Hendon produced a workmanlike performance to see off Canvey Island at Wheatsheaf Park, Staines, on Saturday. The 2–0 victory lifted them one place up the table, to 19th, but only six points off 11th and their zero goal difference is the best in the bottom half of the Ryman League Premier Division table.

As a reward for the victory at Ashford Town (Middlesex) in the last match, Hendon were unchanged, apart from the enforced replacement of the suspended Marc Leach by Mark Kirby, back from his spell regaining fitness at North Greenford United.

For the first 20 minutes, there was little of note in the game, apart from a free-kick from Jamie Busby which would have raised the flags at Twickenham as it cleared the crossbar by a dozen or so feet and a shot from Leon Gordon which crossed the goalline at the angle of the 18-yard box.

In the 22nd minute, Harry Hunt almost connected well enough to score what would have been one of the goals of the season. Kirby started it with some neat control ten yards outside his own penalty area. He passed to Glenn Garner, who fed Busby, and his 40-yard pass to the right wing was perfectly weighted for James Bent. After going around Andrew West, Bent crossed low and Hunt’s stretching boot was inches short of making goalbound contact. Instead the ball rolled just wide.

Almost immediately, Gabriel Fanibuyan created an opening for Canvey Island, but his shot found only the side netting at the near post.

Hendon made the breakthrough in the 34th minute and it owed almost everything to Busby. He collected the ball close to the centre circle, beat three players on a powerful run, played a one-two with Garner and ran towards the penalty spot.

He probably could have got off a shot, but HUNT nipped in and mishit an effort that completely wrong-footed Ricky Wiseman and tricked inches inside the far post. It was Hunt’s eighth League goal of the season, but the first in more than a month, albeit only four games.

Within 90 seconds the lead should have been doubled. Hendon forced a corner and when the ball wasn’t properly cleared, Garner had a clear strike from 14 yards. His drive smashed off the foot of the left upright and rebounded almost straight past him before he could recover and the ball was eventually cleared.

Moments later, Hendon were caught in possession on the half-way line and when Kevin Dobinson bulled his way past James Parker, the defender brought him down and the referee awarded the penalty. Up stepped Craig Davidson and he sent William Viner the wrong way with his spot-kick. Unfortunately for him, and luckily for Hendon, the ball struck the outside of the right post and Craig Vargas gratefully hacked the ball clear.

For the first 15 minutes of the second half, Canvey Island used the bitterly cold, strong wind at their backs to good effect. Hendon were on the back foot and could barely clear the ball. But they were able to weather the storm without too many efforts actually requiring saves from Viner.

Two minutes into the period, Richard Halle was cautioned for an aerial challenge on Lee O’Leary which left the Hendon player requiring treatment for a bruised jaw, while Sam Byfield picked up a caution, ten minutes later.

By this time Hendon were already indebted to skipper James Burgess for keeping the Greens ahead. From a 52nd-minute right-wing corner, Halle powered a header past Viner, but not Burgess, under the crossbar, who rose and headed the ball clear.

In the 66th minute, Garner had another great chance to extend Hendon’s lead. The striker did superbly to reach the ball which appeard to be too high as it crossed ht box. Unfortunately for the Greens, the ball cleared the crossbar by a few inches with Wiseman well beaten.

Over the next ten minutes, the teams made a trio of substitutions, Leon Antoine and Steve Corbell replacing the ineffective Ian Luck and West, respectively, for the Gulls, while Brian Haule took over from Garner.

Haule’s first contribution indirectly led to Hendon’s second goal. The hard work was done by Hunt, who cleverly got around Halle down the inside right channel. Haule broke to the far post and was screaming for the ball, so Hunt attempted to find him. That the youngster didn’t was entirely down to the intervention from Ryan OLIVA, whose interception crept inside the near post.

Sam Collins came on for Byfield with ten minutes of normal time, allowing Vargas to play in a more advanced role and he was fouled some ten yards outside the Canvey Island penalty area with four minutes to go. Busby signalled he wanted to take the free-kick quickly and struck the ball past the slow-forming yellow-shirted wall. But Wiseman was alert enough to get a touch on Busby’s shot to divert the ball against a post in a brilliant reaction save.

Lubomir Guentchev came on as the game moved into stoppage time, but it was little more than a time-wasting exercise and it allowed Hendon fans to give special praise to Hunt, the player withdrawn.

A delighted Hendon manager Gary McCann said, “We had to weather a storm in the first 15 minutes of the second half, but, apart from that, I thought we were very comfortable. It was a very good, professional performance by everyone.”

(Report by David Ballheimer - not to be reproduced without permission from the author)