Hendon had by far their easiest victory in three attempts against Enfield Town in the Middlesex Senior Cup. The Greens who had recorded a 1-0 semi-final win in 2002 and a 2-0 final victory in 2003, as well as a 1-0 George Ruffell Trophy win also in 2002, hit five without reply at Claremont Road on Tuesday night.

John Frendo set Hendon on the way in the 19th minute with an unchallenged far-post header from four yards out as the swirling wind ensured Dave Sargent's corner eluded everybody else in a packed penalty area.

A desperately poor first half had no more scoring, but Gary Farrell's half-time team talk made it very clear to the Hendon players that much more was expected of them going forward, even if the defence had been almost unemployed in the opening 45 minutes.

It took all of 50 seconds for proof that the message had got through. Dave Sargent's run into the box went uncontested and when the ball reached him, he had time to pick his spot before shooting past Andy Hall.

Huge holes in the Enfield Town defence continued to appear at regular intervals and Mark Nicholls was the next to take advantage, in the 58th minute, sending a 25 yard screamer off a stanchion when he could just have easily beaten Hall one-on-one from closer range.

In the 65th minute, Nicholls did take that option and he made it 4-0. This was followed, two minutes later, by the one black spot of the night, the second yellow card picked up by Steve Brady for a badly mistimed challenge on Matt Negus and referee Tony Power had little hesitation in dismissing him.

For Enfield Town, things went from bad to worse because Negus was unable to continue, while Dean Nyman also limped off the pitch. Having already made all three substitutions, Town were left with just nine players and that effectively became eight for the final few minutes when Rudi Hall picked up a knock.

In stoppage time Nicholls completed his hat-trick with another simple finish after the dispirited Enfield Town defence had again melted away. Hendon will be away to either Wealdstone or Yeading in the quarter-final.