A late own goal awarded by the linesman gave Frome Town a deserved share of the points, after Hendon had taken the lead in the 69th with a well-taken goal from Ricardo German.
Frome’s new-season side with manager Danny Greaves in charge, showed just three names in the starting line up that had featured last season, and with those three all being defenders, the back four had a familiar look to it. As is the way of things, it turned out that Hendon were playing with just one player from last season after their manager had departed at the end of last season, taking virtually the whole side with him.
On a pitch that was desperate for the arrival of the monsoon, and despite showing patches of green, the players’ boots were kicking up dust on the more arid parts and taking this and the fact that both sides had yet to settle in, the match was never likely to be a classic, and that was the way things turned out.
In an even, but scrappy first half, Frome were the first to show as Dan Cottle clipped a shot past the far post in the 20th, but the game was being marred by stoppages as the hard pitch seemed to be increasing the number of injuries the players were picking up. Frome were forced to substitute Chris Allen with Ben Griffiths in the 27th and with Connor Roberts also picking up a knock that would see him substituted early in the second half, the attrition rate was high.
Though neither side were really threatening the opponent’s goal, Frome probably had the better of the half and Kane Simpson looked useful with a 25 yard shot that flew wide in the 39th, and he had the ball in the net in the 42nd, only for the linesman to rule the goal out for offside. But in reality, neither goalkeeper was troubled and the score remained 0-0 at half time.
The second half saw Hendon move up a gear, and a good move in the 63rd saw German through on goal, but Darren Bechet did well to dive at his feet and save low down. Frome immediately went close, with Dan Cottle having his shot just deflected for a corner.
Hendon took the lead in the 69th as a throw-in from the right was not dealt with and a back header in the area found its way to the far post where German found himself with the ball at his feet facing Bechet. As the keeper went low, German held his nerve to shoot high into the goal from around ten yards.
Hendon went close again two minutes later after Taishan Griffith twisted and turned on the right, but his cross went begging. Then to their credit, Frome went looking for the equaliser and showed some nice touches as the rain started to fall but only really enough to dampen the dust. In fairness, an equaliser would have been a fair result, but it was hard to see where it was going to come from.
Kane Simpson had a half chance in the 80th after good work from Dan Demkiv, but the ball just failed to fall for him. Then, as it looked like the match was lost, they equalised in the 89th as a good right wing cross from Will Hailston created chaos in the Hendon box. With the ball seemingly cleared off the line at least three times, the perfectly positioned linesman flagged that the ball had gone over the line and the goal was awarded as an own goal, though who had scored it will probably remain a mystery for ever.
Marcus Mapstone was chosen for the H&B Tyres Man of the Match Award by match sponsors Moss Naylor Young and it was a good game from one of last season’s stalwarts.
