In the words of manager Gary McCann, Hendon "stopped the rot" on Saturday afternoon as they finally picked up their first league point of 2008. It has taken seven attempts since the turn of the year for the Greens to break their league duck, but they did so in a 1-1 draw with fellow play-off hopefuls Margate at a breezy Claremont Road.

McCann made two changes to the starting line up from the team that lost at Maidstone seven days earlier, with Daniel Dyer and James Burgess replacing Alan Massey, who has returned to Wycombe Wanderers off loan, and Lubomir Guentchev who took his place on the bench. Joining the Bulgarian in the dugout were younger brother Iavor, Belal Aiteouakrim, Jamie Busby and Richard Wilmot.

The first half opened brightly, with both teams showing their attacking intentions. The first chance of the game fell to Margate's Rob Haworth, a former Hendon favourite, when after just four minutes he found himself five yards from goal and somehow managed to shoot over the bar.

In the following few minutes, Hendon won a string of corners, and at the fourth, Marc Leach managed to head the ball towards goal but it was cleared away for a corner. In the 21st minute, Lee O'Leary was just unable to get a touch onto a free-kick from Sam Collins. Any touch would have undoubtedly taken the ball into the net.

Luke Blackmore, deputising for Wilmot in goal for Hendon, made a superb save in the 35th minute when James Pinnock hit a fine shot on the turn which Blackmore saved with his leg. Three minutes later, Hendon were in the lead.

A long ball out of defence was met by Danny Dyer on the right wing. Dyer beat his marker, Ricardo Joseph, and having spotted Margate keeper Scott Chalmers-Stevens off his line, sent over a delicious lob from 25 yards to open the scoring.

Moments later, the action was at the other end when Collins cleared the ball off the line with a header when under pressure from Haworth to ensure the Greens went into the break a goal to the good.

Early in the second half, Haworth was involved again when his shot was blocked by Sam Page whilst at the other end a quick throw from Collins found Davis Haule, who passed to his brother Brian, who in turn fired a good shot on the turn narrowly over the bar.

The Haule brothers combined once again with Collins a few minutes later, but just as Brian Haule was about to head the ball at goal, Chalmers-Stevens appeared to claim the ball.

The equaliser for the Kent side came against the run of play in the 62nd minute. A counter-attack was launched from defence and the experienced Jimmy Jackson found himself inside the Hendon 18-yard box. He sent the ball across goal, and Blackmore could only parry the ball into the path of Ryan Martin who scored from close range before a Hendon defender could intervene.

From thereon, Margate had the better of the game and within a minute of the goal, Collins was back in action when he made a great defensive tackle just as Haworth was about to shoot. Almost immediately Margate's Jay Saunders headed the ball into the net, but the goal was disallowed by the referee for an alleged push by Saunders.

With twenty minutes to go, Blackmore made an excellent stop at the feet of Steve McKimm, another former Green who was at Claremont Road in the mid-90s, and two minutes later Blackmore made another good save as he tipped Haworth's shot round the post for a corner.

In the 81st minute there was a bizarre incident. Lee O'Leary shot wide in a move that had seen Davis Haule and Margate's Saunders pick up knocks. The game was stopped so the pair could receive treatment, and once he had left the field of play, the game correctly restarted with a goal kick.

However, Chalmers-Stevens scuffed the kick, his intention appeared to be to take a short kick to full back Ryan Peters, and the ball rolled only halfway to the edge of the penalty area. As he went to retrieve the ball, the referee incorrectly awarded an indirect free-kick. Law 16 of the Laws of the Game state that when a goal kick is taken, the ball is not in play until the ball has left the penalty area. Therefore the correct decision should have been for the Margate stopper to retake the goal kick.

Davis Haule touched the free-kick to O'Leary who fired the ball at goal where Chalmers-Stevens made a good save, and Brian Haule could only fire the rebound over the bar.

The final chance for either side came in the first minute of stoppage time when Jackson's shot came off the post, much to the relief of the Hendon support, and the last two or three minutes were seen out by the Greens without further scares and that all important point was secured.

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