Hendon bounced back from their horror show at Enfield Town to collect a well-deserved point from a goalless draw with Cray Wanderers at Vale Farm on Tuesday night. The match - on an increasingly difficult surface as the rain poured down - may not have hit the heights in terms of goalmouth action, thrills and spills or end-to-end action, but it was played in excellent spirit and well refereed.

There were four changes to the Hendon starting line-up after Saturday, Elliott Brathwaite, Isaiah Rankin, Michael Murray and Casey Maclaren making way for Howard Hall, Dean Cracknell, Belal Aite-Ouakrim and Dave Diedhiou, respectively. Only Maclaren of the quartet was not named amongst the substitutes, which did include - though eventually unused - Jerome Federico for the first time in a month.

It was the Greens who dominated the first half, enjoying the bulk of possession and position. Unfortunately, however, there was almost no end product with players often guilty of taking the wrong options in good situations. A few fortuitous interventions from Wands defenders also helped the visitors' cause.

A run from Greg Ngoyi, after he had done well to dispossess Jack Clark on the wing, might well have brought a goal had the heel of Joe Vines not deflected the ball away from the oncoming Cracknell. Darren Currie, who linked well with Scott Cousins, put in some dangerous crosses but amber-shirted defenders did enough to defuse the danger before Andy Walker was tested.

At the other end, Hall, Ryan Wharton, James Fisher and Cousins, were not unduly troubled, protecting Berkley Laurencin. In front of them, Kevin Maclaren and Cracknell worked exceptionally hard to control the game, but the half ended with neither team having managed an effort on target.

In the second minute of the second half, Ngoyi had a great chance to open the scoring, but he appeared to stumble as he reached the middle of the penalty area.

This seemed to be a wake-up call for the Wands, who then took control of the next 20 or so minutes. They, like Hendon in the first half, were also unable to turn pressure into anything more tangible, although they did force Laurencin into serious action, in the 62nd minute, as the goalkeeper athletically turned aside a shot from Leigh Bremner.

There were other openings, but few clear-cut chances. The Greens did have one escape when a defender hacked the ball clear from close to the goalline with a Cray player in close proximity.

In the final 15 minutes, Hendon replaced their two main strikers, Ngoyi and Aite-Ouakrim, with Rankin and Jack Mazzone. The latter found himself in a great position moments after coming on, but the slippery surface proved the winner as he could not bring the ball under close enough control.

In the 84th minute, Hendon had their first effort on target, a drive from Currie which Walker did well to push aside. The ball fell towards Diedhiou, but Clark made a good intervention and the chance went begging.

Two minutes later Mazzone was able to keep his feet, until Aaron Day stopped him illegally on the edge of the penalty area. Cray's wall was all of three yards from the ball as Walker ordered them right and left - only to have to go through the whole routine a second time, once the referee had marched them back the required distance.

Currie sized up his options and curled an excellent shot which beat Walker all ends up. Unfortunately for Currie and Hendon, the ball neither dipped or curled enough, and clipped the angle of post and crossbar.

In the dying moments, Cray almost snatched a winner when Paul Vines got clear of his marker and had a free header following a left wing cross. He rose high - too high it turned out - and his powerful downward effort bounced off the soggy surface and over the crossbar.

Maybe this will prove to be the stroke of luck that Hendon need to turn around their League season. Little has gone right for them in the Ryman Premier and to have lost this game so late and in those circumstances would have been cruel indeed.

"I thought we produced an excellent response after Saturday," said Hendon manager Gary McCann. "We played well, passed the ball around in very difficult conditions and our defending was excellent.

"It was a very even contest, but I thought it was a good game though neither team created too many chances. We were well worth a point and maybe deserved a little more."