Hendon won their second straight Ryman League Premier Division fixture when Mark Nicholls converted an 89th minute penalty to break Hampton & Richmond Borough's hearts. Incredibly, the Greens have robbed the Beavers of League points by scoring late goals in each of their last three meetings.

With John Frendo unavailable, Dave Hunt took over as centre-forward, an alien position and he performed well, without ever looking a genuine goal threat. However, two excellent chances in the opening 12 minutes went the way of Dave Sargent, but he failed to force Kieran Drake into making a save on either occasion.

After again dominating the opening quarter without making a breakthrough, Hendon lost the initiative, but this time were made to pay. Dave Nolan had already made two goalline clearances, the first of which appeared to be with a hand after Dave King had made a superb half-save, when Hampton took a 31st minute lead.

Once again, Hendon's frailty at set pieces was starkly exposed. A free header for Jamie Jarvis at a corner saw the ball go towards the back post, where Luke FONTANA was able to lose his marker before planting a second header past King and into the net.

Hendon hit back very positively and an immediate equaliser was denied by a superb, flying save by Drake. Unfortunately for the goalkeeper, it only delayed the disappointment for a couple of minutes.

The Hampton defence failed to deal with the corner and when the ball broke wide of the goal, NICHOLLS had a clear sight at goal, albeit from a very acute angle. The former Chelsea striker drilled in a low show that Drake could only help over the line via an instep.

Sadly, after a really entertaining first half, the second deteriorated into a scrappy, niggly affair with chances at either end at a premium. In the 48th minute, Hampton fans were convinced that they had retaken the lead when Michael Currie side-footed the ball towards an unguarded goal from about three yards out. Somehow, he mishit and underhit the shot and a retreating Hendon defender was able to hack the ball clear.

Hendon's best effort appeared to be a 78th-minute shot from Wayne Carter that a defender's boot deflected inches wide of Drake's right post with the goalkeeper well beaten. Carter injured himself striking the ball and had to leave the game, to be replaced by Jamie Burgess.

Almost immediately, the substitute showed his great commitment by whipping the ball away from Craig Lewington with a whole-hearted lunge that got nothing but ball. Lewington, however, took exception to the challenge and pushed over Burgess, who did not retaliate. It did create something of a melee that referee Stephen Phipps finally settled by cautioning both players.

As the game moved into the final couple of minutes, Eugene Ofori chased a backpass and forced Drake into a sliced hurried clearance that fell to Martin Vrhovski - who had replaced Hunt midway through the second half.

Vrhovski quickly passed to Nicholls, who was almost scythed in half by a lunging challenge from substitute Marcello Fernandes. Although he was able to jump out of the way, an irate Nicholls showed his displeasure to the Beavers' defender. Again the result was a yellow card, but only for the Hampton man.

The free-kick was curled into the penalty area but before any player could make contact with the ball, Mr Phipps blew his whistle and, to the horror of the visitors, pointed to the penalty spot. The referee had seen Jarvis shove Rene Street in the back and although a few of the Hampton players questioned the decision, Jarvis was not one of them.

Up stepped NICHOLLS and his spot-kick flew into the net well beyond Drake's vain dive. There were five minutes of stoppage time, but Hendon were able to play out time without too many alarms.

"We did very well in the first half," said manager Tony Choules, "and did a job in the second. We lost a bit of discipline and composure late in the game.

"Today it was a matter of winning ugly and although I want to win pretty, there are times you just have to take what you get. We are getting better and that is important."