Hendon crashed out of the FA Cup, losing 2-1 to Hastings United at The Pilot Field on Saturday afternoon. What hurt more than missing out on the £10,000 prize money for winning a third-qualifying round tie was the fact that it was that the Greens' performance was, to be kind, hugely disappointing.

With Woking again refusing to release on-loan Rob Hollingdale to play in the club, Hendon elected to drop Iain Duncan back to full-back and insert Kieran Gallagher on the left side of midfield. The continued absence, through injury, of Ricci Crace, Jon-Barrie Bates and Dale Binns limited the substitute options to Sam Byfield, Micky Woolner, Martin Randall and Brian Haule, plus goalkeeper Dan Burton, the only squad players with first-team experience this season.

Whether it was the formation, collective stinkers from too many of the team or simply because Hastings had the better players, Hendon were on the back foot for almost all of the first half and, indeed, were lucky to lose by only one goal.

In the fourth minute, Steve Forbes tried his luck from 30 yards, but the ball curled at a comfortable height to Dave King. It was to be Hendon's first and last on-target effort for 80 minutes.

By this time, Hastings had already lost midfielder Stuart Myall with an ankle injury. It happened in the opening minute, when he hurt himself attempting to ride a challenge from Paul Towler. James Body came on for him and slotted into his midfield position.

The two biggest problems Hendon encountered in the first half were a near-total lack of width in attacking positions from Paul Yates on the right and Gallagher on the left, while the defence worked overtime because they failed to find green shirts when they cleared the ball.

While Eugene Ofori can be dangerous from almost anywhere on the pitch, Rob Haworth really needs to be near the opposing penalty area to be truly effective. Hastings did superbly to ensure that the only time Haworth really saw the ball was when he had his back to goal and was, in any case, nearer the centre-circle than the penalty area. The few crosses that did arrive failed to put King under any sort of pressure.

Hendon's man of the match was David Hook. The goalkeeper produced a fine save after 10 minutes to deny Tony Burt, whose 30-yard shot had him diving at full stretch to keep the ball out. He was, however, well beaten by a 20-yarder from Paul Ruddy, after 23 minutes, but this time the top of the crossbar came to Hendon's aid.

In the 38th minute, half of the Hastings team were leaping in the air to celebrate Landry Zahana-Oni's opening goal, only to be stilled in their joy by a breathtaking intervention by Hook.

At half-time Hendon must have been the happier team because they had been completely outplayed but were still level. The dressing room talk must have worked after a fashion, because the Greens were at least better in the second half.

Not as good as Hastings, however, and it was no surprise when they took the lead in the 55th minute. Almost as unsurprising was the fact that a Hendon defensive error led to the goal.

A bad header on the edge of the Hendon box went up in the air instead of away from danger. The ball was fed out to the left wing and Danny SIMMONDS, Hastings scorer in the 1996 clash, repeated the dose, this time with a superb strike from about 20 yards into the roof of the net.

Almost immediately Ofori struck a first-time shot that surprised King and the goalkeeper acknowledged that, had the ball gone just inside the angle of post and crossbar instead of outside, he would have been as much a spectator as the fans behind the goal.

Hendon's first genuine effort on target came in the 83rd minute. A snapshot from Towler through a crowd of players was brilliantly tipped aside by King. By this time the Dons had made two substitutions, Randall replacing Haworth and Haule coming on for Gallagher. The former came close with a diving header at a free-kick from the right side, but the ball went just wide of the far post.

In the 86th minute, Hastings made the game safe. A long downfield clearance found Hendon's defence committed to attack. Substitute Graham WEBB ran diagonally across the edge of the Hendon and having got into a good position, beat Hook.

Stunningly, Hendon hit back within seconds. From out of nothing, FORBES struck a 25-yard shot that seemed likely to fly into the top corner, but it struck Adam Flanagan on the chest and ricocheted into the net near to the other post.

As the game moved into stoppage time, Hencon almost snatched a most undeserved equaliser. A free-kick 25 yards from goal was curled towards the target by Randall. King parried the ball to one side. Butler tried to cross it back into the danger area but it was bundled away for a corner, from which Hastings cleared the ball with a degree of panic.

"I have no complaints about the result," admitted manager Dave Anderson. "It is the way that we played that upset me. I am very, very disappointed with that performance, probably our worst in the last 30 matches.

"You will never win a cup match - or any game for that matter - if you perform that poorly."