Hendon went into this match without having picked up as much as a single point against any of the teams in the top ten of the Ryman League Premier Division. They finished it having claimed the scalp of the league leaders, AFC Wimbledon, and the 3-1 result at Claremont Road on Saturday afternoon was thoroughly deserved.

Dean Green, who had been unavailable against Slough, returned to an otherwise unchanged starting line-up, with Chris Robinson dropping to the bench at Franklyn Morris's expense, and Wayne O'Sullivan filling the right full-back role.

After 90 seconds, Hendon won a free-kick just outside their opponents penalty area, but Belal Aiteouakrim fired high over the crossbar. Five minutes later, Roscoe Dsane broke free for the visitors, but his attempted lob was nowhere near high enough to beat or even trouble Richard Wilmot in the Hendon goal.

The next 15 minutes were fairly uneventful, with neither team looking likely to make a breakthrough. But this has been the signal, on more than one occasion this season, for the opposition to strike. And this is again what happened.

Steve Goddard tried to find an opening for a cross, but was well policed by Craig Vargas, so he fed the ball to Wes Daly. The midfielder's cross seemed to deflect of the leg of a Hendon defender and Dsane ran in to divert the ball past Wilmot.

It was a goal really out of nothing, but it gave AFC Wimbledon hope and they upped their tempo. They started playing with confidence and penned Hendon back. In the 28th minute, Steve Ferguson struck a powerful drive which Wilmot did well turn aside for a corner.

Just after the half-hour, the game turned totally on its head. Green won possession out on the right and cut inside, passing the ball to Brian Haule. The young striker had Antony Howard right up his back, but he was still able to find Aiteouakrim, although Steve Butler was very close to him.

It didn't matter to Aiteouakrim, who ran left across the edge of the 18-yard box and fired in a low shot back towards the right post. The early strike and its fine accuracy were too much Paul Smith's whose desperate dive for the ball came up a foot short and the ball trundled into the net.

From the restart, Marc Leach and Vargas collided - pretty much the only mistake either player made all afternoon - and the ball fell invitingly for an unmarked Dsane, who had only Wilmot to beat. Dsane beat the goalkeeper but missed the target, wide to the left. It was a golden opportunity wasted for the Wombles.

And it proved to be very costly within 90 seconds. Wilmot came to gather a cross from the left wing and quickly launched a big clearance downfield. At the other end, Michael Haswell and Steve Butler had Green and Brian Haule to deal with, but neither called to take control, so both went towards Green.

His delicate flick effectively took out both defenders and left Haule one-on-one with Smith. The ball sat up perfectly for Haule, whose powerful, early, first-time shot bent past the goalkeeper, who had no chance of making a save.

AFC Wimbledon tried hard to get back into the match, but a goalline clearance from Lee O'Leary denied them an equaliser, while Butler put a headed chance just wide after 38 minutes.

Hendon expected a charge from Wimbledon at the start of the second half and they got it, but the Greens also suffered a big blow when Brian Haule was carried off after barely a minute of action. He was sent to hospital for x-rays on a possible broken ankle.

The Greens made a substitution but instead of replacing like-with-like and introducing either Darragh Duffy or Takumi Ake, James Parker came on. The accomplished defender dropped into his normal role, while Rakki Hudson - who had been a revelation in this defensive role - returned to the midfield, with Davis Haule replacing his brother in attack.

AFC Wimbledon may have exerted pressure on the Hendon defence, but they didn't look much like scoring. Fans screamed for a penalty as Jamie Busby cleared the ball once, but none of the redshirted Dons as much as looked at the referee for a decision.

And the game went decisively away from them in the 66th minute. Davis Haule and Green worked well, putting Haswell and Butler under pressure. The former Hendon favourite halted Haule's run forward illegally and when no advantage came, the referee awarded a free-kick a few yards outside the angle of the penalty area.

O'Sullivan lined up the free-kick and floated in a perfect cross. It was too far away for Smith to come for and, without a player defending the near post, no defender could get there either. O'Leary timed his run perfectly and placed a header of equal quality inches away from the angle of post and crossbar.

Haswell was then denied a goal when Parker did well to clear his header off the line, but Wimbledon's frustration was evident as both strikers Goddard and Dsane were taken off, along with Mark Rooney, in the next ten minutes. Their replacements, Steve Wales, Chris Gell and Darren Grieves never really looked getting one, let alone two goals.

In the 89th minute, Hendon had their fourth shot on target in the match. Busby did well to create the opening for himself, but his low shot never had the power to unduly trouble Smith, who saved low down. By this time Hendon were bringing on substitutes to break up the game and Ake, and Robinson were late replacements for Busby and Green.

"We are dedicating this victory to Brian Haule," said a delighted Hendon boss Gary McCann. "I thought we were excellent today. We limited them to a few chances and took our ones really well.

"I think you can say that we have got the monkey off our back regarding our inability to beat top ten teams. But we have to do it again on Monday night."