Hendon continued their unbeaten run, stretching it to eight matches with six wins and two draws, with a goalless draw against Wealdstone at Vale Farm on Saturday. It means that the Greens have not beaten the Stones at home in a League match since Christmas Day 1969.

The only change from the Hendon team which beat Bury the return of goalkeeper Sean Thomas in place of Mo Maan, who had stepped in at very short notice earlier in the week. There were also two changes on the bench, where new signing Jack Bennett and Jack Connors came in for Berkley Laurencin and Junior Lewis. Wealdstone included two former Hendon men in Rikki Banks and Peter Dean, but Elliott Godfrey was left out of Gordon Bartlett's 16.

For the first quarter of an hour Wealdstone took the game to Hendon with Tom Pett causing a few problems. But Elliott Brathwaite and Sam Flegg were once superb in denying Dean and Richard Jolly any clear sights of goal. The only attempts on goal from the Stones were from long-range and off-target.

Gradually, Hendon began to get their passing game on track and Dean Cracknell and Lee Angol started to cause problems for the Wealdstone midfield with some neat interplay, while Belal Aite-Ouakrim and Junior Morias asked questions of the Stones defence with their trickery.

Morias was, once again, subjected to pretty needless off-the-ball treatment, almost all of which went without punishment. Just before the half-hour, Morias got past Cronin, whose lunge at the teenaged striker might have caused a very serious injury had he not been so agile. Having got clear of his marker Morias's cross was aimed towards Aite-Ouakrim but was headed away for a corner.

The Wycome Wanderers loanee was furious that the referee had been satisfied with what was a potentially dangerous challenge. The upshot was that both Morias and Cronin were cautioned. Before the corner could be taken, fans barracking Cronin were greeted with the sight of the centre-back's grey undershorts as he showed his contempt by lowering his yellow team shorts.

When Scott Cousins' corner was finally delivered into the penalty area, Flegg, Angol and Brathwaite all leapt for the ball and it bounced away from Banks. The goalkeeper looked vainly for a covering defender on the far post and was grateful to see the ball strike the inside of the upright, then even more relieved as it defied physics by not going over the line.

Banks was able to push the ball back into play before it had fully crossed the goalline, but it was a huge escape for Wealdstone. Hendon players vainly appealed that the ball had crossed the goalline, but the assistant referee was spot-on in ruling that the whole ball had not completely gone over the line.

Four minutes later, a flowing Hendon move involving Dave Diedhiou, Cracknell and Angol set up Morias, His shot was very well saved by Banks.

Sean Thomas, like Banks playing against his former club, made an easy save from a long-range shot by Esmond James in the 38th minute. But the goalkeeper was relieved when a low cross from Alex Dyer eluded all the men in green - and also those in yellow - before the ball was hacked clear.

The half-time whistle allowed both teams the chance to catch their breath and to receive a few lectures on discipline as the always passionate match was on the edge of boiling over on more than one occasion. It must be said that the players listened because the second half had none of the nastiness of the opening 45 minutes.

Hendon started the second half strongly but Wealdstone's defence was resolute and the Greens' final ball lacked the precision to break the deadlock. From a Hendon corner, the ball was cleared to the edge of the penalty area, but Kevin Maclaren couldn’t replicate his 35-yard screamer at Bury; this effort flew yards over Banks’s crossbar. A few minutes later, Flegg outjumped the Wealdstone defence and powerfully headed a corner over the crossbar.

The move of the match should have brought Hendon the game's opening goal. Almost every player was involved at least once, with Scott Cousins, Aite-Ouakrim and Cracknell three times each, and when the ball was played to Morias, it was just a little overstruck. Morias was able to control the ball, but his angle was narrowed and Banks acrobatically tipped aside his rising drive.

Both teams made two changes in the final quarter, Chris O'Leary and Leon Smith taking over from James and Jolly, moves countered by Connors coming on for Casey Maclaren and Isaiah Rankin for Aite-Ouakrim. It had been a frustrating afternoon for Jolly, who never had a clear sight of goal and also for Dean - a four-time goalscorer in the week - who was forced to play more deeply.

Although Wealdstone exerted a lot of pressure in the final quarter of an hour, only a drive straight at Thomas from Pett caused the goalkeeper even minor inconvenience. Another shot from Kurtney Brooks, also from outside the penalty area flew narrowly but harmlessly over Thomas's crossbar.

Even then, Hendon had a couple of chances to claim all three points. First, a low cross just eluded Morias and Angol before Lee Chappell hooked the ball clear. Then, as the game moved into stoppage time, Cracknell had one last chance to win the game. The ball, however, reached him a very awkward height and instead of being able to drive the ball at goal, he could only lob the ball towards the top corner, without the power or height to beat Banks.

"I am disappointed we didn’t win today," said manager Gary McCann. "It is a sign of where we're at now, with our good recent form, that we can be disappointed not to have beaten the team second in the table.

"We created the better chances and made their goalkeeper work far harder than they worked ours. There wasn't much between the sides - Wealdstone had the better of the first 10-15 minutes and the last quarter of an hour, but we were on top in the middle of the game. By the end of the match we were looking a bit tired and leggy.

"Our defence was again outstanding, and Kevin and Casey Maclaren were magnificent in midfield."