Hendon manager was frustrated to lose at Canvey Island but also saw positives from the game. "I cannot complain about the effort and the commitment from the players," he said. "After Saturday, they showed me a very good attitude.

"But the first two goals we conceded were defensive errors of catastrophic proportions. In fact, all three goals were completely avoidable individual errors. If you make three errors like that in a game you will not win it.

"I must be honest, I feared a little for the start of the game and I felt the first 15 minutes were crucial. On the back of Saturday, there was a feeling that if we conceded early in the game we might have unravelled on the mental side.

"But we came through it well and when they scored, I felt it was in a period of the half where we had been just getting on top. The second goal was a double whammy, but we then gave ourselves a lifeline with a very good headed goal by Casey.

"If we had taken one of the chances we created early in the second half, the outcome could have been a whole lot different."