Hendon’s narrow and unlucky 1–0 defeat at Tooting & Mitcham United saw them drop to the foot of the Ryman League Premier Division table. No club can surely match the Green’s yo-yo Octobers. Two years ago, they had all 21 teams above them; 12 months ago, they sat proudly on top of the table.

Craig Vargas was unavailable for personal reasons and Rakatahr Hudson hadn’t recovered from his midweek knock, so Hendon were again forced into a couple of changes, James Burgess filling in at left-back and Charlie Mapes coming into the midfield.

The first real chance fell to Hendon in the eighth minute when Harry Hunt blasted over the bar from eight yards. Hendon players and spectators close to the incident believed, however, that the low cross from the right wing from Lubo Guentchev was handled by the covering Tooting defender.

Two minutes later, Mark Kirby headed a corner goalwards and former Hendon favourite Dave King made what was for him a comfortable save. A shorter goalkeeper, however, would have struggled to reach the ball as it sailed towards the top corner.

Six minutes later, Hendon were behind and, as has so often been the case, the Greens were authors of their own downfall. A misplaced pass by James Bent gave Tooting possession inside the Hendon half and the ball was quickly fed to Craig Pitterson.

Pitterson saw Michael Antonio breaking into space and delivered an inch-perfect pass to the youngster who has come through the Terrors’ ranks. ANTONIO took a touch and then sent a perfect shot past Berkley Lawrencin.

Neither team was stamping their authority on the game and chances and half-chances came thick and fast at both ends. It could not, however, be said to be the greatest of games because almost all of the chances came as a result of sloppy play by the opposition and neither set of strikers were quite good enough to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded them.

In the 26th minute, Hendon thought they had equalised when a super move involving, Glen Garner, Mapes, Guentchev resulted in Dave Diedhiou striking the foot of the right post with a shot. The ball rolled along the goalline and was sliced away by Andrew Howell, setting up Kevin Maclaren, who fired narrowly over the angle of post and crossbar.

From many angles it appeared that Diedhiou’s effort had crossed the goalline, but not all Hendon players, nor all their supporters behind the goal were convinced enough to appeal for the goal and the assistant referee wasn't satisfied that all of the ball had crossed the line.

When Hendon again lost possession in midfield after 33 minutes, Tooting again launched an attack. This time Lawrencin was equal to the shot from Paul Vines and made a good save.

Just before half-time, Garner made a strong challenge on Joe Vines going for a loose ball. Although he clearly played the ball first, Vines stayed down and, after lengty treatment, was taken off and replaced by Jason Pinnock.

Early in the second half, Garner worked himself an opening, but he scuffed his shot and King made a very comfortable save. At the other end, Stuart Myall ballooned an effort over the bar from a reasonable position.

After 58 minutes, King made another excellent save to keep out a powerful drive from Diedhiou, while a fine recovery challenge from Marc Leach spared Lawrencin’s blushes after he miskicked a clearance and the ball failed to reach the centre circle.

Both teams made a couple of changes as the game entered its final quarter, with Hendon’s Kayan Kalipha and Danny Dyer coming on Garner and Mapes after 65 and 80 minutes, respectively. In between King made another fine save, throwing himself in front of a strike from Kirby following a Mapes free-kick.

Time was now against Hendon and Festus Mansaray’s introduction at the expense of Guentchev as the 90 minutes were up meant Kirby was moved into a more advanced role. This left Hendon exposed at the back but as Tooting had removed Paul Vines, they had no one able to exploit possible openings.

Even with more than three minutes of stoppage time and anything up to five men in attack, Hendon didn’t really look like breaking down Tooting’s stubborn defence. That said, the relief on the home team’s faces when the final whistle blew was clear to see and they felt they had been extremely fortunate to take the spoils.

Hendon manager Gary McCann said, “Luck hasn’t dropped by us to say ‘Hello’ in 2008–09 and it was the same thing today. I thought we deserved at least a point from the game, but we keep being punished for our mistakes.

“It hasn’t helped having eight players out, but a number of them are ready to return and when they come back I’m sure we’ll start picking up points. At the moment there is only one way we can go, and that is up.”

(Report by David Ballheimer - Not to be reproduced without the authors prior permission)