Hendon not only moved out of the bottom three but also opened up a ten-point gap between them and the bottom two after an eventually comfortable defeat of Walton & Hersham at a windswept and boggy Claremont Road. The three-goal winning margin, the Greens' second in three outings, will also do wonders for their goal difference.

Davis Haule came in for his first start since returning from Yeading, taking over from Rakatahr Hudson. For the Haule brothers it was the first time they had ever started a match together, something Davis admitted felt a little strange.

This was the only change in the Greens' starting line-up, while Hudson and James Burgess were on the bench, alongside Jazz Rose, Ross Pickett and Eseyas Yhdego. On the other hand, Walton & Hersham were unrecognizable from the team that had lost 2-0 to the Greens less than three months ago. Of the 16 on duty at Stompond Lane on 28 October, only full-back Will Jenkins was in the 16 at Claremont Road, and this time he was an unused susbstitute.

The pitch had comfortably passed a lunchtime inspection, though the heavy surface and bitterly cold first half wind certainly made it unpleasant for players and spectators alike, even if the latter weren't getting muddy! Neither team was able to play any flowing football, especially in the first half and a goalless 45 minutes was hardly a surprising return.

In fact, the first half saw only three reasonable openings, and all came in the middle 10 minutes of the period. After 18 minutes, a flicked on corner reached Davis Haule, but the Hendon striker, side-footed the ball wide from close range.

Three minutes later, Walton had an opening when Daniel Ekoku ran onto an astute through ball. However, he was thwarted by Richard Wilmot, the big goalkeeper sprinting off his line to dive at Ekoku's feet and to take the ball away from him.

In the 25th minute, Hendon skipper Lee O'Leary tried his luck with an overhead kick, but the ball just drifted over the angle of post and crossbar.

Hendon were pretty much on top for the whole of the match, but the first-half approach play lacked cohesion and almost all of the attacking players were guilty of taking wrong options when in good positions. The lack of threat offered by Walton probably was the only reason that the frustration didn't boil over.

Defensively, James Parker and Marc Leach will rarely have had as an easy an afternoon in the middle while neither Wayne O'Sullivan nor Kieran Murphy were overtaxed keeping out Walton attacks. Wilmot was forced into two important saves in the whole game, but he too was distinctly underemployed.

Walton had their best spell of the match in the opening five minutes of the second half. After 47 minutes, Wilmot made a fine double save, first keeping out a free kick from Ojo, then blocking the follow-up from Ekoku. Three minutes later, another free-kick was conceded in almost the same place, but this time, Walton went for a quick cross and Murphy read it perfectly to make an interception.

Hendon took the lead after 55 minutes. A free-kick from Murphy picked out Jamie Busby, who lost his marker and suddenly found himself in acres of space. Although he slipped as he looked around and found no one near him, he was able to keep on his feet and controlled the ball. Then, Instead of shooting from an acute angle, he rolled a short pass into the path of Belal Aiteouakrim, who made no mistake with a 12-yard drive.

Having taken the lead, Hendon were able to play with a little more confidence and, suddenly, the once-wayward passes were finding their targets. The Greens were able to exert more pressure and it did not take long for them to double their lead.

A 66th minute corner from O'Leary found Dean Green. His downward header bounced on the edge of the six'yard box and the only player to react to it was Brian Haule, who wasted no time in slamming it into the net.

Three minutes later, the result was put beyond doubt. O'Leary picked out Busby with a superb 40 yard through ball that left the remnants of the Swans defence in tatters. The young midfielder was faced by the quickly closing Clint Davies, but the goalkeeper was neither quick enough to stop Busby shooting nor stop the ball from trickling into the far corner of the net.

In the final 20 minutes, Hendon rather toyed with Walton. They had three or four half-chances, but the ball didn't quite fall for them. In stoppage time, Ross Pickett, turned and fired a shot inches over the crossbar. It would have been an impressive goal and triggered an even more impressive statistic: it would have been Hendon's second four-goal haul in three League matches and the same four players would have scored the goals - all in the second half.

"The first half was a real grind," admitted manager Gary McCann, "but after the break we were much more fluid and enterprising. In the second half some of our finishing was clinical. Jamie Busby was outstanding today - even in the first half when everyone else was off the pace, he looked sharp and lively - and he thoroughly deserved his goal."