Hendon bounced back from the disappointment of Saturday to earn a well-merited point against Kingstonian at Earlsmead on Monday night. The Greens probably didn't do enough to deserve victory, but the same could be said for the Ks, who had won the reverse League encounter two weeks earlier and then claimed a penalty shoot-out success in the League Cup.

With Ben Frempah released by the club in the wake of the debacle at Hampton, the Greens had to reshuffle their troops. Lee O'Leary regained his starting berth and reclaimed the captain's armband too, while Maz Bettache came into the starting line-up at Tony Taggart's expense.

The opening few minutes saw a few free-kicks, a bit of wasteful Hendon possession and a degree of menace from Kingstonian, none of which led to any openings. After 10 minutes, Kezie Ibe had a half-chance, but his shot was wayward.

Kingstonian then pressed forward and Aaron Goode ran from full-back to join the attack but the ball for him to chase was overhit and Joe Wright was able to gather it. Ks then forced a couple of corners, from the first of which Peter Dean thrashed over the crossbar, and the second was dealt with by the Greens defence.

Chances to started to develop at both ends. Malachi Hudson had a couple of efforts, one of which went wide while the other was blocked bravely by Sam Flegg. When Hendon attacked, they produced a great passing move, but then over-egged the cake and the chance fizzled out.

Mark Kirby was at the centre of the next two pieces of action. He first conceded a free-kick when his trailing leg felled Pelayo Pico Gomez. Tyron Smith, who scored from free-kicks against Hendon when playing for the Metropolitan Police, was wasteful as he failed to hit the target.

Hendon then forced a corner which was not cleared and Mark Kirby saw his drive athletically tipped over the bar by Rob Tolfrey.

The second half was played at a similarly frenetic pace and both teams created quite a few half-chances, but none were taken. Midway through the period Alan Inns met a Kingstonian corner and his header bounced off the underside of the crossbar before being hustled away for another corner.

That was the signal for teams make their first changes. Hendon sent on Leon Smith for Ibe, while Max Hustwick took over from Inns.

With 17 minutes to go, Hendon took the lead. A corner was not cleared properly and when the ball fell to Russell Short, he drilled a shot from 20 yards just inside the post. Tolfrey was unsighted until it was far too late and he was little more than a spectator as the ball fizzed into the net.

Immediately, Jake Kempton replaced Dean, giving Ks a more direct attacking option. It had the desired effect, but not because of the substitute. The attack came down the left side and when the ball came to Hudson, he drilled it across Wright just inside the far post.

In the last few minutes, Taggart replaced Lee O'Leary and Ks sent on the bustling Ricky Sappleton for Gomez. It was a clear intention that both teams were still looking for a winner rather than settling for a point.

And Hendon very nearly found the decisive goal with a minute of normal time remaining, Aaron Morgan worked himself an opening and fired a shot which beat Tolfrey - he joked he had it covered - but struck the outside of the post. Had the ball been just a few inches closer, Hendon would have been celebrating three points not one.