Hendon lost a very strange match at Billericay Town on Saturday. There is no doubt that the hosts were deserved victors, they had five or six players all of whom played better than any individual Green, but a good case could be made that they were also lucky to take all of the points.

The Hendon midfield saw a switch in Maclarens, Kevin replacing older brother Casey, while Scott Shulton returned to the starting line-up in place of the suspended James Parker.

After six minutes, William Viner made a fine save to keep out a drive from Joe Flack while, at the other end, Harry Hunt almost scored on two occasions, the second time being denied by a sprawling Tony Tucker, who pushed the ball aside as he brought down the striker.

Hendon were authors of their own misfortune for the first Billericay goal, after 18 minutes, They lost possession on halfway and, with players caught out of position, a quick attack from Steve Ferguson down the right wing was followed by a cross which Billy BRICKNELL converted.

Ninety seconds later, a low cross from Sam Byfield was met by Glenn Garner, who drilled a shot past Tucker, but the ball flew inches past the angle of post and crossbar. Such was the power of Garner’s effort that unless the ball had been hit directly at the goalkeeper, anywhere else on target would have resulted in a goal.

From the goal kick, the ball bounced around the centre circle without a Hendon player dealing with it and when Dave Wareham moved the ball forward, FLACK latched onto it. Viner came off his line, but the ball was lifted over his head and, despite the best efforts of Sam Collins, he could not stop the ball trickling into the net.

For the next 20 minutes, Hendon were barely in the game. Although Billericay didn’t put many efforts on target, they looked assured in defence, especially the centre-back pairing of Lynval Duncan and Steve Heffer, the latter of whom played for Hendon 15 years ago as an attacking midfielder but now, at nearly 36, was immaculate as a centre-half.

Out of almost nothing, Hendon gave themselves a lifeline three minutes before half-time. It started with a move down the Hendon right, Shulton laid a ball back towards Garner, who passed the ball diagonally into space on the left side of the penalty. Running in at pace was BYFIELD, who sidefooted the ball past Tucker with assurance.

The turning point of the game came in the 50th minute. Hunt did brilliantly to dance past a couple of players to give him a clear run at goal. Tucker came off his line and knew absolutely nothing about Hunt’s shot which struck him in the face.

As with Garner in the first half, either side of the goalkeeper and on target would have been an equalising goal. Even more unluckily for Hendon, the rebound off the goalkeeper fell to the feet of Heffer, who quickly released Ferguson down the right flank. His cross was very deep, but Wareham was able to keep the ball in and cross it back into the penalty area where an unmarked FLACK scored from close range. For the second time in the match, Billericay had not only escaped conceding an equaliser, but took a two-goal lead a matter of seconds later.

This time, however, they built on it, albeit after Hunt had seen another effort, after 54 minutes, blocked. Four minutes later, Bradley Woods-Garness replaced Flack and it took him ten minutes to set up one of the goals of the season.

There are times when opposing fans have to just stand and applaud an outstanding piece of play and the breathtaking passing move involving Woods-Garness and Bricknell was one of these. The visiting defence was torn apart and BRICKNELL’s 18-yard drive past a hopelessly exposed Viner brooked no argument.

Three minutes before the fourth goal, Hendon had brought on Lubomir Guentchev and Brian Haule for Maclaren and Garner, respectively. And even though they were three goals down, it didn’t stop the Greens from probing for a way back into the game.

It came in the 75th minute, when a corner was crossed in and when Tucker failed to reach the ball, HAULE stabbed it past a couple of defenders on the goalline. It was Haule’s first goal for five weeks and will, hopefully, restore some of his confidence.

Both teams continued to create chances and Hunt, a hat-trick hero in midweek, clearly used up all of his luck in getting those three goals because he could have scored five at New Lodge and ended with none. In the 85th minute, he fired a shot which Tucker got the slightest of touches to, but it was enough to divert the ball wide of the post.

Four minutes later, Hunt beat Tucker, but the keeper was grateful to see the ball miss the far post by a matter of inches. It proved to be the last chance for the Hendon, who go into Christmas sitting just one point and one place off the bottom of the table – on 15 December 2007 they had 21 teams below them.

“I don’t think we played that badly today,” said manager Gary McCann. “They had the four or five best players out there and they were more clinical than us at both ends. Their fourth goal was superb.”

(Report by David Ballheimer- not to be reproduced without permission from the author)