Hendon made it three wins in five Ryman League Premier Division fixtures when Mariusz Serwin scored a spectacular goal to break Carshalton Athletic hearts at Vale Farm on Saturday afternoon.

It was cruel on Carshalton who, for the third consecutive fixture against the Greens had to play for at least 45 minutes with 10 men after a player was sent off. They have failed to score in any of these games and kept only one clean sheet themselves.

The Greens' starting 11 was the same as the one which had snatched victory over Harrow Borough on Bank Holiday Monday, but Dave Diedhiou and Jamie Busby returned to the bench at the expense of James Reading and Fabion Simms.

And, continuing on from the great finish in their last match, Hendon nearly opened the scoring after three minutes. Good interplay between Lubomir Guentchev and Belal Aite-Ouakrim resulted in the latter making space. His shot was hard and true, but Craig Ross was equal to it.

It didn't take long for Carshalton to take control, however, and for most of the next 35 minutes, the play was in and around the Hendon box. James Parker and Michael Peacock did exceptionally well against the dangerous Byron Harrison and Lloyd Blackman, while Chris Henry and Luke Pigden got little change out of Eddie Munnelly and Craig Vargas.

The one exception came after 31 minutes, when Harrison made himself and opening and his powerful drive was well saved by Berkley Lawrencin. Hendon had already been forced into making a substitution, Kevin Maclaren limping off to be replaced by Jamie Busby.

The match flared up in the first minute of first-half stoppage time. Pigden had been incensed when Parker went down after being tripped and made his feelings known to the player and referee.

When Lee O'Leary got to a ball first, just inside the Hendon half, Pigden lunged in. It was an ugly, over-the-top tackle which left O'Leary writhing on the ground in agony. The referee was quick to restore calm and he produced a straight red card. A video of the challenge suggested that the dismissal was entirely deserved.

Carshalton had to change their tactics in the second half, ceding space to Hendon in the 70-odd yards furthest away from their goal, and relying on a back five of Michael Boateng, Ricardo Joseph, David Ray, Justyn Roberts and Karl Murray to repel Hendon's three most dangerous raiders, Aite-Ouakrim, Aaron Morgan and Guentchev.

The move worked a treat and the Robins nearly got a bonus in the 51st minute when quick break was followed by a powerful shot from Harrison, which was brilliantly tipped aside by Laurencin.

Even when Busby, Casey Maclaren and O'Leary joined the Hendon attack, there was no way through. All to often the final ball was found wanting and Hendon had to be careful of the speed on the break that the Robins possessed, so there was an air of caution instead of all out attack.

With eight minutes of normal time remaining, Carshalton lost concentration and when the ball fell to Busby, he sent in laser-shell of a drive, which was magnificently pushed away by Ross.

But the Robins couldn't reorganise their defence quickly enough to deal with a short corner worked between Guentchev and Parker. When the ball was returned to the Bulgarian he picked out his Polish substitute team-mate Serwin, who had just replaced the tiring Morgan.

Serwin, with typical continental flair, went for the spectacular, a scissors-kick volley from waist height. It was perfectly struck and placed - finding the side-netting just inside the far post. Ross, who had vainly appealed for offside against Serwin, was well beaten and the Carshalton team looked crestfallen.

But they set about getting back into the game and they found the Hendon defence suddenly both jittery and uncomfortable. Balls that had previously been cleared without too much trouble, suddenly became hot potatoes, unable to be controlled.

Vargas brought down Henry on the right touchline, level with the penalty area. It was a needless free-kick and Carshalton almost made Hendon pay. The ball was floated in and met by a powerful header from Harrison.

For once, Laurencin was beaten, but luckily for the Greens, the ball struck the underside of the crossbar, bounced down and was hurriedly hacked clear by a green-shirted player. Many Carshalton people raised their hands, but they weren't appealing for the goal, more waving at the heavens for the misfortune.

Hendon didn't learn and Munnelly then gave away a free-kick on the opposite flank. This time, however, the Hendon defence was equal to the danger and Laurencin was able to gather the ball.

Four minutes of stoppage time played on the Hendon nerves, but Aite-Ouakrim and Guentchev nearly combined to score a second goal. Another magnificent piece of defending, this time by Roberts, ensured that the danger passed, but Hendon were able to defend where they preferred, on the edge of the Carshalton penalty area.

Hendon manager Gary McCann said, "I am delighted with the win, but credit needs to go to the opposition. They organised themselves superbly with a five-man defence in the second half and didn't give us much of a look in.

"We lacked a bit of spark and guile in the last third, while we had to be careful we didn't let them break on us.

"But we kept our patience, something that my teams haven't always done and it took a brilliant piece of skill to get the goal."