Hendon's interest in the Southern League Cup ended in the first round as they were defeated by Metropolitan Police at Imber Court. A solitary goal, 20 minutes form the end of the second half, was enough to decide the tie, one which both teams could have won comfortably if they had taken their chances.

Gianni Crichlow was the only Greens starter from the weekend win at Hartley Wintney who began this game, though four of the subs in Hampshire were in the 11, Cole Brown, Matty Newman, Taishan Griffith and Tyriq Hunte, who was named captain. There were three debutants, including new signing Sean Bonnett-Johnson, Mathias Bakare and Joao Lima being the others.

The first half was dominated by the Blues, who - like Hendon - used their squad players. With an FA Cup fourth round qualifying tie a few days away, Police boss Gavin McPherson took the first team for a training session, so he did not go to the bench until the second half.

The closest either team came to a goal in the opening 45 minutes was a shot from Antonios Kozakis which Dan Purdue saved very well. The Blues did have the ball in the net, but the assistant referee's flag had been raised well before the ball was struck goalwards.

Eight minutes before half time, Alexandros Kozakis was called into serious action as Brown fired a powerful strike. The goalkeeper was equal to it, making a good save.

Early in the second half, Antonios Kozakis had another effort for the Blues, and once again, Purdue made a fine save. Hendon, however, were starting to ask serious questions of the Police rearguard.

Mathias Bakare drilled a shot beyond the Police keeper, but the ball hit a post and rebounded towards and area where only blue shirts were patrolling. A minute later, in the 57th, Hendon produced one of the misses of the season.
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The original strike from Crichlow, who was growing in influence, from a good 25 yards out, was superb. The ball beat Alexandros Kozakis's desperate dive, crashed off the bottom of the crossbar and sat up perfectly for the oncoming Hunte.

It needed only a gentle angled touch or softly lifted shot to give Hendon the lead, but Hunte somehow managed to find the prone goalkeeper's legs.

Seconds later, Mickey White was introduced at Hunte's expense and Hendon soon made their last two changes, Ben Gray taking over from Prince Mbengui and William Murphy doing likewise for Cole.

By this time, the last-named was seething as he had seen his headed effort seemingly awarded as a goal, then correctly disallowed for offside after the referee and his assistant had a long discussion. It appeared the assistant had not realised Cole had flicked on a cross and he was in an offside possession and only became actively offside when he touched the ball.

After a quite long spell of pressure, it seemed only a matter of time before the opening goal arrived and, sure enough, it did, but not at the end Hendon fans and players wanted. A shot from John Gilbert did not seem to have much power, but Purdue, who appeared to be unsighted, allowed the ball to slip through his grasp and trundle into the net.

Crichlow then had two great chances to equalise. The first came in the 77th minute, when he burst through the Police line, looked up and bent a shot inches wide of the far post. It was a disappointing finish to what had been a coruscating run.

The second miss, a couple of minutes later, was harder to excuse. Not only did Crichlow have a slightly better angle, but, set up by a beautifully-weighted pass from Bonnett-Johnson, he was balanced and had time to pick his spot. The ball missed the far post by a good few yards.

There was still time for Newman to get a goal, but he was unable to convert the good chance, from a right wing cross that came his way. Although Hendon did create most of the chances, Purdue did have to make another good save to deny Bayley Mummery in the dying minutes.