Hendon returned from Carshalton Athletic on Saturday evening ruing their misfortune in losing 1-0 to drop back into the bottom two of the Ryman League Premier Division. As poorly as the Greens had played in most of their last two matches, they were as good on a wicked afternoon - cold, windy and squally - at Colston Avenue, but had nothing to show for their efforts and enterprise.

Danny Dyer and Lubo Guentchev switched starting and substitute places in an otherwise unchanged 16. With half a dozen players still out injured, the options were somewhat limited.

Hendon kicked down the slope in the first half and although they were under pressure in the first five minutes, Carshalton didn't put any efforts on target. Then, in the ninth minute, the Greens, in their blue change strip, twice came close to scoring.

A drive by Brian Haule, set up by Scott Shulton, brought out the best in Stuart Searle, who tipped the ball around the post at full stretch. Dyer's low driven corner evaded everyone as it crossed the 6 yard box at pace, eventually rolling agonisingly wide of the unmanned far post. Any touch would have almost certainly meant a goal.

In the next few minutes, Hendon had two more chances to open the scoring. Haule failed to direct a header on target from a free-kick while a drive from Shulton required a save from Searle

In the 18th minute, from their first real attempt at goal, Carshalton scored what proved to be the match-winner. A break down the right by a cross from David Graves, which was turned into the net by Richard JOLLY, his 16th goal in the Ryman League this season. Almost immediately, the Robins made a change with Karl Beckford replacing Jamie England.

Hendon continued to press, without looking very likely to score. In fact, some of the Greens' best opportunities came as a result of Carshalton defenders catching out their goalkeeper. Harry Hunt almost pounced on a short back-header by Graves, but Searle grabbed the ball at the second attempt. The goalkeeper was put under pressure his own centre-half, Adrian Toppin, with two terrible back-passes, the first of which Searle was forced to control with his upper-body. The Hendon bench and number of players felt an arm was used, but the referee decided that the 'keeper legitimately used only his chest.

When Carshalton spotted an opening they were not only more direct, but also significantly more dangerous and Viner made an excellent save at the feet of Barry Stevens when he was set up in a one-on-one by Jolly.

Jolly could have had a first-half hat-trick, but three saves, two routine, one excellent, by Viner denied him. Then, in the 42nd minute, with the weather at its most inclement, Viner dropped a wind-blown and rain-driven cross as he landed. Fortunately for the youngster, Toppin struck his shot at an almost open goal high over the crossbar.

Two minutes into the second half, Parker, who scored his last Hendon goal at Colston Avenue last October, should have repeated the trick when presented with a free-header from a Dyer cross. It was not to be as he failed to hit the target, much to his anguish.

For all of Hunt and Haule's work in the second the half - the latter was replaced by Glen Garner for the final dozen minutes - the most likely Hendon scorer was Lee O'Leary. In the 57th minute, after a foul on Hunt, he curled a free-kick which Searle watched strike the crossbar before being hacked clear.

Carshalton launched a quick counter-attack from the clearance, but good defending from James Burgess and Craig Vargas meant that nothing came of the move.

After 62 minutes, moments after Carshalton made their two final substitutions, they nearly conceded to O'Leary. He beat Searle at the near post, but his effort was blocked by Paul Honey on the goalline.

A fine cross from Jamie Turley seemed destined for Haule's head, until Toppin intervened. It wasn't much of a touch and the referee and his assistant didn't see the deflection, awarding Carshalton the throw-in. It was turning into one of those days for Hendon.

Nevertheless they plugged on, hoping to get a draw, while occasionally over-egging the cake in midfield and leaving the defence under-manned. Viner twice saved their blushes with good saves, keeping out efforts from Jolly and Beckford.

In the 78th minute, Haule was felled by a stumbling Toppin. It was clumsy, and if Toppin hadn't fallen into Haule, the striker may well have been left with a run at goal, albeit on an angle. Marc Leach's free-kick narrowly missed the angle of post and crossbar.

Two minutes later, in a moment of panic, Toppin made another error, losing the ball to O'Leary. The midfielder, 25 yards out, spotted Searle off his line and tried a lob. It was almost perfect. The ball hit the cross bar, bounced down in the vicinity of the line and spun back away. So good was the effort that the goalkeeper told his teammates he thought the ball was over the line. The assistant referee from his position was unable to judge that the ball had crossed the line, although it is possible that even had he been able to be exactly in line he still couldn't have have been certain one way or the other.

30 seconds later, however, it was clear that things weren't to be for the away side when Hunt went around Toppin, only to be felled in an almost identical way to that of Haule a few minutes earlier. The only difference this time was that the players were inside the penalty area, but the referee waved away claims for a penalty. Hunt's reward for complaining about this decision was a yellow card.

At this point Sam Byfield and Garner came on for Haule and Dyer, followed soon after by Guentchev taking over from Burgess. All three substitutes had chances of some sort, but Garner's skied miss from a pass from Byfield was far and away the best of the opportunities.

"I would not have been disappointed to concede an equaliser," was the reaction of Carshalton manager Hayden Bird, "Hendon deserved it and I rather expected it."

Hendon boss Gary McCann said, "We were by far the better side today, and I am so disappointed that we got nothing out of the game. We were not good in our last three home games, but today I cannot fault the players' effort or commitment."