Hendon produced comfortably their worst performance of the season in slumping 5-2 at Heybridge Swifts on Saturday afternoon.

If they had worn red coats and hats with white trim and cotton wool beards, Hendon could not have been more compelling Santas as they gifted goals at Scraley Road. Four goals came from set pieces and, worst of all, two had been awarded to the Greens!

The absence of Richard McDonagh was countered by the surprising switch of Dave Sargent into a wide left midfield role with Rob Courtnage behind him, while Mark Nicholls played deeper to assist Wayne Carter in the middle of the park, For 25 minutes, the plan worked perfectly. Thereafter, oh dear.

In the 7th minute, Nicholls was denied by a brilliant save by Darren Placid. Three minutes later Eugene Ofori shot inches wide, although a pass across the penalty area would have given Ross Pickett and even better chance to open the scoring.

Ofori again went close in the 12th minute, firing just over the bar, but it only delayed the inevitable by three minutes. Dave King started the move with a pass to Mark Burgess. He passed to Danny Butler, who quickly ferried the ball to Sargent. His pass to Nicholls opened the Swifts defence and when the ball reached OFORI, the striker finished with a low strike into the bottom corner.

Another breathtaking passing move almost resulted in a second goal after 18 minutes, but an offside flag denied Nicholls and it seemed as if Hendon were on course to emulate their six-goal trouncing of Heybridge three years earlier.

Instead, in the 34th minute, a free-kick from Danny Barber crashed off the Hendon post and an equaliser was only denied by the offside flag, two Swifts players being trapped in active positions once the ball rebounded towards them.

In the 39th minute, a corner from Sargent never got close to a green shirt in the penalty area and was hacked to the edge of the box by Scott Forbes. Erdem Argun lashed the ball downfield and, three passes later, Sean Marks swept the ball past King into the net for Heybridge's equaliser.

Three minutes into the second half, a Heybridge free-kick was allowed to reach Carl Griffiths and the former Manchester City and Portsmouth striker was given more than enough space to control the ball, turn and pick his spot, shooting past the blameless King.

The big goalkeeper then produced three fine saves to keep Hendon in the match, but the inevitable was delayed only a few minutes. And it came from another piece of suicidal defending. Hendon won a free-kick near their box, but Shayne Demetrious, on for Courtnage, was quickly caught in possession less than 20 yards from his own goal and Gary Hill took full toll, making it 3-1.

John Frendo's introduction, at the expense of Pickett, livened up Hendon, but Heybridge scented victory and defended tigerishly. Sadly, the arrival of Steve Brady - in place of Carter - didn't lead to the hoped-for stretching of the Swifts defence. Instead it became 4-1.

Non-existant marking a free-kick in the 80th minute led to Heybridge's fourth goal. The ball was floated into the box, but nobody made life difficult for Adam Gillespie, who powered home a header.

Ofori's second goal, in the 82nd minute offered brief hope of a miraculous comeback, but the dreams were dashed six minutes later when Forbes did pretty much as he pleased when receiving the ball on the edge of the Hendon box. He was allowed to turn and fire past the exposed King to complete an afternoon of misery for the Greens.

"For 30 minutes were sound all round," said manager Gary Farrell, "but after they scored it was like we left the front door open and the back door open too.

We discussed the tactics we were going to use today not only at training on Thursday, but also during the warm-ups here. But the players seemed to ignore them completely after the first 30 minutes. I am so disappointed."