Mill Meadow played host to its first goalless draw in 78 matches on Saturday as Chalfont St Peter were held by Northwood.

The Saints had not been involved in a goalless encounter on home turf since they were promoted to Southern One Central in 2011, and only the woodwork and fine saves from both goalkeepers kept the game scoreless.

Jack Waldren, who was making his first start since signing from Hitchin, hit the cross bar with a curling effort in the first half, while at the other end Mike McEntegart made some super stops to leave manager Danny Edwards wondering how either team had failed to find a breakthrough.

He said: “I didn’t realise it had been that long without a goalless draw at home. It’s quite a stat to get that on Saturday, but it was probably anything but a typical goalless draw with the way the game was played. It was a good game with lots of chances.

“It’s one of those where both teams could go away feeling like they deserved to win the game, but truthfully a draw was a fair result.”

The draw against a Northwood side who’d won three of their previous four games, overtaking Chalfont in the process, represented a good result for the hosts, but it stretched their winless run to six games nonetheless.

Hanwell Town arrive at Mill Meadow on Saturday occupying the final play-off spot in the division, and Edwards believes his team’s display in their last outing will stand them in good stead to take on their fifth placed opponents.

“It was a good performance. Northwood are one of the form sides in the league; we’ve taken four points off them this season and that’s not bad against a half decent side,” he said.

“Defensively we were a lot better than we’ve been recently, which is a positive. And going forward we did create chances.

“Their goalkeeper made one save in particular which was outstanding, we hit the crossbar and had a couple of other decent chances.”

With Saints now 11 points behind Hanwell and comfortably clear of the bottom two, it seems as though Chalfont are destined for a mid-table finish.

Edwards has conceded defeat in their charge to get into the play-offs, which had looked on the cards at the turn of the year, and has instead started to reshape his squad for next season.

He said: “At this stage of the season you start to have one eye on next year and start to plan ahead. You think about who’s going to be with you and who’s not, and bodies that might possibly come in.

“We’re still talking to a few people and trying to get some in ready for the new season. Hopefully we can get a few more players in so that we don’t have to be rebuilding in the summer.”