Hendon travelled to Chesham United on a hot Saturday afternoon and came away with a 2-2 draw in the latest pre-season friendly. The Greens were missing Wayne O'Sullivan and Richard Wilmot who were on holiday, Rakatahr Hudson who was ill, and Casey Maclaren who picked up a knock in the warm up.

The Greens were the first to strike at goal when a fine pass from Ben Hudell found Lubo Guentchev in space and he was unfortunate to see his shot hit the side netting in the fourth minute. A few minutes later Luke Blackmore pulled off a fine sprawling save from a Chesham strike.

Belal Aiteouakrim was next to have a good chance but couldn't get enough power on his shot and the Chesham keeper saved comfortably. Soon afterwards, in the 23rd minute, Chesham took the lead when Richard Howard broke clear and fired a fine shot into the roof of the net. Blackmore certainly had no chance with the shot.

Hendon were back on terms on the half hour mark when Dean Green converted a penalty after Brian Haule had been fouled in the area. Parity only lasted for a minute as the Greens defence let in Danny Burnell to restore the lead for the home side.

The lead itself only lasted five minutes as Hendon equalised when a cross from Lubo Guentchev was deflected by Matt Skinner and he watched in horror as the ball looped over his keeper and into the net.

Chesham had a good chance to take the lead again just before half-time but they managed to fire the ball over the bar from close range.

After the break, Hendon almost took the lead within a minute when Jamie Busby fired a shot from 25 yards that ran narrowly wide of the net. Shortly afterwards Lubo Guentchev shot just wide as did Brian Haule towards the hour mark. At the other end Blackmore dealt with any shots fired at him in relative comfort.

By this time the game was becoming fragmented with the usual substitutions that friendlies bring about, but in the 74th minute Blackmore pulled off another good save to keep the scores level. At the other end, Rob Ursell, a midfielder who has previously been with AFC Wimbledon, Windsor & Eton and Wealdstone, showed some good skill to get into a shooting position but his shot flew over the bar.

Overall, a draw was the right result, and all the players should be praised for giving the spectators an entertaining game to watch despite the hot conditions in Buckinghamshire.

(Report By Steve Rogers - not to be reproduced without permission from the author)