Hendon manager Gary McCann made some brutally honest observations about his team after the embarrassment against Grays Athletic last week. Speaking 36 hours after the game, he said, "We had a long talk with the players after the game.

"When we lost to Kingstonian a few weeks ago, I thought we had reached rock bottom, but it was a good place from which to build. There were the very good results at Leiston and Bognor Regis, but now we have gone backwards, and this result was the lowest.

"I have stressed the importance of togetherness as a unit. We don't have it, but we have to get this togetherness very quickly.

"I told the players to make no mistake, we may not be in the bottom four of the table, but we are most definitely in a relegation dogfight. We need everyone pulling in the same direction and I didn’t get that from some of the players and I cannot have that.

"Losing the two players who have moved on in the last couple of weeks was a big blow, but a couple more will no longer be part of the group. The good news is that we will be getting back some our injured players in the next couple of weeks, which will be a big boost.

"I am so pleased that the game with Billericay is now off. It means, after Saturday at Needham Market, we have nine days to refresh our attitude.

"We should have good news on the player front, because Dave Diedhiou and Elliot Brathwaite, are both very close. Kevin Maclaren is just a couple of weeks away too.

"Kezie Ibe, however, may be out for a few weeks after his hamstring injury. It is a big blow because he was just starting to look like the old Kezie."

Gary then had few excuses after the defeat at Needham Market on Saturday. He said, "We are not in a good place at the moment and we had another bad first half.

"Our mental strength is not good and in the last three matches we have conceded early goals and not reacted well to them. But when were 2-0 down, we battled back and got ourselves back into the game with a brilliant strike from Karl Oliyide.

"However, we then conceded two goals in quick succession, then a third. Going into half-time at 5-2, I stressed the importance of pride and playing for the badge in the second half and we did that.

"Needham did have a couple of chances, but we played much better, which is something to take from the game

"It hasn't helped that we have had to change the team so much. Neither Jamie Smith nor Quba Gordon were fit for Saturday and both Jerome Federico and Bradley Hewitt, like Josh Passley, have decided they don't want to be a part of the squad and try to turn things around, so they can go elsewhere.

"We had to call up a couple of players from the youth team and have given them some playing time. It will certainly help when many of our long-term absentees return and there are three who are very nearly fit. They will bring a lot of that mental strength and toughness, which will be crucial to our future.

"One of the things we are stressing is that we have to remain positive and I know we can turn it around."