Hendon came away from The Beveree delighted to have picked up a point from a very difficult Tuesday evening. For Hampton & Richmond, there was little more than frustration. after scoring 9 goals in their opening 2 games, the Beavers have failed to find the target in 4 straight games.

Central defender Chris Sparks came back into the Hendon starting line-up. Paul Yates reverted to a place on the substitutes bench while Paul Towler moved forward into midfield.

The opening 19 minutes of the match had almost nothing of note. Then David Hook failed to gather a cross, but his blushes were spared by Raphael Nadé, the former Troyes striker, who fired wide of the open goal. The Frenchman may well find his move from the Champagne region to the Ryman League something of a bitter experience.

Hampton made most of the running, but their finishing was woeful. Apart from Nadé's chance, three other golden opportunities were spurned, only one of which even required a save from Hook.

In the 25th minute, a driven cross from Ricci Crace was punched clear by a flying Stuart MacKenzie, with Davis Haule just unable to reach the ball. Hendon suffered a big blow in the 34th minute, when Dale Binns limped off after collecting a knock. Lee O'Donnell came on playing on the left side of midfield. Three minutes later, Haule was booked for a bad foul on Matt Flitter.

Things got worse for Haule and Hendon in the 42nd minute. He rose for a ball with Anthony Howard, but referee Mr A Webb ruled he had led with his arm. Howard required lengthy treatment before he was able to continue, by which time Haule had been shown a second yellow and a red card by the official.

Two minutes into injury time, Hendon had a golden opportunity to open the scoring. Crace was released by an astute pass from Jon-Barrie Bates and he raced into the penalty area. He had just about got around Ronnie Girvan, when the full-back pulled him down. Mr Webb pointed to the penalty spot and Crace, with great confidence, put the ball down on the mark.

There was nothing wrong with his strike either. It was low, well struck and going into the corner. However, MacKenzie produced a quite magnificent save, not only blocking the ball, but also ensuring the ball didn't go more than a couple of feet away from him.

The second half was almost a siege on the Hendon goal. Micky Woolner and Simon Clarke tried manfully to limit the crosses that came from the wings, Marvyn Watson was withdrawn to allow Ross Pickett to bolster the middle of the midfield, while Crace fought a lone battle up front.

The heroes were at the heart of defence, where Sparks and René Street were magnificent. Hampton hit the crossbar twice (once Mr Webb gave Hook credit for touching a ball he was no particularly close to), forced a string of corners, and enjoyed a generous share of free-kicks. But they failed to put many efforts on target.

For Hendon, Towler came close to getting a touch on a beautiful cross from Crace, after Pickett had found him with a great 35-yard diagonal pass. But Hendon's raids were at best sporadic.

Three and a half minutes of stoppage time played on the Hendon nerves, but the fans' celebration of the final whistle was of the sort that normally greets a victory. In many ways this was a moral one.

"I think this was our best performance of the season," said manager Dave Anderson. "I learned an awful lot about my players tonight."