Belatedly we move our retrospective onto 13th March and a day which, frankly, is short on highlights from a Hendon point of view.

Things began well enough in a 1909 friendly against nearby Hendon Crescent which was won 6-0 and a 1920 friendly against Handley Page ended in a 3-0 success with future England full international George Blackburn on target alongside J Croal and F Yates.

The initial competitive match on this date was as late as 1926 when an Athenian League match at The Avenue Ground against Kingstonian saw the K’s head back to Kingston with both points following a 1-0 win. 11-years later in 1937 a visit to Southall went badly awry as the home side racked up 5 goals without reply, also in the Athenian League.

In 1943 as the Nazis began to liquidate the Krakow ghetto and Hitler avoided an assassination attempt on a flight between Smolensk and Rastenburg, a brace of goals each from Roy Stroud and Dave Chappell saw Golders Green to a 4-1 Herts & Middlesex County League win over Tufnell Park and just five years later in the London Senior Cup Dulwich Hamlet handed out a 7-1 hiding, Bob Avis grabbing the only Hendon goal of the tie.

There was better cheer in 1954 as Viet Minh forces opened an offensive against the French in North-West Vietnam, cricketing star Micky Steward grabbing a goal along with Brian McGreevey to defeat Hitchin Town 2-1 in the Athenian League. 11-years later the Greens took another step towards their first Isthmian League title as they overcame Clapton 3-1 at Claremont Road in front of a crowd in excess of 1500. David Hyde, Jimmy Quail and Danny Lakey were on target.

Two years later in 1967 Tony Harding and Roy Sleap scored as Tooting & Mitcham United won 4-2 at Claremont Road before a Bobby Wilson goal in 1971 was enough to overcome Hayes in the Middlesex Senior Cup quarter final and set up a last-four tie with Wembley at Vale Farm.

1976 returned a goalless draw from an Isthmian League clash with Woking at Claremont Road before a visit to Croydon two years later saw the Greens fall to a comprehensive 3-0 defeat. Things improved somewhat in 1982 as the spoils were shared once again with Woking, Paul Bhatia grabbed two along with one from Andy O’Brien in a 3-3 draw.

In 1984 as Greg Chappell and Rodney Marsh played the final first-class cricket of their respectively illustrious careers, Billericay Town were held 0-0 at Claremont Road and five years later in 1989 a London Senior Cup tie saw Southwark Borough win 1-0 at the Southwark Sports Ground.

Anthony Sibanda was on target in a 1993 visit to Stevenage Borough in what was never called the Victor Green derby, however Paul Fairclough’s side triumphed 4-1 before a 1999 visit to Aylesbury United’s Buckingham Road ground ended in a 1-0 defeat.

The scoreline was exactly the same a year to the day later at Earlsmead as Harrow Borough won 1-0 and finally, after a 33 year wait, a Scott Cousins goal against Bedford Town in 2004 secured the points at Claremont Road and the first win on 13th March since 1971.

We end with a pair of draws, firstly another goalless encounter against Carshalton Athletic at Colston Avenue in 2010 and again, in Surrey, in 2018 against Merstham where Niko Muir netted in a 1-1 draw against the Moatsiders.

Of 19 competitive matches to have so far taken place on March 13th only five have ended in wins with five drawn and the remaining 9 defeats. 19 goals have been scored, only three of which have come since 1982, and 34 conceded.