Hendon passed the 50-point mark with a victory over Carshalton Athletic team which added to the Robins' relegation fears. Just like at Colston Avenue a few weeks ago, Carshalton found themselves playing for more than half the match with 10 men.

James Reading, Dave Diedhiou and Florin Pelecaci came into the team in place of the rested Berkley Laurencin and injured Craig Vargas and Jamie Busby.

The portents for Carshalton, narrow losers in the Ryman League Premier Division playoff final 11 months ago, were not good as early as the 13th minute, when Kenny Beaney pulled up with a foot injury. He was immediately taken off and replaced by Tommy Williams, depriving the Robins of one of their most creative and productive play-makers.

Two minutes later, they had the ball in the net, but the assistant referee's flag had long been raised for offside and the whistle was blown before the shot had been taken.

And things only got worse for the visitors 15 minutes later when Scott Cousins, playing against the team he joined at the start of this campaign, made a late challenge on Lewis Gonsalves. The former Sutton defender reacted badly, throwing a punch at his former teammate.

The referee was already running in to issue a sanction on Cousins as the blow landed and made it clear to the players that he'd seen the incident. He showed a yellow card to Cousins for the foul, and a red to Gonsalves for violent conduct.

In response, Carshalton made their second substitution, taking off their on-loan 17-year-old Spanish attacking midfielder Pico Pelayo Gomez and replacing him with centre-back Justyn Roberts. Within seconds of him coming onto the pitch, Hendon nearly took the lead. A shot from Lubo Guentchev beat Nick Hamann, but Karl Murray made a goal-saving block.

With the extra space offered because of the man advantage, Hendon were content to pass the ball around and be patient looking for an opening. It didn't come in the first half, though Hamann did make an excellent save to keep out a Peter Dean shot.

The game's only goal came six minutes into the second half. A deep cross from Cousins eluded the visitors' defence and Lee O'Leary, arriving late, looped a header over Hamann just below the crossbar.

Having taken the lead, Hendon were able to relax a bit and they passed the ball around prettily, though with little end product. They did have the ball in the net after 64 minutes, Dean shooting home on the rebound after a Hamann save from Casey Maclaren, but the assistant referee flagged for offside.

With 15 minutes of normal time remaining, Carshalton made their final change, introducing the ever-dangerous Byron Harrison at the expense of Charlie Ide. Within two minutes, he had created a half-chance, but his shot was off target. It was the wake-up call that the Hendon defence needed, because they had been distinctly under-worked in the previous 20 or so minutes.

Try as they might, Hendon couldn't find a second goal and the final 10 minutes were somewhat nervy, not so much from actual danger from Carshalton as the much as perceived peril of proven goalscorers Richard Jolly and Harrison playing in tandem.

It seemed as if Hendon would complete a full match without making a substitution, but that statistical rarity didn’t happen as Busby replaced Pelecaci, who had been quietly effective on his first full start for the Greens, for the final five minutes.

"We played some excellent football tonight," said manager Gary McCann, "and I thought we were outstanding defensively. Our passing was as good as it has been and we could have scored many more goals."