

Sadly the second half was a bit of a non-event. It was a real shame that the constant first half action and entertainment was not replicated after oranges. Free-kicks littered the match and it meant that although the Blues were in control for large parts of the half, there was far too much stop-start to the action.

Elliott Charles continued to prove a handful for the Police defenders but apart from one second-half occasion, he didn't get many looks at goal. His one chance was drilled into the side-netting, but never looked like being on target.

George Smith replaced Murray with 20 minutes to go, but he, like Murray, couldn’t find a way to unlock the defence. In fact, for all of the efforts of Dean Cracknell and Casey and Kevin Maclaren, the Police midfield had held sway for most of those 25 minutes. Four minutes later, Belal Aite-Ouakrim took over from Charles.

Butler's difficult evening with the ball at or near his feet continued, as did his good fortune in those moments of discomfort. With just a little bit of good luck, one of four or five misplays by the goalkeeper would have good straight to a green shirt.

Carl McCluskey took over from Mazzone for the final seven minutes of normal time, though he played in a deeper position than the man he replaced.

As the game moved into stoppage time, the Police won a couple of free-kicks around the Hendon penalty area. The first one was from a wide position, but it was badly wasted, the ball bending high and wide of the far post.

The second one, however, was in an ideal position for their dead-ball expert Tyron Smith, who scored from a similar position in the League fixture against the Greens last season. Instead it was Jonte Smith who took responsibility for the set-piece and he failed to hit the target.

"I am a little disappointed with the performance tonight," said manager Gary McCann. "Some of our approach play was very good, but we didn’t make the right decisions in good positions."

"However, I am not going to be too hard on the players. Some of the players looked very leggy, but they have put in some very hard shifts in the past few weeks - many of them have played a lot of tough minutes."