Hendon lost their second consecutive match in disappointing circumstances on Saturday at Vale Farm, becoming the first victims of a double this season for Waltham Abbey in a 2-0 defeat. As in the first fixture at Capershots in November, a heavy pitch and persistent drizzle favoured the more direct approach taken by the Abbotts rather than the passing preferred by Gary McCann.

The Greens' side saw six changes from the team beaten at Brimsdown Rovers on Thursday night with Berkley Laurencin, Scott Cousins, James Parker, Jamie Busby, Lee O'Leary, and Casey Maclaren all returning to the side. James Reading, Craig Vargas, Danny Dyer, Kevin Maclaren and James Burgess all returned to the bench. The late arrival of one of the match officials saw the game kick off ten minutes late.

The first half provided little excitement for the sparse crowd, the ball largely being bogged down in midfield as neither side were able to take control of the game. It took ten minutes before either side were able to get a shot on goal, Marc Sontag striking the ball towards Berkley Laurencin's goal from around 30 yards. Unfortunately for the Abbotts, the effort was off target and comfortably wide of Laurencin's left post.

The effort lifted the home side, the Greens creating their two best chances of the half within quick succession. First, James Bent responded by forcing Harry Ricketts to drop low to his left for a save from around 25 yards.

Within a minute Hendon were nearly ahead after good work from Lubomir Guentchev and Casey Maclaren fed Peter Dean wide on the right. Dean delivered a dangerous ball deep into the six yard box, which Ricketts fumbled and dropped. Although the ball rolled through his legs towards the back post where Maclaren was lurking, the 'keeper was able to recover and reclaim the ball before the forward could get a toe on it.

The Abbotts got themselves back into the game though, and started to carve out their own chances. A scramble on 24 minutes saw Hendon finally able to clear the ball outside the penalty area, but only to a yellow shirt. It was fed back through to James Eames who fired home from close range but failed to see the home defence step up and found his effort chalked off by the offside flag.

The rest of the half passed with both sides struggling to string more than a few passes together and each defence holding the other fairly comfortably at bay. Hendon had one more chance, Maclaren feeding Guentchev on the right flank, but the low driven cross was unable to find a final touch.

At the far end, chances were just as rare, although just before the half-time whistle went, Sontag again decided to try his luck, this time seeing his effort ricochet off the crossbar from around 12 yards.

The second half provided a touch more excitement for those in attendance, even if the quality of play remained below par. It took just seven minutes before the deadlock was finally broken. Dave Diedhiou came across to stop a run into the Hendon penalty area, but dived into his tackle and took the player rather than the ball. EAMES took the inevitable penalty, driving the ball low to Laurencin's left, leaving the 'keeper with no chance despite diving the right way.

Within five minutes, James Bent took a tumble inside the left edge of Waltham Abbey's penalty area. Referee Matt Foley waved away appeals this time though, and the ball ran through for a goal kick.

The Greens began to take a little more control of the game as the Abbotts seemed to sit on their lead for a period, James Bent firing wide and straight at the 'keeper, while Maclaren and Guentchev again fed Peter Dean who could only find the crossbar and see the ball spin out for another goal kick.

With fifteen minutes left to play, the result was left in little doubt. A long ball from Ricketts was left by Bradley Thomas leaving Laurencin to hurriedly deal with it. Unfortunately for Hendon, just before he could arrive, Billy Holland reached the bouncing ball and was able to flick it over the exposed goalkeeper with his head and into the net from the edge of the penalty area.

Things almost got worse for Hendon in the 79th minute when Holland had beaten the defence and looked favourite to score. Laurencin charged out towards the forward and failed to connect with anything but the forward. Fortunately though, Foley decided a free kick was enough punishment and the young goalkeeper escaped without even a caution.

Hendon had one final good chance, Kevin Maclaren receiving the ball wide on the right and putting a dangerous ball into the penalty area that Casey Maclaren met with full force. Unfortunately, the header had all the power it needed, but not the direction - going wide of the left post.

"It was a disappointed that confounded the disappointment of Thursday night." Said McCann after the game. "I thought we had the better of the first 20-25 minutes, but without getting the first goal we became edgy and nervy."

"The Waltham Abbey back 4 were outstanding, but once again our lack of confidence in the final third showed - understandably to some extent with Casey and Lubo up front, neither of whom are natural strikers who have not gone through barren spells before. We'll do our best to pick ourselves up for Tuesday night now."