Gary McCann's managerial debut began successfully as he watched Hendon win for the first time since New Year's Day and move out of the Ryman League Premier Division relegation zone. The performance in the 2-1 victory over Cheshunt could never be described as pretty, but the result was, for the Greens anyway, beautiful.

And not even in his wildest dreams could Mr McCann have expected the start Hendon got. In just the second minute, John Frendo's fine control gave him space in the penalty area. He manoeuvred defenders out of the way so he could deliver an excellent cross to pick out the unmarked Dave Sargent beyond the far post. SARGENT was unmarked as he headed past Michael Kalli to give Hendon the lead.

With the biting, strong wind at their backs, Cheshunt soon took control, mainly through Ross White, who was at the heart of everything good they did.

In the 28th minute, Gary Meakin was the subject of a dreadful lunge by Graeme Butler, who was lucky to receive only a yellow card for the two-footed, knee-lunge on the Hendon defender.

Dave King was by far the busier of the two goalkeepers, but neither defence looked particularly accomplished. Meakin should have won a penalty when he got in front of a couple of Cheshunt defenders, but was charged in the back by Nicky Gyoury and went to ground. Although it wasn't much of a push, it was nonetheless a foul and should have been punished as such.

Hendon hurt themselves by conceding a number of free-kicks around their penalty area and King produced a fine save to deny White after 31 minutes. He had already alertly grabbed a near-post header from Jackson Gash following a Cheshunt corner.

In the 39th minute, Street fouled Andy Aransibia just outside the Hendon box. WHITE took the kick and although King did well to push aside the dipping effort, the goalkeeper was unlucky when the ball ricocheted off the post, hit him on the body and bobbled over the line before he could recover.

With the wind at their backs in the second half, Hendon certainly should have dominated. However, the bounce of the ball still wasn't going the Greens' way where it really mattered. At the other end, Cheshunt rarely looked like threatening the Hendon goal.

In the 66th minute, Danny Julienne released Sargent, but he was denied a second goal by a brilliant save from Kalli, who pushed the ball onto a post.

The Ambers had three attacks of note in the second half. From one, a chip by White fell well wide of the Hendon goal as King vainly came off his line to gather a through ball that was held up in the wind. Another was a dipping swerving free-kick which King did well to block with his body away from danger. The last one was a shot from Gash that flew well wide of the target.

Cheshunt's ambitions were dealt big blows in the 76th and 80th minutes. First Gyoury suffered a serious knee injury blocking a shot from Ofori near the penalty spot and he had to be replaced.

Then Butler mistimed a challenge on Ofori and sent him crashing to the ground. Mr Toyer had no hesitation in producing a second yellow and the inevitable red card. Hendon reacted by withdrawing Dave Hunt and introducing Joe Nartey to add to the pressure on the short-handed Cheshunt defence.

As the game moved into its latter stages, the Hendon pressure built up. Clear-cut chances were at a premium, but the Cheshunt defending seemed to grow in desperation; certainly their time-wasting became more and more obvious.

It seemed as if Cheshunt might just escape with a point as the game moved into stoppage time. But they lost possession in the centre circle and Jason O'Connor quickly released Sargent down the left side.

No defender was close to SARGENT as he ran into the penalty area and, when he shot, Kalli's hands barely slowed the ball on its way into the net for the Hendon winner. Just how much it meant was clear from the dugout celebrations when the ball hit the net and when the final whistle went a few long minutes later.

"Three points was the most important thing today," said a delighted Mr McCann. "Nevertheless there is much room for improvement needed in terms of the team's performance. The conditions were very difficult and it was a real scrap."