Hendon lost their second game of the long weekend, this time 5-2 at home to Bishops Stortford.

But this was a very strange game, which saw Hendon have 3 great chances in the opening 35 minutes and half a dozen good opportunities in the final 40 minutes. In between, Stortford scored 5 times to settle the contest.

Mark Cooper returned to the side at the expense of Dale Binns, with Richard Evans, Iain Duncan and Scott Cousins shuffled to right back, right midfield and left midfield. Despite 2 very bright substitute appearances, Ricci Crace remained on the bench.

In the second minute, Eugene Ofori fired a shot inches over Micky Desborough's crossbar, and the same player came close when set up by Steve Forbes in the 19th minute.

Bishops Stortford should have taken the lead in the 26th minute, when Roy Essandoh was all alone to meet a teasing cross from Glen Southam, but he directed the effort wide of Dave King's left upright.

Then it was Hendon's chance to go close. A fine cross from Cousins was met with a powerful header from Andy Cook, but Desborough stuck out a leg and produced a fine, instinctive block. The ball fell between Ofori and Duncan and the former couldn't direct the rebound on target.

It proved a costly miss because, in the 37th minute, a weaving run from SOUTHAM went unchecked and he fired into the bottom corner. It was not entirely against the run of play, but Hendon, after a quiet 15 minutes before Cook's chance, had begun to look the more dangerous attacking force.

Two minutes before half-time, the lead was doubled in freakish fashion. Steve Butler attempted to clear a ball from the angle of the six-yard box and made solid contact with the ball. Unfortunately for him and Hendon, the ball struck Richard HOWELL on the head and the ricochet flew inside the angle of the near post and crossbar.

There was little wrong with that defending, just bad luck. But that was not the case in stoppage time at the end of the half. King produced an excellent save to keep out a header following a Southam corner, only for Aaron BARNETT to be all alone as he rifled home the rebound. Just as on Saturday, the Hendon defence paid the penalty for failing to chase a rebound and conceded a costly goal.

Crace replaced Duncan as Hendon went with a more attacking formation. The Greens realised that get back into the game, they had to make a good start to the second half. Conceding 2 goals in the opening 5 minutes was the antithesis of that criterion.

In the 48th minute, HOWELL did well to outbattle Cooper and he fired home a fine shot, but the Hendon skipper was entitled to expect a little support from a teammate. Three minutes later, nobody went to close HOWELL down as he ran from midfield towards the Hendon goal and he sent a magnificent shot into the top corner to complete his hat-trick.

In the 53rd minute, Forbes brought the ball out of defence and sent a long ball over the top of the Bishops Stortford defence, inviting OFORI to show off his pace. The Ghanaian showed Barnett not only a clean pair of heels, but also the danger of letting him shoot, because the strike was low and firm, arrowing into the bottom corner.

Two minutes later, any hopes Hendon had of getting back into the game were washed out for good when Jamie Burgess ran 40 yards to reach a loose ball and even if he made contact with it using his right foot, his left went right through Howell. Referee Mr Geoff Russell consulted with his assistant before he produced the almost inevitable red card.

Binns then came on for the out-of-sorts Martin Randall, but he didn't see much of the ball and in any case was forced to be more defensive than usual without a left back.

With 20 minutes to go, King was put under pressure by Tim Langer but showed some neat control before passing to Evans, who set off on a good run. Evans went past three Stortford players, before delivering an inch-perfect pass into the pass of OFORI. He took the ball in stride and struck another well-directed shot past Desborough.

A third goal soon after might have caused serious concern in the visitors' defence' especially when Alex Riches limped off with an injury, moments after Bishops Stortford had made their third and final substitution.

Ofori almost scored a third goal with a dipping lob that went a metre wide of the Desborough's left post and the same player showed great tenacity in reaching a ball near the byline and crossing. The ball almost blew into the net and the angle was also too tight for Binns when he tried to knock the ball back.

An injury to Cooper in the last few minutes meant that Greg Joseph made his debut, but the young substitute had little chance to shine.

"I am not as upset losing today as I was on Saturday," said manager Dave Anderson. "This was a really strange game. I thought their first goal was against the run of play, then 2 minutes before half time, they get a freakish second, but the third goal was poor defending. Suddenly we're 3-0 down and they score twice in the first 5 minutes of the second half.

"That's job done, game over. But I am very pleased with the way that we fought back to get some pride, although the sending off was absolutely right."