Hendon slipped to a narrow defeat against Haringey Borough in this preseason game at Silver Jubilee Park. On another hot and humid afternoon, the two teams put on a very good show for the crowd of 119.

The contest could be summed up by the two line-ups: none of the 21 Hendon players appeared for the Greens last season, but only two of the Haringey starting 11 were not with the Coles Park club in 2017–18 - and Hendon sub Harrison Georgiou was with Borough last term.

Interestingly, the two pony-tailed starting players - Laste Dombaxe for Hendon and Haringey's Quba Gordon were team-mates at Silver Jubilee Park in early 2017.

It took until the eighth minute for either team to have a meaningful attack and it was Haringey's Georgios Aresti who had a shot, after the referee had played a good advantage in the build-up. It was on target and powerful, but straight at Zaki Oualah, who made a comfortable save sinking to his knees.

Oualah made a much better save a few minutes later, but the referee and his assistant ruled that the goalkeeper had not palmed a powerful drive from Chinedu McKenzie just around the post.

Hendon were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area when Marvin Morgan was fouled. Dembaxe took the set-piece, but he could not beat the defensive wall and the ball bounced away to safety.

In the 39th minute, Morgan was again brought down on the edge of the penalty area, this time close to the angle of the box. Dombaxe again had responsibility and he curled the ball into the danger area, where Morgan arrived and powered the ball into the net from close range.

Rene Howe had one chance to get on the scoresheet, but he put his effort over the crossbar.

For the second half, Haringey made a few changes, but the same Hendon 11 resumed the action. However, within five minutes of the restart the game had been turned on its head.

In the 47th minute, Michael Ademiluyi attacked down the right side, got the better of Henry Arnold and, for once, didn't try to beat his man for a second time driving in a low cross from close to the goal-line. Running in late, Chinedu McKenzie smashed the ball into the top corner from six yards out.

Three minutes later, Femi Akinwande did well down the right side, beating Kai Davis. His low cross should have been cut out by Oualah, but the ball squirmed under the goalkeeper and Ademiluyi tapped home from the shadow of the crossbar.

In the 57th minute, Morgan came close to getting an equaliser when substitute goalkeeper Austin Byfield didn't deal with a right-wing cross and Morgan fired the ball towards the bottom corner.

Byfield was beaten by the strike, but another substitute, Ross Dedman threw himself in front of the ball and was able to divert it just wide of the post. It would be the first of four brave blocks by Haringey defenders.

With an hour gone, Hendon made their changes, all 10 outfielders going off, while Haringey made four more. And, with effectively, two new teams on the pitch, there was a period of feeling each other out.

In the 70th minute, Hendon made the decisive error. After keeping the ball with a degree of comfort, the ball was lost in the centre-circle and Aresti immediately burst forward.

As defenders desperately came across to cover, Aresti could have taken an attempt on goal himself, but he didn't. Instead, he rolled the path of Jamie-Lee O'Donoghue, who scored confidently inside the near post.

Tyriq Hunte fired a free-kick just over the crossbar from 22 yards out after 84 minutes but, two minutes later, played a key role in Hendon's second goal. He attacked down the left wing, reached the goal-line before crossing.

The ball was not dealt with by the Haringey defence and when it came to Dean Mason, he stroked the ball into the net, despite another Borough defender vainly trying to keep it out.

There was time for an equaliser, but Haringey were able to see out the final few minutes with few major alarms.