Hendon made it eight wins in nine Ryman League Premier Division fixtures with a last-minute penalty victory over Bedford Town at Claremont Road on Saturday afternoon.

If a 90th minute penalty - however blatant - suggests Hendon were lucky winners, that would be wrong, because the Greens were good value for the three points. Bedford, however, were almost inconsolable at the manner of their defeat and their efforts probably merited some reward.

Steve Forbes made his 100th Hendon appearance, coming in for Jon-Barrie Bates, while Steve Butler took over for Marien Ifura, recalled by Queens Park Rangers and Dale Binns started in place of Iain Duncan. Antony Howard was named as a substitute, having missed three weeks with a thigh injury.

The match was played in fine spirit and was entertaining, if not of the highest class, but the strong wind and hard pitch made flowing football almost impossible. Bedford had the wind at their backs in the first half, but still were on the back foot for much of the opening period.

In the fourth minute, Hendon should have been awarded a penalty when Ricci Crace was kneed in the thigh by James Taylor. The striker had controlled the ball at the angle of the six-yard box but before he could shoot, Taylor bundled into him.

There was neither malice nor intent in the challenge, but there was clear contact. Unfortunately, referee Eric Mackrell saw nothing untoward, nor did his assistant Mr O'Brien.

In the 11th minute, Liam Folds headed clear a free-kick from Dwayne Plummer that seemed destined for the roof of the net, until the wind blew the ball to a halt three yards short of the line. Plummer was denied again, in the 24th minute, when he cut in from the left side and drilled a shot towards the near post. Ian Brown got down well to make the save.

The closest either team came to scoring was Bedford. In the 35th minute, a 30-yard free-kick was magnificently struck by Julian Capone. His shot swerved and dipped, but Dave King's save was the equal of the strike, if not better, but he was fortunate that Drew Roberts knocked the rebound wide of the goal.

Brown was again forced into action in the 42nd minute. This time he almost fluffed a header from Forbes, after Andy Cook had flicked on Scott Cousins' corner, going down a little early and having too stretch above his head to gather the ball.

The benefit of the wind was shown in the opening minute of the second half when Mark Burgess' long clearance bounced past Folds and Noel Quinn and fell for Plummer. He again tried for the near post, but Brown again came out on top, making a top-class save.

In the 50th minute, the Hendon defence stood off Capone as he gathered the ball in the centre circle. With no defender shutting him down, Capone ran 25 yards towards the Hendon goal before letting fly with another shot that required King to make an athletic save.

Butler had a couple of chances to open the scoring, but was wide with a header and a shot. Binns caused problems for Steve Jackman down the Hendon left and his crosses were raked clear by defenders with more than a hint of desperation.

The end-to-end nature of the game continued as Mark Cooper was penalised twice in 90 seconds on the edge of the Hendon penalty box, but the free-kicks didn't cause Hendon too many problems.

Cousins also came close to scoring twice. First a corner was headed away by Capone, guarding the far post, then a left-foot drive went a foot past Brown's right post with the keeper committed to going the other way.

In the 77th minute, Crace flicked a ball into the path of Eugene Ofori, who sprinted clear of the last defender. Brown was quickly off his line, so Ofori went for a delicate lob, but watched in horror as it sailed in the wind over the crossbar.

From the resulting goal-kick, a Bedford attack saw Chris Dillon created a great opening for Roberts, but he snatched at his shot and King was able to grab the ball by the near post.

In the 81st minute, Crace went off to be replaced by Pat Gavin. It proved to be an inspired substitution as Gavin played a key role in the match's decisive moment.

The game was well into the final minute of normal time when Forbes attacked down the right wing. His cross was flicked on by Cook at the near post and the ball went from Binns into the path Gavin. As the substitute prepared to shoot Neil Lazarus and Jackman both tried stop Gavin shooting and the former went straight into his back.

Gavin fell flat on his face and Mr Mackrell immediately pointed to the spot, undoubtedly the right decision. While three or four defenders begged the official to reconsider, four tangerine-shirted players lay on the ground in abject misery.

There was huge pressure on COUSINS, but he was calm enough to even share a joke with Folds before confidently slamming the penalty into the net. Hendon's joy was certainly tinged with some relief but they got due reward for battling for the full 90 minutes.

"That was an inspired substitution," said manager Dave Anderson, "because we had enough chances to win the game easily, but I didn't know where the goal was going to come from. We are showing that we can win games in different ways."