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Valiant fightback earns valuable away point - 27/10/07

A rousing second half comeback was still not quite good enough to bring an end to United's winless run away from home in the league, but it did earn them a well deserved point from their visit to second placed Hendon this afternoon. After a nightmare three and a half hour long journey to Claremont Road, the home side took a two goal advantage within the opening thirty minutes, but Lee Carey got United on the scoresheet before the interval, and then equalised early in the second period. Kevin Rose then scored ten minutes after coming off the bench to put United in front, but the lead was short-lived, Hendon levelling the scores again just a couple of minutes later with what proved to be the final goal of an enthralling contest.

Having made several changes for the midweek Sussex Senior Cup win at Wealden, manager Nigel Kane endeavoured to revert to the line-up and formation that had served United so well in the FA Trophy at Edgware last weekend. The only outfield alteration saw Lee take over in central midfield from Scott Kirkwood, while keeper Lee Worgan was fit enough to take back the gloves from Jani Seitsonen. Amongst the substitutes, Nathan Russell, Matt Darby and Matt Maclean all retained their places in the squad, following impressive displays on Tuesday, with John Bradley, Nima Cham and Dan Williams all omitted from the sixteen. Ade Olorunda was serving the final game of his three match suspension. The home side had made an impressive start to the season, and had led the table until swapping places with Chelmsford in the midst of a five match winless run recently, which had also seen their unbeaten home record ended by a League Cup defeat to Boreham Wood on Tuesday. Their starting line-up featured a famous surname in number eight, Lubo Guentchev, son of former Bulgarian World Cup star Bontcho, now First Team coach at Claremont Road. The international flavour was heightened by the inclusion of Moroccan born striker Belal Aiteouakrim, although nine goal leading scorer Brian Haule was one of several injury absentees from the Greens' squad, another being regular keeper Richard Wilmot.

Possibly struggling to shake off the effects of their arduous trek to the ground, United made a slow start to the contest, with Hendon looking especially dangerous in the opening ten minutes. Guentchev had already set up a good chance for Aiteouakrim, before the home side took a seventh minute lead, Wayne O'Sullivan's deep corner picking out the unmarked Dean Green for a powerful shot that flew across Lee Worgan and into the bottom corner. The strike seemed to awaken United from their early slumber, with Sam Adams firing just wide from inside the area, and Lee Carey doing likewise from longer range, as the game began to swing from end to end, even at that early stage. Hendon thought that they had extended their lead in the nineteenth minute, but Green was rightly flagged offside as he applied the finishing touch to Aiteouakrim's cross shot, while Tom Poole was narrowly off target after working a shooting opportunity from a Russell Eldridge throw. United were playing well and looking the more likely scorers, but their hard work was soon to be undone, as Hendon stole into a two goal lead in the twenty-seventh minute, more good work down the left from Guentchev setting up Aiteouakrim in the area for a simple low finish. The situation nearly became even worse for United, as Hendon had a second goal ruled out, this time for a foul, as a left wing free kick was bundled over the line, but barely sixty seconds later, United were back in the game, Tim Olorunda teeing up Lee Carey for a precise, looping shot over Blackmore from just inside the area. Within a minute, United went close to an equaliser, when Blackmore failed to gather Tim's stinging drive, but Tom was just unable to get to the loose ball and James Parker effected a hurried clearance. Tim then set up Danny Spice for a superb chance, but he missed his kick with only Blackmore to beat, and Hendon then survived a goalmouth scramble from Russell's corner to keep their fragile one goal lead intact at the interval.

It took a perfectly timed cover tackle by Sean Ray to keep the deficit at one early in the second half, Green escaping into the area down the left, only to be denied by the United skipper. Ten minutes after the interval, United worrying lost Sam to injury, with Kevin taking his place alongside Tom up front, but within moments, United were back on level terms, as Lee Carey struck a stunning twenty-five yard effort past Blackmore for his second impressive goal of the game. The contest finally settled down for a ten minute spell at that point, allowing players and spectators to catch their breath for a frantic final quarter, although Green and Sam Page both went close to restoring Hendon's advantage, before United completed their extraordinary comeback by taking a seventieth minute lead. Danny Ellis found space on the right to cut the ball back into the Hendon area, Kevin juggling the ball and seemingly taking an age to bring it under control, before eventually knocking it past Blackmore to put United ahead. Cruelly though, the lead lasted less than two minutes, the home side levelling with an excellent strike from Jamie Busby, that flew high to Lee Worgan's right despite his best efforts to keep it out. Both teams then suddenly appeared to remember how to defend solidly, and the next fifteen minutes passed without a great deal of goalmouth incident, but United made up for that in the last couple of minutes, coming within a whisker of snatching a late winner. First, a long free kick from Sean found Kevin's head, but Blackmore saved well to his left, and reacted superbly to block Danny Spice's follow-up effort for a corner. Russell's delivery found Matt Maclean beyond the far post for a shot, which took a slight touch off Tom and appeared to have crossed the line before being scrambled away by Page. And there was still time for Kevin to head an inviting Lee Carey cross over the bar from barely six yards out, as United came desperately close to those elusive three away points.

The inescapable feeling that United deserved more than the single point that actually saw them slip two places in the league table, is perhaps the clearest evidence yet of how far United have come since that opening day aberration at Billericay, with ambitions now set rather higher than simply surviving their first season in the Premier Division. Another tough examination awaits them on Tuesday, when United face their fourth away game on the trot, and have an opportunity to avenge last month's FA Cup defeat, as they visit Ramsgate.

Match facts	Efforts on target	Efforts off target	Free kicks conceded	Corners won	Offsides against
Hendon	5	6	21	2	2
Hastings United	6	6	16	4	0

Hendon (4-4-2)							Hastings United (3-5-2)
1 Luke Blackmore							1 Lee Worgan
2 Casey Maclaren							2 Jimmy Elford
3 Sam Page							3 Russell Eldridge
4 Marc Leach							4 Danny Spice
5 James Parker							5 Sean Ray (c)
6 Jamie Busby							6 Rhys Whyborne
7 Lubo Guentchev							7 Lee Carey
8 Rakatahr Hudson							8 Tim Olorunda
9 Dean Green							9 Tom Poole
10 Belal Aiteouakrim							10 Sam Adams
11 Wayne O'Sullivan							11 Danny Ellis
Substitutes
12 Craig Vargas							12 Kevin Rose (for Adams 55)
14 James Burgess (for Hudson 78)							14 Nathan Russell
15 Gondzia Arkadiusz							15 Matt Darby
17 Rob Ursell							16 Matt Maclean (for Eldridge 81)
18 Darragh Duffy							GK Jani Seitsonen

Attendance 222

Referee Ron James

Assistants Andy Stevens & Brian Harrison