Gary McCann admitted relief was his primary reaction after winning his third London Senior Cup final on Thursday night. "My fears became reality," he said.

"It was very hard to focus on the Cup Final because everything has been focused on the playoffs. With the uncertainty of that situation, holidays and work commitments, and I am not pleased to say the Cup final was an oversight on our part.

"There was no intention on our part, but it shows how much the importance of the playoffs have been at the forefront of everyone's thoughts. I tried to make a conscious effort not to talk about them in my team-talk, but it was almost impossible. Waiting to know what will happen - when they will be - has been a real challenge mentally for all of us - management and players. All the uncertainty has unsettled us.

"And it showed in the performance. For 70 minutes, with the levels we expect, we were well below par. There was no intensity and no purpose in our play. It was just untidy.

"It took the sending off for us to get to the level we wanted to be at. The realisation that we might lose the cup final dawned on us and we got better. There was better energy on our part.

"In the last five minutes of normal time and the first period of extra time we were much better. We scored three very good goals and in the second period of extra time we wanted to hold onto what we had.

"We will be better for having got through the 120 minutes when it comes to the playoffs, though we had five of six players who were out on their feet. Sometimes it is better to be playing regularly than to have a break like we had for 12 days - but we also had a number of players who were lacking in minutes for one reason or another.

"But I must say I am delighted that we have won the Cup. It does a hold a special place in my heart and I have now won it three times as Hendon manager."