Hendon brought some much needed cheer to their fans and especially to manager Gary McCann with a 3-0 defeat of Harrow Borough at Earlsmead on Saturday.

On far too many occasions in 2009 - and in 2008 for that matter - the manager had complained that his team had dominated play, lacked the cutting edge to score the necessary goals and then conceded some to lose matches. On Boxing Day, the boot was well and truly on the other foot as the Greens converted three out six good chances, while Borough - and Dewayne Clarke in particular - fired blanks.

The return of Bradley Thomas to partner James Parker in the heart of the defence made a huge difference to Hendon, who gambled on playing Casey Maclaren and Peter Dean as the two most advanced players, with Dave Diedhiou, James Bent, Jamie Busby and Scott Cousins filling out the midfield.

Borough started the game very brightly and James Parker made a telling tackle to stop Kenta Nakashima in the opening 90 seconds. Harrow then forced two corners in quick succession, but James Reading - restored to the team at the expense of Berkley Laurencin - made a clean catch of the second of these.

Midway through the first half, Clarke had his first good goalscoring opportunity. A left wing cross was deflected at the near post and Clarke somehow contrived to put the ball over the crossbar from only a few yards' range. It certainly seemed easier to score, but maybe the spinning ball made the chance slightly harder than it looked.

The striker had less excuse in the 32nd minute, when an astute ball from the heart of midfield released him down the right side. Reading was quickly off his line, but Clarke fired wide of both him and the far post.

Hendon's first effort on target - apart from a 40-yard restart at a drop ball - had come midway between Clarke's two chances. In the 29th minute, a 25-yard shot from Bent was at a comfortable height and angle for Andray Baptiste to save.

Having withstood a lot of pressure, Hendon caught out Harrow with a sucker-punch two minutes from the end of first half normal time. A free-kick was not properly cleared and when the ball fell to Parker, he swivelled and struck a delicate shot with his right outstep beyond Andray Baptiste's dive into the top corner. It was a strike and goal of the highest quality, one which any striker would have been delighted to score.

But Hendon's deficiencies were laid bare almost immediately. Ninety seconds into first-half stoppage time, a silly challenge by Thomas resulted in a yellow card and a free kick just outside the angle of the penalty area.

When the ball was played into the box Wayne Walters went to attack it, only to be sent sprawling on the ground. The referee had a very good view of it and immediately pointed to the penalty spot. The fact that there was almost no complaint from the Hendon players closest to the incident suggests that he got the call absolutely right.

Clarke took responsibility for the kick, but neither struck it nor placed it particularly well and Reading blocked the ball before it was smashed away for a corner. From the kick, Clarke headed the ball goalwards, only for Reading to produce a magnificent save to deny him again.

Three minutes into the second half, Reading made another save, this time to deny Rocky Baptiste. And Borough were made to pay for their profligacy within a couple of minutes.

Casey Maclaren took a short pass from Bent and ran from the halfway line towards the Harrow penalty area. He passed the ball out to Peter Dean who laid the ball into the path of Cousins. His shot beat Andray Baptiste all ends up but crashed off the underside of the crossbar.

There is no question of the ball having crossed the goalline as the rebound went towards the penalty spot, where Maclaren had continued his run. He fired in a low shot, through a jungle of defenders' legs, and into the bottom corner to give Hendon a little breathing room.

Stung by this goal, Harrow quickly withdrew Dean Fenton and sent on Jonathan Constant. It gave Borough a numerical advantage in midfield and they converted this in a spell of concerted pressure.

The Greens' defence, however, held firm. Craig Vargas and Burgess did well to limit the number of balls coming from out wide into the penalty area and, there, Parker and Thomas - assisted by Bent and Busby, playing much deeper than usual - dealt with pretty much everything thrown at them.

In the 66th minute, Clarke had his fifth chance to get on the scoresheet, but again Reading was equal to his effort. Four minutes later Warren Whitely replaced Nakashima and he came desperately close to bringing Borough back into the match. His angled drive brought out the very best in Reading, who pushed the ball away from his right post.

Lee O'Leary replaced Busby for the final 20-odd minutes as the Greens hung on with increasing nervousness. Having already thrown away a couple of two-goal leads in the previous six weeks, there was good reason for this unease, but that was dispelled with a third goal - and second on the counter-attack - with eight minutes of normal time remaining.

Cousins was all alone on the right wing when a ball out of defence found him. He ran at Tobi Jinadu, the only defender between him and goal, but was joined by both Dean and Bent to his left.

The ball went to Bent, who had timed his run perfectly to get behind Jinadu and remain onside. Controlling the ball, Bent waited for Andray Baptiste to commit himself before striking a confident shot into the net.

Lubo Guentchev and Danny Dyer replaced Dean and Cousins, respectively, in the minutes after the goal and Richard Orlu came on for Ryan Watts for the now dispirited home team. And Guentchev could have added an even more unfair look to the scoreline when he was set up in the first minute of stoppage time. His shot beat Baptiste but flew inches past the far post.

"The 3-0 scoreline flattered us," admitted a very relieved McCann, "the goals did come against the run of play. But the way things have gone in recent times, I don't give a fig about being lucky. We desperately needed the three points.

"We were very edgy for the first 25 to 35 minutes, but for the last 55-odd minutes were more than in the match. I thought our defence was much better today."