Lewes stretched their unbeaten run to four games this afternoon, becoming the first team to take points off table-topping Hendon in an incident-packed 2-2 draw. Photos

The hosts had a 100% win record going into the game, but were on the back-foot from the start when Lewes took the lead with their first attack.

A floated corner was headed goal bound by Paul Booth but keeper Berkley Laurencin could only push the ball to Michael Malcolm who had no hesitation from close range.

Lewes keeper Stuart Robinson was made to keep Elliott Godfrey’s sharp shot out, whilst a sustained attack from Hendon ended with Jamie Busby’s wayward strike.

With the hosts enjoying a bit more of the action, they were handed a great opportunity in the 26th minute. Robinson’s loss of concentration in handling the ball outside the area from his kick resulted, after consultation with the referee’s assistant, in a free kick on the edge of the area, which Godfrey powered past both the Lewes wall and Robinson.

The hard work from Lewes was undone in an instant, but two minutes later, the drama was to unfold at the opposite end.

Malcolm powered his way through the Hendon defence and breaking clear towards goal, the busy striker was brought down by Dave Diedhiou.

The referee awarded a free kick and booked the defender, much to the consternation of the Lewes players and supporters who saw that Malcolm was comfortably inside the area when the incident occurred and that arguably Diedhiou was the last man so should have been dismissed.

Instead, the official waved away the protests and after showing a yellow card, allowed the free kick which Booth could only blast into the wall.

Five minutes before the break, Malvin Kamara slotted a clean pass through to Malcolm but he could only drill his shot across the face of goal for Laurencin to push away.

With the arrival of half time, the visitors would have felt that they should have had more reward for their offensive play particularly given that the Hendon defence was the busier.

Lewes were straight into action from the restart with Matt Somner’s foray towards the box resulting in a free kick which Nic Ciardini put inches wide.

On 50 minutes, Lewes retook the lead when Laurencin fumbled Ciardini’s corner kick, with the ball falling to Malcolm at the far post which he blasted home for the Rooks’ first second half goal of the season, and his fifth.

Trickery from new signing Aaron Watson five minutes later took him into the danger area but his shot was blocked when the clever approach play warranted a lot more.

Just after the hour, Hendon were level again. A corner kick was pushed away by Robinson but the rebound had Somner scrambling the ball away on the goal line. The ball ended up with Greg Ngoyi in space on the angle and he was able to carve a route past Robinson for the equaliser.

With the introduction of substitute Aaron Morgan, Hendon grew stronger and posed more of a threat to the Lewes defence. So it was unfortunate for Hendon when his dangerous challenge on Robinson which ripped the keeper’s sock, earned him a straight red card, although Robinson himself was booked for timewasting as he spent time getting a replacement.

New Lewes signing Christian Nanetti came on for the last 15 minutes and announced his arrival with a dinking run and shot which forced Laurencin to tip over the bar.

Hendon
Laurencin, Wharton, Cousins, Peacock, Archer (Maclaren 57), Diedhiou, Busby, McCluskey, Ngoyi (Dyer 90), Godfrey (Morgan 63)
Unused: Fraser, Ambrose  

Lewes
Robinson, Kamara, Sterling, Somner, Robinson, Hustwick, Watson (Nanetti 74), Adelakun (Lee 90), Booth (Draycott 70), Malcolm, Ciardini  
Unused: Hamilton, Pringle

James Boyes