Hendon ended their four game losing streak on Saturday, drawing 1-1 with Canvey Island at a windswept Park Lane ground.

Gary McCann made three changes from the team that lost at home to Billericay on Tuesday. Berkley Lawrencin replaced Joe Welch in goal, Chris Bangura came in for the injured Brian Haule, and Lubo Guentchev came in for Dave Diedhiou, who was injured in the pre-match warm-up.

Canvey, with a strong wind directly behind them in the first, started brightly, with Jay Curran seeing a lot of the ball up front, and linking well with the midfield. However, it was Hendon who fashioned the first chance of the match. A through-ball from Guentchev sent Bangura through on goal. Keeper Ricky Wiseman blocked bravely with his legs, and James Bent couldn’t quite pick out Jamie Busby in front of goal with the rebound.

The home side then started to exert control on proceedings, and after a David Lee 30 yard drive had cleared the bar by a matter of inches, they took the lead on 12 minutes in freakish circumstances. A Hendon free-kick out near the left-hand touchline was volleyed clear by Ryan Oliva. The wind caught the ball and took it away from Marc Leach. It bounced wickedly between him and Lawrencin and the keeper misjudged the bounce. The ball looped over the youngster, leaving the on-rushing Curran with a free-header into the empty net from ten yards.

Hendon battled to get back into the game, but with the strong wind blowing directly into their faces, it made getting the ball forward quite difficult. Canvey had no such problems, and the wind certainly encouraged them to attempt shots from further out than they might otherwise normally have done. Curran had one such effort drift just wide of target from 30 yards out.

To add to Hendon's problems, Bangura went off injured after 26 minutes, having come off worse in a 50/50 tackle with Richard Halle. After a few minutes treatment, he tried to play on, but went down again shortly afterwards, and was replaced by Kevin Maclaren. James Burgess went into midfield, with Guentchev and Busby moving into more advanced positions.

Despite the disruption, Hendon then produced the best move of the game. Slick interplay between Charlie Mapes and Bent sent Busby into the area. He clipped the ball back to Guentchev, but he couldn't get proper contact on his volley eight yards out, and Ben Patten was able to block the ball behind for a corner.

After 33 minutes, Canvey nearly doubled their advantage, when Lawrencin decided against clearing the ball from hand - wisely given the strength of the wind he was kicking into - but misjudged how far he needed to roll the ball out in front of him. Curran closed him down quickly, and Lawrencin's clearance cannoned against the Canvey forward but flew a few yards wide of the goal.

Again, despite the pressure, Hendon created the two best chances in the remainder of the first half in injury time. Firstly Sam Byfield, who had been shackled effectively by Tarkan Mustafa up until then, drifted inside with the ball, danced round a couple of tackles, and was stopped by another brave block by Wiseman in the Canvey goal.

Then, just before the half-time whistle, Guentchev crossed the ball back across the box which Busby missed. The ball trickled through to the oncoming James Burgess. He didn’t make clean contact though, and the ball bobbled agonisingly wide, with Wiseman completely beaten, and the Hendon fans already celebrating.

Now with the aid of the strong breeze behind them, Hendon started the second half in determined fashion. Marc Leach was set up by Charlie Mapes, but his 30 yard effort drifted just wide. After a brief pause for some treatment to Lawrencin, who’d been hurt in a collision with Curran, Hendon got back on level terms, with the wind again playing its part.

Wiseman came out to clear a back-pass, but was chased down by Guentchev. The clearance cannoned against the young Bulgarian and spun up in the air. Wiseman, five yards outside his area, back-pedalled frantically to try and get back in position. Guentchev controlled the ball, and tried to go round the keeper. As he pushed the ball past, Wiseman caught Guentchev's trailing leg, sending him sprawling. The referee awarded the penalty, and had no choice but to send Wiseman off. Having a keeper on the bench, Canvey instantly sacrificed Oliva for Mel Capleton. His first touch however was to pick Bent's penalty out of the net, with Bent placing the ball into the corner of the net.

Down to ten men, and playing into the wind, Canvey shut-up shop for the remainder of the game, and Hendon enjoyed almost complete domination from here on in. After an hour, Busby had a 25 yard drive parried away by Cappleton. As the ball went towards touch, Byfield was taken down by Mustafa. From the free-kick, Bent and the excellent Mark Kirby both went for a header, which was blocked and fell on the edge of the six yard box, where Patten cleared right off the toe of James Burgess, who would have had the relatively simple task of scoring.

Canvey were getting no respite at this stage, as the Dons relentlessly poured forward looking for a winner. And they nearly did so after 70 minutes, when Charlie Mapes found space in the box 12 yards out, but his drive thudded against the face of the crossbar. As the rebound was worked back into the danger zone, Mapes had another effort, but this one drifted about two yards wide of the goal.

With 15 minutes to go, Byfield got in behind the otherwise excellent Patten, and as he was about to get his shot away, had his shirt tugged by the defender. Cappleton spilled the shot for a corner, with some protestations from the Hendon fans behind the goal, appealing vainly for a penalty.

By now, Hendon were trying the luck from anywhere within 25 yards of goal, but couldn't work a clear opening. More chances came and went - Burgess and Guentchev both shot wide; Vargas had an in-swinging free-kick taken off his toes just as he was poised to slot home - but the best of the chances came with four minutes to go. Byfield skipped around Mustafa near the left hand touchline and swung in a cross to Guentchev, eight yards out and totally unmarked. However, his header was slightly wayward and went over by a yard, much to Canvey’s relief.

Even then, three minutes into added time, Hendon had another chance to win it, but Charlie Mapes effort from 15 yards thudded against the base of the post and flew the wrong side of Busby running in. Canvey nearly snatched the three points in injury time, when Curran – shackled well by Leach and Kirby, and not seeing much of the ball in the second half - set up Gabriel Fanibuyan. A bit of composure would have won the game for the Islander's, but his first time shot flew about five yards wide of Lawrencin's left-hand post. Despite this, the relief of the Canvey players at full-time was in contrast to the Hendon players who were clearly disappointed that their excellent approach play and possession wasn't turned into more goals, and their second win of the campaign.

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