Craig Edwards named an unchanged team from Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Billericay Town at Theobalds Lane. Tommy Wood kept his place up front after bagging his first goal in amber and black. Just two minutes in, a ball in from the right from Hamza Bin-Semakula tested the Ambers defence, it deflected off of Da Silva, but Nabbad’s quick reactions meant he saved well down to his left.

The Ambers started to get going ten minutes in, their first chance of the game came from the left. Some nice play between Bello and Wood led to a pass to Orafu who’s strike from the edge of the box was blocked. Bin-Semakula continued to cause problems for the Ambers, he found Excellence Muhemba in-behind, who played a nice reverse ball back into the box, but Da Silva was first to it to clear it away.

Unsurprisingly it was Nathaniel Orafu causing most of the problems for the Hendon defence. He went close with an audacious chip from the left, forcing Luke Campbell into a difficult save. Campbell was called into action again by Orafu moments later. He picked up the ball on the edge of the area and smashed one low and hard towards the bottom left corner. The keeper somehow got down to it to tip it wide for a corner. Jack Thomas headed the resulting corner wide of the far post after Dernell Wynter’s ball in.

Hendon’s Muhemba looked like he was through on goal, but Taylor Curran’s great defending and communication with goalkeeper Sami Nabbad kept the score level.  The hosts took the lead five minutes before the break, Kai Omoko made the most of a scramble in the box after a ball from Semakula from the right. Omoko placed the ball past a hopeless Nabbad who had dived for an earlier effort and was now wrong footed.

Hendon went close again just moments after as yet another ball in from Semakula caused havoc for the visitors defence. Just five minutes after the first, Hendon made it two through Niko Muir. A ball over the top somehow found the number ten in acres of space in the box and he was able to beat Nabbad again from inches out.

HT: Hendon 2-0 Cheshunt

Jeramy Bisau replaced Dernell Wynter at the break, as the Ambers looked to fight back in the second half. Granville’s low driven freekick at the half was comfortably saved by the keeper. Hendon had a good chance just minutes later as Semakula’s strike from distance went over the crossbar.  The one change wasn’t really making anything happen for the Ambers, Craig took off left-back Lion Bello for midfielder MJ Muyembe, Kai Brown also came on to partner Tommy Wood up front, replacing Nathaniel Orafu. The Ambers were now in a traditional 4-4-2 formation after starting with s back five. Straight away Kai Brown made an impact, he picked the ball up on the left and played a one two which got him in-behind the defence. He forced the keeper into a save at his near post from a tight angle. Hendon continued to look dangerous on the break throughout the second half, but they failed to make the most of any of their opportunities. Central defender Dave Diedhou went close with a header from a corner with ten minutes to play.

Cheshunt really began to knock on the door in the final ten minutes and were pushing very far up the pitch. Luke Campbell dealt with the balls coming into the box very well and was able to keep the Ambers threat away.

Raul Da Silva stopped the hosts from going 3-0 up after a perfectly timed slide tackle in the box. Hendon thought it was three as Bin-Semakula found himself in on goal, he squared it into Niko Muir, who forced the ball into the net. However, the linesman had his flag up as he had just strayed ahead of the ball and was therefore offside.

The Ambers went back up the other end, desperate for something from the match and created a decent chance but Kai Brown’s effort after cutting in from the left, was saved comfortably by Luke Campbell to keep the score at 2-0 and earn the hosts all three points at Silver Jubilee Park.

FT: Hendon 2-0 Cheshunt

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