Hanwell Town 2 Hendon 5 . . .

Hendon were not at their best but were still far too good for Hanwell Town in their friendly on Saturday. The first half was distinctly feisty and the very patient referee did exceptionally well to keep all 22 players on the pitch.

With better finishing, Hendon would have been out of sight even before Sean LUCIEN capitalised on a through ball to knock it past Wycombe Wanderers triallist goalkeeper James Reading after 21 minutes. The gusting wind seemed to instil uncertainty in Reading, who might have reached the ball before Lucien had he decided to go for it as soon as it entered the penalty area.

Former Hendon favourite Marvyn Watson had a superb opening 45 minutes, making a number of important interventions as Harry Hunt and Brian Haule found themselves in excellent positions on a number of occasions. Also standing out for Hanwell were goalkeeper Kieran Jimmy and central defender Leon Skinner.

That said, not only were Haule and Hunt guilty of wasting chances, but James Bent, Jamie Busby, Sam Berry and Peter Dean could all have netted for the Greens before HAULE finally levelled matters eight minutes before the interval.

By this time both James Burgess and Lucien had clashed on more than one occasion. The first time, the Hanwell man went in late on the Hendon full-back, which left him limping for a couple of minutes.

But the big flare-up came after 32 minutes when Burgess went into the back of Lucien in an aerial duel. It was probably a foul against the Burgess, but the referee let play continue and awarded a free-kick. Lucien responded by kicking the ball at Burgess, who retaliated. When harsh words were exchanged, things got more heated, and both players were calmed down by teammates before the referee separately delivered long lectures to them.

Burgess, along with Reading, Mark Kirby, Bent and Haule were taken off at half-time, being replaced by Dave Diedhiou, Berkley Lawrencin, Marc Leach, Kevin Maclaren and Glenn Garner, respectively. An injury to Tashan Bradshaw saw Hanwell make their first change, Arek Kulis coming on.

Four minutes after the resumption, good work down the right flank by Garner gave BERRY a chance, which he took with some ease.

Hendon made two more changes 20 minutes into the second half, Yacine Hamada and Lubo Guentchev taking over from Hunt and Berry. Within a minute, Guentchev sent HAMADA through to make it 3–1.

Four minutes later, the roles were reversed and GUENTCHEV slipped the ball home from 12 yards. Before the game resumed, Hendon made their final change with Dean going off and Danny Dyer going on. It meant that only Craig Vargas, James Parker and Busby played the full 90 minutes.

Hendon were in complete control and, once again, wasted many chances before HAMADA scored his second of the afternoon with five minutes remaining.

In the dying seconds, Hanwell scored a consolation when Lawrencin could only parry a free-kick from Jason Tucker. Steven POTTER reacted quickest to the loose ball and he knocked it into the net from close range.

“Our finishing today was poor,” admitted manager Gary McCann, “but we created plenty of chances and that pleased me.”

Team: Reading (Lawrencin, HT), Burgess (Diedhiou, HT), Vargas, Kirby (Leach, HT), Parker, Busby, Bent (K. Maclaren, HT), Berry (Guentchev, 65), Haule (Garner, HT), Hunt (Hamada, 64), Dean (Dyer, 70).

DAVID BALLHEIMER