On Saturday, Hendon had far the better of the exchanges with Enfield Town at the Goldsdown Ground. Ricci Crace and Rob Haworth both should have scored with excellent chances in the opening 10 minutes and Crace was denied a penalty when he was clearly shoved in the back as he went to meet a Dale Binns cross.

Another penalty was turned down when Steve Forbes was tripped in the box, but he and Andy Cook both should have done better with very presentable chances. In defence trialist Steve Reeks looked solid as did the makeshift central pairing of young Greg Joseph and Jon-Barrie Bates. Jamie Burgess was solid as usual. Another player to catch the eye with a very solid performance was Scott Cousins, the former Chelsea reserve.

Dave King had little to do in the game, but he did get down well to save a low shot from Jason Geraghty. His solidity in dealing with crosses was rarely tested by an Enfield Town team lacking a natural leader of the attack, but everything King did, was done without fuss and great confidence.

Martin Randall and Eugene Ofori came on for Haworth and Crace and during the period, Craig MacIntosh, Mark Burgess and Andre Delisser came on for Joseph, Jamie Burgess and Forbes. They offered a different set of problems for Enfield Town and contributed to the only goal.

But first, Ofori nearly opened the scoring with a swerving cross that bounced off the top of the crossbar and rebounded inches away from Forbes, who was following up. A few minutes later, a rasping shot from Binns bounced off the top of the crossbar with goalkeeper Andy Hall well beaten.

The only goal came in the 75th minute. Ofori chased a lost cause and won possession. He cut inside a defender before feeding Delisser, who beat two more opponents. Delisser looked up and threaded an inch-perfect pass into the path of COUSINS, who rifled a first-time effort into the roof of the net. It was a goal good enough to grace any game.