Hendon were distinctly unlucky to go down 2-0 to Sutton United at Claremont Road on Tuesday night. The margin of victory was definitely flattering to the men from Surrey, although Hendon - equally certainly - merited a draw, but not more.

With Ricci Crace and Dale Binns injured, Rob Haworth on loan at Gravesend & Northfleet, the last thing manager Dave Anderson needed was Martin Randall to be missing due to personal reasons.
Sutton started much the better, with Hendon looking edgy and nervous. From the first attack of note Sutton scored. An excellent cross from Nick Bailey was shot goalwards by Danny Hodges.

Dave King made a fine parrying save, but HODGES and Rob Collins followed up, with the former getting the decisive touch. Disappointingly for Hendon, the defence again failed to get to a rebound before an opposing striker had snapped up the opportunity.

For the next 20 minutes, Hendon did little more than chase shadows. Sutton, it must be noted, did nothing exception with all their possession and did not create a chance of note, save for a couple of free-kicks around the penalty area, but the defensive wall, wayward shots or King ensured there no addition to the score.

When Hendon finally started to launch attacks, they saw there were chances of an equaliser. In the 37th minute, Steve Butler fired a header 6 inches over the bar following a corner from Scott Cousins. Four minutes later, Steve Forbes ghosted his way past a couple of defenders, but ex-Hendon keeper Andy Iga made a sprawling save.

From the free-kick Cousins shot inches wide. And in stoppage time, Hendon had an indirect free-kick on the edge of the penalty area. This time the Sutton wall charged down the kick.

Ricardo Alves came on for the second half, playing a role just behind the increasingly isolated Eugene Ofori, who was superbly marshalled by Ryan Palmer and Gonsalves. The formation certainly didn't suit Hendon, who looked short of ideas.

Again it was Sutton who started the brighter, but this time they didn't score. A timely intervention from Iain Duncan took one chance almost off Bailey's boot and a long-range shot from Paul Honey was directed straight at King, who held on without difficulty.

The injection of Delisser for his debut in the 64th minute, at the expense of Richard Evans signalled a rise in Hendon's attacking options and the former Yeading, Chesham and Boreham Wood star showed what he was capable of with his first touch. A deft piece of control and simple pass to Steve Forbes was the best piece of ball-skill from a Hendon player in the match.

And Delisser was desperately unlucky not to score in the 75th minute. A cross from Cousins picked out Delisser, whose header was cleared by a combination of Iga and Matt Gray, with both players appearing to get hands on the ball, although Gray seemed to be hit by Iga's deflection. The ball was returned by Delisser with interest, but this time it was Palmer, who got in the way and blocked the shot.

In the 80th minute, Cousins worked himself an opening, but he dragged his shot wide with only Iga to beat. Iga then produced a competent stop to save a shot from Delisser, who could have done with the ball bouncing less high as he went to hit it first time.

The last action of the game saw Duncan and Jon-Barrie Bates collide while going for a loose ball in front of the Hendon dugout. With Mark Cooper and Butler committed to attack, Gray had a clear run at the Hendon penalty area.

As he got into the penalty area, Bailey was screaming for a pass, but GRAY elected to shoot, and he scored. It was just as well Gray took that option, because Bailey was clearly in an offside position.

"Last season, we got results from games like that," bemoaned Mr Anderson, "but this year the results seem to be going the other way. It doesn't help that we had 4 attacking players unavailable tonight and that didn't happen all of last season."