Hendon were distinctly unlucky to fall to a third straight Ryman League Premier Division defeat when losing at Ramsgate on Saturday. The Greens led at half-time, dominated the 20 minutes after the break then fell to a goal of the season contender and a penalty kick.

Scott Shulton dropped to the bench while Casey Maclaren was suspended, so Hendon made two changes to the team comprehensively dismantled by Carshalton Athletic the week before. In came Jamie Busby and Rakatahr Hudson, while Hendon were left with only four on the bench as a breakdown on the road left Luke Blackmore unable to meet the team coach or make his own way to Kent.

Hendon started very brightly and had the Rams defence on the back foot straight away. A desperate clearance from Will Graham denied Wayne O'Sullivan a second minute opening and, from the corner, James Burgess failed to connect with a volley from 25 yards.

Dan Tanner then did well to get himself in front of Brian Haule and soon received the first of countless free-kicks conceded by the Hendon striker, who, by the time he was substituted 15 minutes from time, felt he was being persecuted by the match official.

In the 14th minute Hendon took the lead. A free-kick wasn't cleared well and the ball was knocked back into the penalty area, where Haule was able to take it around Paul Wilkerson. The big goalkeeper forced Haule to go very wide, but he was able, somehow, to lift the ball into the roof of the net from the acutest of angles.

A couple more chances came Hendon's way, Marc Leach putting a free header off target and an overhead kick from Haule looping just past the angle of post and crossbar with Wilkerson beaten. This spell of pressure was something of a wake-up call for the Rams and they began to take charge of the game. Ramsgate did it in some style with Steffan Ball firing inches wide of the target.

Richard Wilmot then came to Hendon's rescue on a number of occasions, spreading himself brilliantly to block Stuart King, then living up to his nickname of Stretch to palm aside a fine drive from Ben Laslett.

Just before half-time, both goalkeepers made excellent saves, Wilkerson going down low to deny Sam Collins and Wilmot keeping out a free-kick from Michael Phillips. When the whistle went at the break, Hendon had the lead but, on balance, probably didn't deserve it – equality being the fairest situation.

After the break, for long periods, there was only one team in it - Hendon - but the reward for their enterprise was exactly nothing. Wilkerson was undoubtedly the Ramsgate hero, but an honourable mention must go to Phillips, who lasted all of eight minutes in the second period, but he made a save as important as any the regular custodian pulled off.

Wilkerson first denied O'Sullivan, turning the ball out for a corner. The first corner resulted in a shot for Busby, which was blocked. The rebound fell to Busby, whose second effort was parried by Wilkerson and as Sam Page was about to deliver the coup de grace, a red-socked defender put the ball out for another corner.

This one was delivered much more cleanly and the header from Leach was equally precise. It was, unfortunately for him, four inches too low because Phillips leapt high and somehow headed the ball off the line and out for another corner.

The pressure continued and, from the next attack, O'Sullivan drove a shot across the face of the goal which needed a touch from someone, but none was forthcoming.

This was enough for the Ramsgate bench, who made a double switch, removing Ryan Hirooka and Phillips and replacing them with the more experienced Stuart Vahid and Dan Dolton. Their early action was around their own penalty area as Busby shot again forced Wilkerson into a save and a last-ditch challenge from Tanner took the ball away from Hudson. The upshot of this was the appearance of Warren Schulz, who took over from King.

In the 65th minute, from almost the first Ramsgate attack of the second half, they drew level. A pass came to Dolton, some 40 yards from the Hendon goal. There didn’t seem to be any danger, but nobody came to shut down the substitute. Realising there was little on, Dolton tried his luck from 30 yards. "Goal of the season," was the observation of Rams manager Jim Ward after the game, having watch the ball travel with the precision of a better-designed Exocet missile into the roof of the net on the angle.

Hendon boss Gary McCann felt James Parker could have done better in closing down Dolton for the equaliser but he felt there were a number of defenders who were to blame for what turned out to be the winner, not just Leach, who brought down Schulz after a triangle of passes down the left had given the striker a free run into the penalty area. Wilmot dived to his left; Schulz struck the penalty to his left and even if Wilmot had guessed right, he would have done well to reach the spot-kick.

Almost immediately a low cross from O'Sullivan was deflected goalwards by Tanner and Wilkerson produced his best save of the afternoon, a magnificent reaction stop to push the ball aside.

As the game moved towards its conclusion a drive from Busby was blocked with Wilkerson probably unable to reach the ball. Gallingly, it appeared that it was a Hendon leg which diverted the ball away from the goal.

Entering stoppage time, Ramsgate were reduced to nine men, when Graham suffered a head injury and could not be replaced. Then, two minutes into the six added on, Andy Hadden deliberately held back O'Sullivan and he received his second yellow - and a red - card. Even with the men advantage, there was time for Hendon to take advantage.

Mr McCann was very disappointed with the result, though not with the performance, saying, "We definitely didn’t deserve to lose this game. I am convinced if we had scored early in the second half and made it 2-0, it would have been game over. I don't think they would have come back."

(Report by David Ballheimer - not to be reproduced in any form without the author's agreement)