Hendon moved back up to 5th in the Ryman League Premier Division with a 2-0 defeat of Grays Athletic at the Recreation Ground on Thursday night. Two goals in 5 second half minutes were enough to seal the victory, despite the Greens playing the final 15 minutes with 10 men after Iain Duncan was sent off.

With the injury list beginning to ease, Hendon were able to finally begin thinking of using their extended squad a bit more. However, the plans were thrown into disarray when Kieran Gallagher had to pull out of the squad with a migraine. James Burgess was called into the starting line-up, while Ricardo Alves was given his first start and both Micky Woolner and Eugene Ofori returned after missing almost a month.

The early pressure came from Grays, but Hendon were hampered by referee Mr J Beadle, who seemed determined to be the centre of attention all night. In just the second minute, Ofori had a cross deflected over the goalline by Peter Smith, but Mr Beadle ruled it was a goal kick. None of the Grays players even appealed for a goal-kick and if the official had stopped for even 2 seconds, he would have noticed they were setting up to defend a corner.

Grays' problem this season has been scoring goals, 45 goals from 38 games including this one, and it reared its head again. Carl Leaburn headed wide from close range after 17 minutes and David Hook produced a good save todeny Simon Antangana shortly after that.

All to often, Grays used the long ball, but this was meat and drink to Mark Cooper and Lee Harvey, who had excellent games at the heart of the Hendon defence. Hendon decided to crowd the midfield, with Paul Yates coming off the wing to supplement Steve Forbes and Alves and with Grays also keeping it down the middle, the game screamed out for a little bit of creativity. Forbes had a couple of runs, but he was crowded out before he could shoot.

The second half started with Grays taking the initiative. Leaburn headed wide from close range in the 48th minute and Hook produced a brilliant save in the 51st minute.

After almost 10 minutes hemmed inside their own half, Hendon finally were able to launch an attack, but nothing came of it. Then, in the 58th minute, Hendon showed Grays how to take a chance.

Jack Midson dispossessed Jamie Jarvis and prodded a pass into the path of FORBES, who looked up, steadied himself and drilled a shot across Mel Capleton into the far corner of the net.

Shell-shocked, Grays gifted Hendon a second goal within 3 minutes. A back-pass to Capleton was a little bit short and Midson chased a seemingly lost cause. His effort was enough to unsettle Capleton, whose clearance barely reached midfield.

Duncan knocked the ball straight back towards the unguarded goal but it would probably have curled wide of the far post. However, OFORI had chased into the penalty area, was in front of Jarvis as the ball arrived and he headed the ball home from 8 yards out.

Although nobody from Grays even appealed, Ofori looked to be many yards offside because Capleton was outside the penalty area and there was a maximum of one defender between him and the goal when Duncan knocked the ball towards him. Mr Beadle and his assistants, whose application of the laws was questionable all evening long, got this one horribly wrong.

Frustration set in for the hosts. Martin Randall had replaced Midson soon after the second goal and, 10 minutes later, he was struck by Jarvis almost in front of the referee. Both players were lectured although Randall appeared to do nothing to warrant either the attack on him or the lecture. Jarvis had already committed a number of bad fouls and was distinctly lucky to remain on the field.

In the 75th minute, Duncan took the law into his own hands and he committed a bad foul on Steve Robinson, catching him late and from behind. A number of Grays players took the law into their own hands before Mr Beadle showed Duncan a red card. Strangely no Grays player was even cautioned for the retaliation.

Even with 10 men, Hendon held on with a degree of confidence. Jermaine Hunter was introduced down the left side in a bid to inconvenience Woolner and Yates, but the move did not work. Whenever a ball came into the penalty area, either Cooper, Harvey or Hook took control. In the final 5 minutes, Alves and Ofori were replaced by Rob Hollingdale and Ricci Crace, as much as anything to save them for future battles.

"I am delighted with the win," said manager Dave Anderson. "It was not a great game, but our defence was magnificent, especially captain fantastic Mark Cooper, and we took our chances."