The third day of the third month has traditionally been a pretty good day for Hendon Football Club with wins outweighing defeats by more than three to one.

We begin with a friendly match against Barnet that saw the Bees win 4-0 in 1923, alas the match being played too late to be included in the first issue of Time magazine which went on sale for the first time that same day. Billy Neill was the hero in 1928 as he helped himself to a hat-trick as Windsor & Eton were beaten 4-2 at Claremont Road in the Athenian League, Jimmy Smy added the other goal.

1934 saw the club and its supporters up sticks and descend en-masse to Finchley for a Middlesex Senior Cup semi-final once again against Barnet. Freddie Evans and Charlie Drinkwater scored the goals to give Golders Green a 2-1 win and secure a third appearance in that competition’s final where they would meet Park Royal. Unlikely to have been amongst the crowd of 4,000 was US gangster John Dillinger who broke out of jail with the use of a wooden pistol.

11-years later and with the Second World War entering it’s final throes in Europe, Churchill made a visit to Field Marshall Montgomery’s headquarters whilst a tragic error in the air saw the RAF mistakenly bomb the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood of The Hague, killing 511 civilians instead of the Forest of The Hague where the Germans had installed V-2 rocket launching facilities. There was better news elsewhere in The Netherlands as the towns of Roermond and Venlo were liberated by Allied forces. All of this coming on the day that Golders Green beat Slough United 1-0 in the Herts & Middlesex League Cup courtesy of a strike from Charlie Fair.

Moving onto 1951 and a goal from John Westmore secured a 1-1 draw and a replay in an Amateur Cup tie against Wimbledon before Jeff Darey struck a treble in a 3-2 Athenian League match against Hayes in 1956 on the day that Morocco declared independence from France.

David Bell netted in 1962 in a 1-1 draw against Redhill, also in the Athenian League before a visit to Hitchin Town in 1964 saw the Greens extend their advantage over Wimbledon to three points in the Isthmian League with a 5-0 win. David Hyde and Gerry O’Rourke both scored twice that was added to by Laurie Churchill.

A 1979 visit to Dagenham ended 1-1, George Brooks netting for the Greens before a Middlesex Senior Cup semi-final in 1985 against Hayes was settled by a Gary Allen goal on the day that the National Union of Mine Workers end a 51-week long strike.

The club’s unbeaten record on 3rd March came to a halt in 1990 as Hayes finally beat the Greens at the third time of asking, this time the Isthmian League which the Missioners won 2-0. Eleven years later there was a return to winning ways as Maidenhead United were beaten 2-1 at York Road, Warren Kelly and Dale Binns netting.

Another Middlesex Senior Cup semi-final ended in success, this time as Southall were beaten 2-0 at their temporary Chesham United home with Eugene Ofori scoring twice then three years later in 2007 Belal Aite-ouakrim scored a consolation at New Lodge as Billericay Town won 2-1 in the Isthmian League.

Two years later in 2009 it was a London Senior Cup quarter-final at Erith & Belvedere that was won 4-0 led by a Jamie Busby double and others from Lubo Guentchev and Lee O’Leary, this on the day that the Sri Lankan cricket team survived a terrorist attack in Lahore and then in 2012 a visit to Canvey Island ended in a 3-1 defeat, Carl McCluskey grabbed the goal for the Greens.

In 2015 an early own goal set Gary McCann’s side on the road to a 2-1 win at Witham Town, just three days after winning the return fixture at Earlsmead, Aaron Morgan grabbed the winner with 15-minutes remaining to strengthen the Greens’ play-off credentials.

Of 16 matches on 3rd March to date there have been 10 wins, 3 draws and 3 defeats with 31 goals scored and 17 conceded.