Hendon suffered a third consecutive gut-wrenching home loss when Grays Athletic snatched a 96th-minute winner at Earlsmead on Saturday. It was the third consecutive home game in which Hendon had conceded the decisive goal at least four minutes into added time, having wasted great chances to win the match.

No less than eight first-choice players were missing for one reason or another, so there was a debut for Oliver Sprague in place of Jack Bennett, while Max McCann, Jose Figura and Michael Murray made starts at the expense of Michael Bryan, Tony Taggart and Leon Smith, the latter two joining Scott Cousins, Casey Maclaren and James Fisher on the bench.

It took Grays just three minutes create the first opening. A through ball released Joel Nouble, who had a clear run at goal.

Joe McDonnell was quickly off his line, but didn't make a challenge, instead forcing Nouble to go away from the goal as he tried to go around him. The goalkeeper did his job, because Nouble's touch was too strong and he ran the ball out for a goal kick.

Four minutes later, Athletic took the lead in slightly controversial circumstances. Joao Carlos controlled a bouncing ball in the centre circle and he passed it on to Leroy Griffiths. Hendon players were convinced Carlos had used his hand and appealed for a free-kick, but neither the referee nor his assistant had a clear view of the incident.

Play continued and Griffiths ran at the Hendon defence before delivering a slide-rule pass into the path of Christopher Benjamin. He brought the ball under control and fired under the body of the advancing McDonnell.

For the rest of the first half, Hendon huffed and puffed, but offered little in the way of attacking invention. All too often, the wrong option was taken and the Grays goal was never really threatened. Although the Greens didn't do much going forward, at the other end, Sam Flegg and Elliott Brathwaite were not overly inconvenienced by the visitors' strike-force.

McDonnell made a couple of very routine saves, both from long-range strikes and a pair of Grays half-chances were put wide or over the target. Then, in the last minute of the half, Carlos made a tricky run into the Hendon penalty area. He got around a three defenders before firing an angled shot that narrowly missed the far post with McDonnell well beaten.

The second half was a different story as Hendon took the game to Grays and dominated the exchanges. Chris Seeby was able to get forward on a regular basis and his crosses caused panic in the Athletic defence.

When the Greens equalised, in the sixth minute of the second half, the attack came from the opposite wing. Anthony Thomas and Figura combined to put Lee O'Leary into a good position. He drilled a low cross, which a sliding Dave Diedhiou met six yards out and he turned the ball into the net.

Grays nearly restored their advantage a couple of minutes later. Griffiths found himself in space just outside the penalty area. He fired a shot over McDonnell and watched it crash off the underside of the crossbar. Fastest to react was Benjamin, but he lifted the rebound over the crossbar from only a couple of yards out.

Most of the action was at the other end and the match became almost a battle between Hendon and Grays goalkeeper George Kamurasi. O'Leary was on hand to fire at goal after good approach work from Murray and Figura, but the goalkeeper was equal to it.

Diedhiou twice lost his marker at set-pieces but his attempts inches wide of the post, with Kamurasi not close to make a save on either occasion. Murray was also denied by a good save from a free-kick.

Brathwaite also found himself thwarted by the goalkeeper on one occasion and later saw an effort fly over the bar. Then, with seven minutes of normal time remaining, Hendon fell for a sucker punch counter-attack. The first attempt at goal, from Benjamin, was blocked, but the rebound fell straight to Nouble, who made no mistake with his shot.

Fisher, Maclaren and Taggart took over from Flegg, Thomas and McCann as Hendon searched for an equaliser. Seeby saw his drive superbly saved by Kamurasi, before the keeper made his best save of the afternoon, keeping out an effort from Maclaren.

In the third minute of stoppage time, Hendon got their reward. Following a corner, Hendon propelled the ball toward the goal, but it was clearly missing the target when a defender blocked the ball.

Every green-shirted player in the vicinity appealed for handball, but the referee, his view blocked by a phalanx of players from both teams, couldn't make a decision. His assistant, however, had a very good view and he immediately signalled for a penalty.

Grays players were irate and protested to both the referee and the assistant, but in vain. Kamurasi, meanwhile, eye-balled O'Leary, whom he thought was about to take the spot-kick. Standing just behind them, a picture of calm, was Murray, who had the responsibility and he drilled into one corner as the goalkeeper dived the other way.

To quote legendary baseball player and manager Yogi Berra, "it was deja vu all over again," two minutes later. Hendon were in a good attacking position when a pass went astray. The defence was stretched and when the ball came to Benjamin, he fired into the bottom corner to snatch all three points.