THE LASTE HENDON’S
HARTLEY Wintney and Hendon played out an exciting match at Green Lane with the visitors taking the spoils to maintain their place amongst the division leaders.
And manager James Gray insisted his Dons side had deserved to come out on top of this five-goal thriller.
“It was a very hardfought win,” he said.
“We had a good response on both occasions we went behind and a good response after our loss in midweek.
“I’m very pleased to get all three points. Hartley were good on the counter attack and will do well this season. Danny Boness had some good saves near the end. We planned to get out of the blocks quickly and we were pleased with our start.”
Meanwhile Hartley coboss Anthony Millerick was left to rue what might have been.
“I thought we shipped three very soft goals, they were all preventable,” he said.
“We are on a learning curve and at this level we must kill games off. Obvirun ously other clubs have bigger budgets, but we still expect to do well against them. I thought Jack Beadle had a good debut and Nathan Smart had a good game. In general, I’m disappointed that we lost a game we should not have.”
The visitors took the initiative early on and three early corners had Hartley under pressure. However on ten minutes against the of play Hartley took the lead as Mikey Campbell’s shot crossed the line despite the best efforts of Boness in the Hendon goal.
Three minutes later Ricardo German’s drive was tipped over by Adam Desbois. The game flowed from end to end and on 15 minutes a good Row move saw Campbell fire over.
The Dons pulled level when Marvin Morgan
played in Stephane Ngamvoulou who forced the ball past Desbois to make it 1-1 at the break.
The Row came out with all guns blazing at the start of the second half and on 46 minutes should have gone ahead but Luke King was twice denied.
The Row restored the lead however when King found Campbell, whose shot was blocked but turned home by Jack Ball.
Hartley came close to increasing the lead when Jack Beadle’s effort was blocked and Hendon pulled level on 63 minutes when good work by Marvin Morgan set up Shaquille Hippolyte- Patrick who ran on to score.
Hartley had a chance on 65 minutes when a deft pass from Nic Ciardini set Campbell in for a one on one but Boness came out and saved well.
Play moved down to the other end and Hendon went ahead when Laste Dombaxe fired into the corner of the net.
Hartley finished strongly and in the final onslaught it was twice Josh Webb who came closest to providing a late leveller but Hendon survived to take all three points. STAR MAN: Romario Jonas (Hendon) ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★