Hendon scored in the sixth minute of injury time to snatch a point to stay within six points of Harrow Borough - with a game in hand - in the Ryman League Premier Division at Claremont Road on Boxing Day. For Harrow the satisfaction of seeing their ten-game losing run come to an end was tempered by the fact that they were within a minute of taking all three points.

In terms of the League table, Hendon remain just outside the bottom three, but there is a six-point gap between them and a group of five clubs, Carshalton Athletic, East Thurrock United, Harrow Borough, Ashford Town (Middx) and Folkestone Invicta.

Marc Leach was restored to the starting line-up following his one-game suspension, picked up at Slough Town, with Kieran Murphy switching to right back, James Burgess to midfield and Jamie Busby up front in place of Belal Aiteouakrim, who was on the bench.

The Greens were very sluggish, maybe paying the price for the effort put in on Saturday in the final 20 minutes of their successful fight-back against Worthing, possibly from having celebrated Christmas too well, or even from kicking off much earlier than usual.

Either way, the very youthful Harrow outfit enjoyed the better of the first quarter and they should have scored when Danny McGonigle found himself in front of goal with only Richard Wilmot to beat as a cross reached him. McGonigle failed to even hit the target and Hendon escaped.

There was little to choose between the sides, but Hendon appeared to have the greater scope for improvement, even if they didn't show it. They felt aggrieved that three decisions in quick succession went against them, first a penalty for handball, then an indirect free-kick inside the Harrow box, and finally a corner.

In the final five minutes of the very disappointing opening half, Hendon spurned two great scoring opportunities. First Dean Green worked himself an opening, but he fired into the side-netting of the near post. Then, with the last move of the half, Brian Haule planted a header a couple of inches wide of the post with Craig Nicholson beaten.

Although they had almost all of the play in the first 20 minutes of the second half, Hendon did practically nothing with it. There were neither shots to trouble Nicholson, nor crosses to test his handling. The result was growing frustration which appeared in equal measure on the pitch and on the terraces.

Aiteouakrim came on for Busby and immediately perked up Hendon's ideas, but not the end product. Instead, in the 71st minute, Hendon paid the penalty for a moment's lapse in discipline. James Burgess fouled James Bent some 25 yards from the Hendon goal. The wall was set up, but it didn't do its job as Bent found the bottom of the net with a fine effort.

Green and Haule both failed to hit the target from good positions and brilliant defensive header from Gary Meakin diverted Rakatahr Hudson's header from Lee O'Leary's cross just wide of the goal.

In the 80th minute, Hendon won a free-kick just outside the Harrow box. The wall was moved back and Leach took aim. It was an almost perfect strike, but it had two inches too much height and the ball crashed off the crossbar and was hacked away to safety.

Takumi Ake and Ross Pickett were then introduced for Burgess and Green as Hendon threw desperation to the wind. The former's running at the defensive unsettled them, but his final shot was horribly wayward. The latter then saw his close-range shot cleared by Nicholson, although an offside flag would probably have negated the strike.

Then, in the sixth minute of stoppage time - there had been long injury stoppages for Harrow's Rickey Browne and Hendon's Wilmot - O'Sullivan picked out O'Leary at the far post. His header across the face of goal fell perfectly for Pickett to slide home the ball from three yards out. It wasn't pretty, but for Hendon it was priceless.

"We looked very sluggish today," admitted manager Gary McCann. "We didn't play very well but we certainly didn't deserve to lose the game. A point was probably the right result."