Hendon made it just one defeat in seven Ryman League Premier Division outings when they held runaway leaders Whitehawk - winners of six straight - to a 1-1 draw in the lousy weather conditions at Vale Farm on Tuesday night. It was a cracking match, especially in a pulsating first half, which neither team deserved to lose.

The Greens made three changes to the starting line-up, Dave Diedhiou, Casey Maclaren and Darren Currie taking over from teenagers Lee Angol, Junior Morias and Jack Connors. But it was a night where experience probably was more important than the exuberance of youth.

Whitehawk quickly forced a couple of corners, but the Hendon defence - with Sam Flegg and Elliott Brathwaite against outstanding at its heart - stood resolutely firm. And, when Hendon finally got into an attacking position they very nearly scored.

Sean Sonner was invited to chase a pass towards the penalty area, but it was too close to Chris Winterton, and the goalkeeper cleared it downfield. However, he got neither great distance nor direction with his kick and the ball landed at the feet of Dean Cracknell, who controlled the ball and shot at goal from almost 40 yards away.

Winterton realised immediately that he had not chance of reaching the ball as it sailed towards the target, but he was grateful that Mark Knee had anticipated the danger and dropped back. When the ball crossed the six-yard line, Knee was perfectly placed to control it and clear the danger.

In the 13th minute, Hendon went behind, a little unluckily. A ball was played into the penalty area and Hakheem Araba powered a header past Berkley Laurencin. It struck the crossbar and rebounded perfectly for Andy Pearson, who somehow found the net through a crowd of players, including the unsighted goalkeeper.

A couple of months ago, conceding a goal in the fashion might have cause Hendon heads to drop and another goal may well have followed, but there is more spirit to the team now. The Greens immediately set about getting back on level terms and they had to wait only five minutes to achieve their ambition.

With the strong wind aiding Hendon, the Whitehawk defence was distinctly jittery and Currie and Scott Cousins caused lots of problems with their teasing crosses. A ball into the penalty was punched clear by Winterton, but went right to where Cracknell was waiting.

A defender rushed out to deal with the danger, but Cracknell had spotted Winterton off his line and sent a lob back towards goal. There was a tiny deflection, and it may have made the difference as the ball looped high over the stranded goalkeeper, struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced into the roof of the net.

A perfectly timed intervention from Flegg stopped a dangerous run from Michael Malcolm as Whitehawk attacked on the break, then a low cross from Cousins was met by Sonner and the ball flew a foot past the unguarded near post.

It was real end to end stuff, but the better chances went Hendon's way. A cross from Currie needed only a touch to give Hendon the lead and another one from Cousins saw Diedhiou and Sonner both inches from diverting the ball goalwards.

At the other end, James Fraser proved a handful for Howard Hall, but the defender stuck to his task well, assisted by Diedhiou, who played in a deeper midfield role of necessity. Kevin and Casey Maclaren also more than did their bits to slow down Josh Jones and Danny Mills when they added their presence to the Hawks attack.

As the second half kicked off, the weather took a serious downturn and heavy rain and sleet were added to the strong, bitterly cold wind. It made for a miserable evening and the football on display also deteriorated, though - it must be said - the pitch held up remarkably well, even if the top surface did become slippery.

Whitehawk, unsettled by Hendon's first-half determination, were more aggressive after the break, aided a little by the wind, which was diagonal rather than goal to goal. That said, when they got an early shooting chance on the left wing, the ball endangered the referee’s assistant more than Laurencin and Hendon ended up with a throw-in 12 yards from the corner flag.

Cousins tried his luck with a long-range effort after 55 minutes, but Winterton was equal to it. Similarly a shot from distance by Jones proved to be easy meat for Laurencin.

Matters did get a little feisty on a couple of occasions, but the referee kept tempers in check pretty well all evening, resorting to his notebook only when he had no real option. He let game flow, which certainly helped the speed of the contest and the entertainment.

Hendon made the first two changes, Angol and Morias taking over Sonner and Diedhiou, respectively, with 16 and 14 minutes of normal time remaining. Morias's willingness to chase lost causes increased the tempo of the game, but defences still held sway.

One burst from the Wycombe teenager resulted in Raphael Rossi-Branco stopping him illegally but, for the third straight match, it was the defender who came off worst and he had to be replaced by Sami El-Abd for the last few minutes.

There was a lot of stoppage time during which time Belal Aite-Ouakrim came on for Currie and almost immediately created an opening. The ball was, however, cleared and suddenly it was Whitehawk who were on the attack. Malcolm pulled away from Araba and would have had a clear run at goal, had Araba not overstruck his pass and the ball blew away for a throw in.

The last set piece of the match was a Hendon corner, but the Hawks were able to defend it well enough. In truth a winner for either team would have been undeserved, but Hendon will probably be the happier team with a point. On this evidence not many teams will pick up points in both matches against the Ryman League table-toppers.

"I thought we were excellent in the first half," said Hendon manager Gary McCann, "especially after the first 15 minutes.

"Whitehawk are easily the best team we have played this season and I think we matched them pretty much every step of the way. Our defending was outstanding tonight."