Hendon crashed out of the FA Cup at the last qualifying stage, going out 5-0 at the hands of Nationwide Conference side Stevenage Borough at Broadhall Way on Saturday. But to make matters much worse, Mark Burgess, Richard McDonagh and James Burgess were all sent off during an ugly second half.

Danny Butler failed to recover from the injury he picked up the previous round's replay win over Leyton, so James Burgess continued in his place, while Danny Julienne came in for the suspended Dave Nolan. With Dave Hunt out on loan at Hertford Town, Hendon named only four substitutes.

As things turned out, the match was actually decided in the 12th minute. Dave King had already made one save from Anthony Elding, while Eugene Ofori had rolled a shot just wide of Andy Woodman's goal, when Dannie Bulman lifted a diagonal ball over the Hendon defence towards the penalty area. ELDING timed his run to perfection, collecting the pass before James Burgess could react and he drilled a low shot off the exposed King's body into the bottom corner.

Stevenage were always comfortable in the first half, but could not add to their advantage. A couple of chances were fired a long way wide before George Boyd was just wide with a flicked header from a 24th minute corner.

Almost immediately, Hendon won a free kick in a dangerous position and Ren� Street got on the end of Mark Nicholls' set-piece. The ball went just wide of the target with Woodman struggling to get across.

The challenges were beginning to fly in and the referee ran out of patience with Mark Burgess, cautioning him in the 30th minute for a lunge on Boyd.

Five minutes before half-time, a quick break from Hendon set up a half-chance, but Danny Julienne's pass to John Frendo went just behind the striker and Stevenage were able to clear.

Richard McDonagh was the second Hendon player to be cautioned, this one being for a foul on Bulman in the 44th minute. From the resulting free-kick King did well to push aside Bulman's header.

The second half was pretty much one-way traffic with all routes leading towards King's goal - except for what became the well-trodden path to the early bath. Barely two minutes into the period Brian Quailey burst past Street, but his control let him down as he got into the penalty area and King was able to gather the loose ball.

In the 52nd minute, after a rare moment of miscontrol, Dave Sargent was favourite to win a challenge with Bulman. The Stevenage player dived in with reckless abandon and Sargent only avoided injury because he saw it coming and leapt in the air to avoid too much damage. Hendon players, incensed by the challenge retaliated and, when matters had calmed down, the referee dismissed Mark Burgess for throwing a punch in the melee.

Bulman was lucky not to receive a similar punishment for his tackle, but was not so fortunate when picking up an injury a few minutes later after tangling with James Burgess. Borough fans felt it was a foul, but the referee and his assistant close by, saw nothing wrong.

King then made a fine save to keep out an effort from former Barnet man Jon Brady and Street did well to block a Quailey shot before the red mist descended again. Justin Gregory, who had only been on the pitch for four minutes, made a challenge similar to the one by James Burgess on Bulman - again without sanction - this time on McDonagh.

The Hendon player, however, kicked out in retaliation, an act seen by the assistant referee. After a brief consultation, McDonagh was invited to join Mark Burgess in the dressing room. Ross Pickett was introduced in the 70th minute, at the expense of Frendo, in a bid to shore up the defence.

Three minutes later, Michael Brough, who had replaced the injured Bulman, tried his luck with a 20-yard shot. It was a clean strike, but King will be very unhappy with his inability to keep it out of the net. With 15 minutes to go, Boyd wrong-footed the goalkeeper with an 18-yard shot after strolling to the edge of the box unchallenged.

The goal of the game came in the 86th minute when Rob Quinn drilled a 30-yard strike into the far corner. It was a beautiful strike, completely out of keeping with the previous 40 minutes of action.

The tiring Wayne Carter and Eugene Ofori were replaced by Anthony Robinson and Usif Bangura, respectively, in the last minute of normal time. However, in the third minute of three of stoppage time, Nicholls tripped Craig McAllister in the box and the substitute confidently knocked home the resulting penalty, his first goal for the club since signing from Basingstoke Town.

The referee then found another 90 seconds to add the completed advertised extra three minutes and in that time, things only got worse for Hendon. James Burgess launched himself at McAllister, the substitute got up and appeared to butt Burgess. The referee sent off Burgess, but only cautioned McAllister.

Manager Tony Choules was almost lost for words after the final whistle, saying only, "I am very, very disappointed."