Hendon advanced to the second qualifying round of the e.on sponsored FA Cup and a home tie against AFC Hornchurch with a victory over a battling Aveley team.

After wasting two excellent chances in the opening six minutes, Hendon fell behind. Craig Vargas was dispossessed by Tambeson Eyong, and he scored with a magnificent 20-yard strike.

A goalmouth scramble at the Aveley end suggested that the home goal was living a charmed life. And those sentiments were even more of a worry when James Parker lost the ball to Ainsley Gasper and the young striker finished with aplomb.

Barely 15 minutes had elapsed and Hendon were looking at a mountain to climb if they weren't going to have a weekend off in late September. If there was concern about an early exit from the FA Cup, it wasn't evident from the players, who continued to exert pressure but were unable to find the target and reduce the arrears.

The closest Hendon came to a goal was after 22 minutes when a Rakatahr Hudson header from a corner was cleared off the line by the well-positioned Jarreau McCarthy.

As the first half progressed, much as in the first game, so Aveley began to have more the ball, but this time, galvanised and confident after scoring twice, they looked keen and comfortable about extending their advantage. Richard Wilmot made a couple of good saves to ensure the status quo remained as the half drew to a close.

Then, in stoppage time, Hendon sneaked a goal. It came from Brian Haule, who deflected an errant shot from Ben Hudell. But the striker deserves a lot of credit for gambling on the ball going across the six-yard box. A couple of defenders looked plaintively at the assistant referee, hoping for an offside flag, but Haule had timed his run perfectly.

In the 52nd minute, Hendon drew level. It came from a corner which was not cleared and led to a brief outbreak of head-tennis inside the Aveley box. Vargas, keen to atone for his early blunder found the next with a well-judged looping effort that the stranded Ronnie Worster was not going to reach and a defender on the line could only have stopped with a hand.

Just after the hour mark, Hendon should have taken the lead through Dean Green. He ran onto a ball which was rolling slowly across the face of the goal, maybe two yards out. A gentle side-foot would surely have brought him a goal. Somehow he managed to fire ball high over the crossbar.

Both teams started making substitutions as they searched for a winner and, with 18 minutes left of normal time, the Greens found it. Wilmot caught a cross into the box and ran to the edge of his box before delivering an inch-perfect drop-kick to Wayne O’Sullivan. He passed to the excellent Jamie Busby, who sent Hudell clear.

In an almost carbon-copy end to the move for the first goal, Hudell shot and Haule diverted it past Worster for a goal. It must be said, however, that the shot didn't have the power of the first-half one and it made Haule's task that much easier.

James Burgess then got caught in possession inside his own half, but Marc Leach rescued the situation with a fine tackle on Ryan Imbert. Belal Aiteouakrim, on for Green, had a couple of half-chances, but he has yet to find the form he enjoyed at the end of last season and both went begging.

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