Hendon bounced back to winning ways in the Ryman League Premier Division with a 2-1 defeat of Braintree Town at Cressing Road on Saturday afternoon. Although the Greens rose to 5th in the table, the victory was achieved at some cost with Dale Binns limping off after 10 minutes and losing Rob Haworth for the foreseeable future just before half-time.

Fit again Kieran Gallagher started in place of Rob Hollingdale, who dropped to the bench in a reshuffled side that saw Paul Yates move into central midfield, Paul Towler to right-back and Iain Duncan to left-back. The substitutes bench was almost completely changed, with only Ricardo Alves retaining his seat, joined by Hollingdale, Lee Endersby, Steve Weston and Simon Huggett.

Hendon could not have made a better start. Kicking into the teeth of a strong wind, in the 4th minute, a ball out of defence found Ricci Crace on the shoulder of Ollie Blackwell. Using his pace, CRACE sprinted clear, controlled the ball on his thigh and as Paul Catley came off his line, slotted the ball neatly inside the far post. After 12 games without a goal, his joy at scoring was probably matched with an equal dose of relief.

Within 60 seconds, things got even better for Hendon. Binns was pulled down by Luke Hammond a yard outside the penalty area, 18 yards from the goalline. Catley organised the wall to cover the near post and took up a position about a yard off his line and a similar distance from the far post.

All Gallagher could see was half the target, unguarded, almost as if Catley was daring him to try to bend the ball inside the near post. GALLAGHER needed no second bidding and the ball sailed, untouched, into the goal, with Catley rooted to the spot as much a spectator as the 200 who paid to watch the game.

From this point on, things went downhill for Hendon. First, in the 8th minute, a reckless late tackle by Mark Jones on Towler left him limping, but referee Martin Darlow decided not to issue a caution. Two minutes later, Dale Binns went down with an ankle injury and had to be helped off, Endersby replacing him.

In the 25th minute, Tommy Noble had a great chance to reduce the arrears, but he put the ball a yard wide of the near post after being set up Louis Riddle. It was a rare first-half chance for the Iron, whose front pairing of Noble and Paul Cobb was comprehensively outplayed by Lee Harvey and Mark Cooper, while the midfield was almost the personal domain of Jon-Barrie Bates.

Another very late tackle from Jones, this time on Paul Yates resulted in a caution for the full-back, who was lucky to stay on the field. Crace then had a clear run at goal called back by the assistant referee, whose flag was as late as it was wrong, because Crace was a step behind the cumbersome Blackwell when Haworth nodded the ball towards him and a step in front when he controlled it.

Just before half-time, Haworth chased back to pressurise Hammond and tried to turn. His leg gave way and he lay on the ground beating it in agony. He was stretchered off the pitch and taken to hospital, where a serious leg injury was diagnosed, one that will rule him out for the rest of this season.

This led to another reshuffle, with Hollingdale coming on at left back, with Duncan going to left midfield and Endersby into the unlikely role of central striker alongside Crace.

Five minutes into the second half, Braintree reduced the arrears. Dean Parratt delivered a dangerous cross from the bye-line. David Hook dived out to punch the ball clear but could not reach it and as Hollingdale tried to knock it clear under pressure from COBB, the ball ended up in the net.

This should have given Braintree all the encouragement they needed, but their attacks, in the main, lacked invention. Nevertheless, in the 56th minute, Parratt had a free header from 12 yards out, but he failed to hit the target.

Three minutes later, Hendon should have restored their two-goal advantage. Good work by Duncan, Crace and Endersby set up a great chance for Yates, who was little more than 8 yards out. Going for power, rather than placement, Yates blazed his effort over the bar.

Although Braintree forced a succession of corners, Hook didn't have to make any difficult saves. He was excellent on crosses, catching those that neither Cooper nor Harvey dealt with.

At the other end, Crace had two chances to extend the lead. First he wanted a touch before shooting and had the ball taken off his toe, then a clear shot at goal went too high. Endersby was also guilty of over-elaboration when presented with a shooting opportunity.

"I am delighted with the win," said manager Dave Anderson, "but the injuries, especially to Rob Haworth, have taken tke gloss off. It was nice to see Ricci score again and it was worth waiting 8 months to see Kieran's free-kick."