Hendon produced one of their best performances of the season when they hammered St Albans City 4-1 at Clarence Park on Wednesday night. The victory lifted the Greens 2 points over St Albans into 3rd place in the Ryman League Premier Division, with two games in hand.

Iain Duncan came into the side at the expense of Rob Hollingdale, as manager Dave Anderson kept faith with the bulk of the team that had won the County Cup two days earlier. St Albans, who had not played since the weekend, were distinctly nervous, having conceded 15 goals in the previous 4 games, which had brought them just a single point.

This discomfort was soon evident as a defensive mix-up resulted in Richard Wilmot palming out a deep cross from the Hendon right when no forward could possibly have reached it. A snap shot from Eugene Ofori the flew inches wide of Wilmot's right upright.

The opening goal arrived in the 16th minute. A needless foul by Rob Kean gave Hendon a free-kick 30 yards from goal, level with the penalty area. Jamie Burgess curled in the ball and Ricci Crace, hardly the most dominating of strikers, was able to rise and plant a free header from 12 yards past Wilmot. The ball hit the left upright and as the St Albans defence watched, Steve BUTLER nodded home the rebound from 6 yards.

This seemed to rouse Saints and they hit back within 2 minutes. It also came from a free-kick on the right side. The ball was expertly curled into the penalty area by Richard Evans and, as the Hendon defence dozed, Simon MARTIN reacted quickest to head the ball past David Hook from close range.

It signalled a good spell for St Albans, but Hook was determined not to be beaten again and he made a good scrambling stop in the 26th minute. At the other end, Ofori and Crace were giving Derek Brown and Ryan Moran fits, especially the former. But the closest Hendon came to a second goal was a snapshot from Jon-Barrie Bates that clipped the top of the crossbar.

But if Brown and Moran were discomfited, it was nothing compared to the nightmare evenings endured by the fullbacks, Dominic Naylor and Lee Gledhill. The former Barnet men had nights to forget, teased and outplayed by Paul Yates and Dale Binns out wide. Brown had to retire at half-time, the victim of a groin strain. His replacement, Miguel de Souza, introduced himself to Ofori with a bad foul 15 seconds after the interval to earn a yellow card.

Hendon regained the lead in the 53rd minute. A free-kick, taken by Binns, was won by Paul Towler at the far post. Butler got the next touch, knocking the ball into space 8 yards from goal. As Wilmot tried to gather the ball, CRACE got to it first and rammed it through the blameless goalkeeper's hands and legs into the net. Almost immediately Steve Forbes replaced Towler.

Teenage striker Craig Mackail-Smith was introduced at the expense of Martin for the final quarter of an hour and he had 2 quick chances to score an equaliser, but he wanted too much time and when he was put under pressure, scuffed the opportunities wide.

Any doubts about the result were erased in the 83rd minute. Kean tried to shepherd a ball out of play but was too far from the goalline for this to be a viable tactic and Crace had little trouble in getting the ball away from him. Crace slowed to a near-stop, but Kean, in trying to remedy the situation, ran into the back of Crace, flattening him.

Referee Carl Couzens (Herts) had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot and the only observations from St Albans players were aimed at team-mate Kean for his clumsiness. Up stepped BINNS and he comfortably despatched the spot-kick, sending Wilmot the wrong way.

Saints' misery was completed in the 86th minute. Crace again was the tormentor-in-chief. making a fine burst down the middle. Naylor tried to tackle him, but succeeded only in bringing down the striker from behind. He appeared to injure himself in making the challenge but, as last man, he knew his fate as soon as he was called towards Mr Couzens.

The referee looked almost as pained as the full-back as the red card was flourished, but he really had no alternative. Martin RANDALL, who had come on for Ofori, took advantage of the defensive wall refusing to cover the far side by firing a perfect free-kick beyond Wilmot's dive just inside his right post.

"I am delighted with the way we played tonight," said Mr Anderson. "The boys worked so hard and got their rewards. What was especially pleasing was the way we battered them in the second half, despite having played two days ago."