Hendon's 43-year wait goes on

By Peter Butcher

IT’S more than 43 years since Hendon last beat local rivals Wealdstone at home, and an outstanding Rikki Banks save denied Junior Morais the chance to end that run in a 0-0 Ryman Premier draw yesterday (Saturday).

The result meant that second-placed Wealdstone were unable to make the most of a shock defeat for leaders Whitehawk, who went down 3-1 at Harrow but remained nine points clear.

It all went wrong for Hawks in added time at the end of the first half, when a Gary Jones penalty and a Shaun Lucien free-kick wiped out Michael Malcolm’s early strike for the Sussex side.

Ola Williams added another midway through the second half and Hawks’ frustration was compounded when Tommy Fraser was sent off near the end.

There was a sad end to proceedings at Concord, where the match against Thurrock was abandoned early in the second half after popular home striker Harry Elmes suffered a broken leg.

So Canvey, who came from behind to win 2-1 at Kingstonian, were not as happy to take third place from their neighbours as they would have been in different circumstances.

It was only the second home defeat for K’s, who took a deserved lead through Andre McCollin in the 24th minute. Canvey stepped up a gear in the second half and James Rowe equalised in the 70th minute after two defenders collided. Bradley Woods-Garness won it with eight minutes left.

Lowestoft also moved above Concord, into fourth place, despite being held to a 0-0 home draw by Enfield Town. Lee Smith came closest for the Trawlerboys, hitting a post from 20 yards.

Met Police moved up to sixth, level on points with the two sides above them, after two superb late strikes earned them a 2-1 home win over Wingate.

The visitors took a 13th-minute lead through Andre Scarlett and went on to dominate the rest of the first half. The hosts fought back after the break but Wingate held their lead until Dagenham loanee Duran Reynolds fired in a scorcher with eight minutes to go. Ty Smith netted another cracker in the 88th minute to snatch all three points.

Margate stayed in the play-off picture with a 2-1 home win over Hampton. George Purcell, a new arrival from Tonbridge, latched on to a long ball to score a debut goal and put the home side ahead on 54 minutes.

Hampton thought they had saved a point when Charlie Moone levelled matters in the 80th minute, but Alex Rhodes headed the winner four minutes later.

Bury are also in the hunt after a John Sands double saw off visiting Bognor. Sands opened the scoring on after five minutes and struck again on the half-hour, becoming the first man in the division to reach 20 league goals. It finished 2-0, though not before Bognor had several times brought the best out of home keeper Marcus Garnham (action pictured by Tommy McMillan).

Thurrock stay at the bottom after the premature end to their match, a point behind Carshalton with eight games in hand. Carshalton went down 3-1 at home to Leiston, who have doubled their total of away wins in the space of three days.

Gareth Heath put them ahead, as he had done in Thursday’s 3-0 victory at Thurrock, with a 28th-minute goal. Jerome Walker replied soon after half-time only for Leon Ottley-Gooch to put the Suffolk side ahead again in the 62nd minute.

The bar denied Pelayo Gomes Pico a second home equaliser before Nathan Stone clinched it with eight minutes to go.
It was a bad day for the Robins, for the two sides above them both won. Harrow are four points ahead of them and Hastings three, both having several matches in hand.

Hastings eased their relegation fears with a 2-0 victory at Cray, never looking back after Zac Attwood’s second-minute opener. Lee Carey’s free-kick stretched the lead before half-time and Bailo Camara wrapped it up in the closing stages.

East Thurrock’s last two games had yielded 17 goals, of which they had scored eight but taken only one point. So they were satisfied with an uneventful 1-0 home victory over Lewes, the goal coming from a Sam Higgins penalty after ten minutes.

Where next?

Elbi strikes late for Millers A LAST-GASP goal by Petrit Elbi earned Aveley a 1-0 home win over Harlow tonight (Monday), lifting Millers from fifth to second in the Ryman North table.
Archibald dents Dulwich challenge AFTER reaching the League Cup final in midweek, Dulwich were brought down to earth by Eastbourne striker Evan Archibald yesterday (Saturday) as the Ryman South title race opened up again.

The Pitching In Isthmian Football League newsletter

Keep up-to-date with our exclusive email newsletters.

Subscribe