Hendon recieved another boost in their fight against relegation on Saturday afternoon as they comfortably beat a poor Harlow Town side 5-0 at Vale Farm in a game that was very much a relegation six-pointer.

The Greens made just two changes to the starting line-up with Danny Dyer and Brian Haule replacing the injured James Bent and Harry Hunt while the Hawks line up included former Hendon strikers John Frendo and Ricci Crace.

Hendon started very brightly and their first chance came in the 4th minute when Dyer fed the ball to Haule, who in turn found Jamie Busby in front of goal. Unfortunately, the midfielder was only able to turn the ball over the bar. However, the Greens only had two minutes more to wait for their first goal. Haule received the ball near the penalty spot and hit a fine shot on the turn which took a slight deflection off a defender on its way into the net.

Harlow then had a spell where they threatened to equalise. First of all Danny Green had a shot which was well saved by Will Viner, and then in the 12th minute Chris Ellerbeck backheeled the ball over Viner towards goal, but James Parker cleared the ball off the line.

From here on the Greens started to take real control of the game and nearly doubled the lead when Sam Collins shot from the left wing landed on top of the net with Harlow keeper James Hasell well beaten.

In the 24th minute Hendon were given something of a gift. Busby hit a shot at goal which was blocked by Haule, who in turn carried the ball away from goal to try and keep possession. As he reached the corner of the 18 yard box and the goal-line, he was tripped by Danny Wolf and the referee had no option but to award a penalty. It seemed a strange challenge as both Haule and the ball were going away from goal and there was no immediate threat.

Peter Dean stepped up and saw his firmly hit penalty well saved by Hasell. However, the players in green were far quicker to react and Dean slammed the ball into the net.

Almost immediately after the restart Dean had a shot well saved by Hasell, and Lee O’Leary was just beaten to the rebound by Laurie Stewart who cleared the ball to safety Hendon only had to wait another couple of minutes for the third goal though. O’Leary received the ball around 25 yards from goal and hit a piledriver of a shot that simply flew into the top corner of the net, giving Hasell absolutely no chance.

With five minutes left before half-time, the Greens scored again. Haule received the ball just inside the penalty area and was fouled. However, he still managed to slide the ball into the path of Busby who cooly fired the ball just inside the post to make the half-time score 4-0.

Harlow manager Glen Alzapiedi was clearly very unhappy with his side as he sent them back out after just five minutes at half-time and made two substitutions as the second half restarted.

The opening chance of the second period fell to Crace, but his shot was easily saved by Viner. At the other end Haule was fouled just outside the penalty area by Stewart. Collins stepped up and his free-kick flew narrowly wide of the goal.

In the 56th minute, Harlow’s task of getting back into the game was made even harder. Wolf made a nasty looking challenge on Haule, and the referee had little choice but to show him the red card. Haule was unable to continue as a result of the challenge and was replaced by Glenn Garner.

Shortly after the hour mark, Michael Bardle, probably Harlow’s best player of the afternoon, had a fine long shot that flew wide of the goal. Frendo had a chance shortly after, but his strike was well held by Viner. At the other end Garner found himself in space but dragged his shot wide of the goal.

Chances in front of goal became few and far between until the 85th minute when a ball from Kevin Maclaren took a wicked deflection off a defender on its way through to Peter Dean. While the striker appeared to be in an offside position when the ball was played, there was no flag from the linesman and Dean clinically fired the ball into the roof of the net.

There was one final chance for Harlow to score a consolation with a minute to go when Crace found himself in front of goal with just Viner to beat, but he will have been disappointed to see his shot go just wide of goal.

The result lifts the Greens into 19th place in the league table, just one point from safety, with further relegation six pointers coming up over the next two weeks against Harrow Borough and Ramsgate.

(Report by Steve Rogers, not to be reproduced without author's prior permission)