1:59pm Monday 6th October 2008
Tooting & Mitcham United 1 Hendon 0 . . .
Ryman League Premier Division . . .
Hendon’s narrow and unlucky 1-0 defeat at Tooting & Mitcham United saw them drop to the foot of the Ryman League Premier Division table.
No club can surely match the Greens’ yo-yo Octobers. Two years ago, they had all 21 teams above them, while 12 months ago, they sat proudly on top of the table.
The first real chance fell to Hendon in the eighth minute, when Harry Hunt blasted over from eight yards.
Mark Kirby then headed a corner goalwards and former Hendon favourite Dave King made what was for him a comfortable save.
Six minutes later, Hendon were behind and, as has so often been the case, the Greens were authors of their own downfall. A misplaced pass by James Bent gave Tooting possession inside the Hendon half and the ball was quickly fed to Craig Pitterson.
Pitterson saw Michael Antonio breaking into space and delivered an inch-perfect pass to the youngster, who took a touch and then sent a perfect shot past Berkley Lawrencin.
Neither team was stamping their authority on the game and chances and half-chances came thick and fast at both ends.
However, neither set of strikers were quite good enough to take full advantage.
In the 26th minute, Hendon thought they had equalised when a super move involving Glen Garner, Charlie Mapes and Lubo Guentchev resulted in Dave Diedhiou striking the foot of the post with a shot. The ball rolled along the goalline and was sliced away by Andrew Howell, setting up Kevin Maclaren, who fired narrowly over the angle of post and crossbar.
When Hendon lost possession in midfield after 33 minutes, Tooting again launched an attack. This time Lawrencin was equal to the shot from Paul Vines.
Early in the second half, Garner worked himself an opening, but he scuffed his shot and King made a very comfortable save.
At the other end, Stuart Myall ballooned an effort over.
After 58 minutes, King made another excellent save to keep out a powerful drive from Diedhiou and then threw himself in front of a strike from Kirby, following a Mapes free-kick.
Even with more than three minutes of stoppage time and anything up to five men in attack, Hendon did not really look like breaking down Tooting’s stubborn defence. That said, the relief on the home team’s faces when the final whistle blew was clear to see, and they felt they had been extremely fortunate to take the spoils.
Hendon manager Gary McCann said: “Luck hasn’t dropped by us to say ‘hello’ in 2008/09 and it was the same thing on Saturday. I thought we deserved at least a point from the game, but we keep being punished for our mistakes.
“It hasn’t helped having eight players out, but a number of them are ready to return and, when they come back, I’m sure we’ll start picking up points. At the moment there is only one way we can go, and that is up.”
HENDON: Lawrencin, K Maclaren, Burgess, Leach, Kirby, Bent, Guentchev (Mansaray 90), Diedhiou, Hunt, Mapes (Dyer 80), Garner (Kalipha 65). Subs not used: Roche, Wilmot.
DAVID BALLHEIMER
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