Hendon were distinctly undeserved 3-0 losers to Kingstonian at Kingsmeadow Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Although the Ks, through their more clinical finishing and more positive attacking probably deserved the victory, the three-goal margin was not a reflection on the way the game had gone.

With Peter Dean out following a leg injury picked up against Horsham, Dave Diedhiou came into the midfield and Casey Maclaren moved into a more attacking position. It was good news for the Greens that Lee O'Leary was able to take his place on the subs bench, alongside Glenn Garner.

The Greens should have taken the lead after four minutes when the elder Maclaren found Wayne O'Sullivan darting into the Kingstonian penalty area. He got to the ball before Adam Thompson, but his shot was saved by Rob Tolfrey.

From the corner taken by Scott Cousins, the ball found its way to Diedhiou, whose free header struck the outside of the far post. He really should have put the ball on target and his reaction to the miss was clear for all to see.

The first moment of controversy came after 18 minutes when O'Sullivan again got clear of the Kingstonian defence. He was about to shoot at goal when a combination of Max Hustwick and Thompson sent him crashing to the ground. It was, at the very least a corner, and most probably a penalty.

The referee, who was in a good position to see the incident, clearly didn't want to make a decision, so he looked to his assistant. Both men were paralysed with indecision, but the award of a goal-kick would have been laughable if it had not been so serious.

Three minutes later, Hendon forced another corner and from this one Diedhiou was barged in the back by a Ks defender. This was not as clear cut as the incident with O'Sullivan, but as the referee had been quick to give free-kicks anywhere outside the penalty area for similar challenges, this non-decision smacked of inconsistency.

Both teams should have been reduced to ten men after 27 minutes. A challenge by James Burgess was a foul, but there was nothing violent or malicious about it.

Bashir Alimi, the victim thought otherwise and kicked out at the Hendon player on the ground. Both players got to their feet in an aggressive way and Alimi then punched Burgess, who responded in kind. The referee again took the easy way out and showed both players a yellow card.

In the 31st minute, by the letter of the law, Kingstonian could have been awarded a penalty when a drive from Mo Harkin went straight at the lower midriff of James Parker, who used his forearms to protect himself. It was an entirely involuntary action, but his arms blocked the ball and knocked it down by his feet for him to clear. The referee's non-decision resulted in play continuing.

In the 38th minute, the Hendon defence was breached for the first time and James Reading made a fine save with his legs to keep out an effort from Bobby Traynor. The ball would have crept inside the near post and the goalkeeper deserves credit for the instinctive save.

Half-time arrived with game goalless, but Hendon will have been very happy with their first-half performance against a team which had dominated the opening 45 minutes of the three previous encounters this season.

And things should have got even better for the Greens in the opening five minutes of the second period. They had three good chances, the best of which fell to Casey Maclaren, who headed inches wide from a good position. Billy Dunn forced Tolfrey into a save too.

Then, on the break from a Hendon attack, Kingstonian gave an object lesson in clinical finishing. The ball broke down the Ks left and was quickly switched to the opposite side where Carl Wilson-Denis was running menacingly. He controlled the ball fell and drove it past Reading. The body language of the Hendon team suggested that this was a mortal blow.

It should not have been because Brad Thomas and Parker were playing the ever-dangerous Traynor and Wilson-Denis well; Craig Vargas was more than holding his own, while Burgess and Alimi had effectively taken each other out the contest with a feud that continued to bubble.

Putting efforts on target is a real problem for Hendon and this continued to be the case as they looked for an equaliser. However, as well as Thomas and Parker combined in the Hendon rearguard, the same could be said for Hustwick and Francis Duku, the latter of whom lost only one header all afternoon.

The closest Hendon came to a goal during this period was a flying header from O'Sullivan, the shortest player in the Greens' line-up. He timed his run and jump perfectly to get in front of Thompson, who was grateful to watch the ball fly narrowly wide of the target.

In the 75th minute, Hendon had a third strong penalty appeal turned down. Matt Gray slipped as he tried deal with a through ball intended for Dunn. Gray went to ground and inadvertently stopped the ball with his hand. Again, by the letter of the law, it was handball, and again, the referee waved aside the penalty appeals.

Lubo Guentchev and Garner were waiting on the touchline about to come on, but the change wasn’t made until it was too late, because in the 78th minute Kingstonian made the game safe with a second goal. It was a superb strike from Traynor, but the Hendon defence had lost concentration for a moment and gave him the chance to shoot.

Within 45 seconds of coming on, Garner had the ball in the net, but Dunn was clearly offside in the build-up and the whistle was blown as Garner ran to meet the ball and Tolfrey made no attempt to make a save.

Kingstonian's third goal came in the 84th minute, 90 seconds after James Bent had replaced Burgess. It was another good strike from Traynor, but it really should have been saved by Reading.

And the young goalkeeper was then very fortunate to receive only a yellow card for a rash challenge just outside the penalty area. The ball was not going towards the goal and Traynor may not have been able to reach it, but Reading’s challenge made sure he never had a chance. The free-kick came to nothing.

A very despondent Hendon manager Gary McCann said, "It looked very promising in the first 50-odd minutes and it looked like we were going to get something. For 50 minutes we did really well.

"I don't think the scoreline reflects the game, but how many more times do I have to say that. Their manager Alan Dowson told me we had caused them a lot of trouble, but we do that most teams and we have not got any reward.

"I could use the referee as the excuse for our defeat today, but I have to look much deeper than that. They were more clinical than we were and once they had scored I could see from our body language that we were going to struggle to get anything from the game."