RESULT | WHITEHAWK 2 HENDON 2
Hawks missed a great chance to open up an eight point gap over fourth from bottom Hendon as they had to settle for a share of the points in a game they should have won, having played all but two minutes of the match against ten men.
With Joe Tennent returning to Dover Athletic after his month on loan, Shaun Saunders handed a debut to Geofrey Okonkwo in the centre of defence, with Charlie Walker and Imran Kayani also in the starting eleven. Zaki Oualah returned in goal for his first appearance since breaking his leg in the season opener at Billericay.
The game sprung to life in the opening minute with Hendon debutant Freddie Stanley red carded for bringing down Harry Bridle’s run on goal after being put clear by Charlie Walker. Andrew Briggs put the resultant free kick over the bar, but the chaos in the Hendon defence continued as Geofrey Okwonko and Rob O’Toole had efforts cleared off the line in the next attack. Tom Unsworth’s cross was then nicely converted on the near post by Harry Bridle to give Hawks the lead.
Hendon always looked lively on the break and got themselves back in the game when Stefan Ilic’s left wing corner evaded heads at the near post to drop straight into the goal.
Shortly after Stefan Wright had hit the post with a header, Bridle had a goal ruled out for offside given against Kayani as a Briggs shot was parried by Hendon keeper Browne. The striker was then denied by Browne diving at his feet to save as he closed in on goal before the Hawks were back in front just before half-time through some more quick thinking from Bridle. After Walker’s shot from 20-yards had bounced down off the crossbar, Kayani followed in and Bridle converted despite being on the ground in a heap alongside the keeper and a defender. The on loan Gillingham forward had his sixth goal in his last five appearances.
Kicking downhill in the second half the Hawks faithful expected the numerical advantage to tell on a heavy pitch that had barely recovered from Saturday’s game with Horsham. However, Hendon stayed in the game and on a rare foray forward Nico Muir turned Unsworth in the box and squeezed an equaliser past Oualah with 15 minutes left.
Despite Saunders using four forwards from the bench, including debutant Luke Cook, the Hawks couldn’t conjure up their usual grand stand finish and had to settle for a draw.
Hawks: Oualah, Wright, Unsworth, Briggs, Okonkwo, Watson, Mensah, Kayani (Nandhra 76′), O’Toole (Lambert 80′), Walker (Cook 90′), Bridle (Clark 92′)
Hendon: Browne, Kawimbe, Ilic (Halsey 53′), Bani (Gordon 54′), Krokhin, Stanley, Kirwan-Meade, Talla, Sery, Muir, Anokye-Boadi (Busari 85′)
