Hendon were involved in another superb Ryman League Premier Division match at Claremont Road on Saturday, but it was yet another occasion that saw points dropped. Neutrals will have loved the 3-3 draw with Hastings United, but the managers of both teams will have been hugely disappointed with the way that their teams allowed leads to slip.

The Greens made a number of changes to the team that had lost narrowly to Boreham Wood in the League Cup in midweek, Luke Blackmore, Casey Maclaren, Sam Page, Rakatahr Hudson and Dean Green coming in for Laban Scott-Libby (who was injured and missed the Under-21s game too), Daniel Dyer, James Burgess, Iavor Guentchev and Rob Ursell.

Hastings, who had quietly risen to fourth in the table, before suffering a recent blip in form, made a promising start, but Sam Adams fired wastefully over the bar after four minutes when in a good position. It was, however, a warning to Hendon that defensive complacency would be severely punished.

Instead, the Sussex team were given a lesson in finishing after seven minutes. A corner by Wayne O'Sullivan was flicked on by Page and Green, who lost his marker at the far post, dropped back a couple of metres to be in a position to strike a first-time shot past Lee Worgan and into the net for the opening goal.

Five minutes later, Green had the ball in the net again, but he was clearly offside as he diverted a shot from Belal Aiteouakrim goalwards. The original shot was probably off-target so the intervention was clearly vital to the goal.

Tim Olorunda forced a good save out of Blackmore and Tom Poole failed to find the target with a good position as the Hastings attack continued to look dangerous before firing blanks.

In the 27th minute, Lubo Guentchev took the ball on the left wing and cut inside Jimmy Elford. He didn't quite have a shooting chance, so he continued his mazy run. It took him past two more defenders and just as he was about to shoot, Sean Ray took away his legs. Before Hendon players and fans could even appeal for a penalty Belal Aiteouakrim had slammed the ball into the net.

Neither of Hendon's goals could have been said to be against the run of play, because it was such an open and entertaining contest, but Hastings certainly had every right to lament being behind. Equally certain, at the half-hour mark, was the feeling that the game's scoring was a long way from over.

That last thought was right and it took until the 36th minute for Hastings' enterprise to be rewarded. The Hendon defence hadn't cleared the ball when given a couple of half-chances to do so when it fell to Lee Carey in space five yards outside the penalty area.

Looking up to see Blackmore a little off his line, Carey took careful aim and side-footed the ball perfectly just inside the angle of post and crossbar. Such was the precision of the attempt, it is doubtful that a goalkeeper as tall as first-choice Richard Wilmot would have been able to reach the ball.

Half-time arrived with Hendon somewhat fortunate to be ahead, but they really should have restored their two-goal advantage 90 seconds after the restart. Hudson released Green who had got behind his marker. He beat Danny Spice, who had come across to cover but, before he could shoot, Ray had whipped the ball off his feet. Green went down in the challenge, but the contact came only after the ball had been won by the defender.

It proved a costly miss because instead of being two goals to the good, Hendon found themselves on level terms ten minutes later. Once again the scorer was Carey, but this time the midfielder added power, to his placement and precision. It was a magnificent strike and nothing less than Hastings deserved.

Kevin Rose had just come on as a susbstitute for Adams and he quickly made a nuisance of himself in the Hendon penalty area. His downward header was only half cleared and Carey did the rest.

Another half chance came Green's way, but this time the defensive intervention came before the Hendon striker could really do anything with ball; the pass to him had to be stronger.

In the 70th minute, Hastings took the lead. A well-created attack left the defence short-handed and Rose pounced, scoring from close range. On the balance of play, it was no more than they deserved.

But Hendon continue to show that they don't know when they are beaten and it took less than three minutes for them to draw level. The Hastings defence dealt with a cross from Guentchev, but the ball was only cleared to the edge of the box, where Jamie Busby was lurking with intent.

His first-time strike, something he hasn't tried much this season despite his success last term, flew off the hands of Worgan into the net. Having got both hands to the ball, maybe Worgan might have done better, but the power of the shot was more than he could deal with.

Both teams went looking for their fourth goal and, in stoppage time, it was Hastings who thought they had found it. In stoppage time, they forced a corner and as the ball bobbled around, it was struck goalwards.

In what seemed like slow motion, a green-shirted defender hooked the ball away. Hastings players and fans rising to celebrate a goal, looked crestfallen as the perfectly-positioned assistant referee stood still on the goalline, and the ball was cleared downfield.

"I have spoken to the players tonight and we really believe we are still capable of making the playoffs this season," said manager Gary McCann. "People's expectations this year have become so high after our good start that we have to realise that we are punching well over our weight.

"Remember, on this weekend last season, we were celebrating our first league win of the season. Today we have gone back to the top of the table [although Chelmsford have a much better goal difference]."

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