Hendon completed their first Ryman League double of the season with a second 3-1 victory at Ford United's Oakside Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The win lifted the Greens back to 4th in the Premier Division, just 2 points behind 2nd placed Purfleet and with 4 games in hand.

With Martin Randall about to undergo groin surgery, Ricci Crace came into the starting line-up. The other changes saw Steve Forbes take over from Paul Towler, while Noel Staiano and Warren Kelly were on the substitutes' bench.

With a strong wind at their backs in the first half, Hendon needed to press home their advantage before the break. This they did in a superb opening 45 minutes and with a little better finishing they could have turned around with a 5-goal lead.

First to try his luck was Jon-Barrie Bates, who struck a fine 25-yard drive which Paul Newell pushed away for a corner kick. In the 12th minute, Ricci Crace burst past a statuesque Ford defence but failed to find either Eugene Ofori or Kieran Gallagher with his low cross.

Two minutes later, however, he got it right. This time the low ball invited OFORI to get in front of Chris Perkins and slide the ball past Newell with a neat finish.

The Ford defence was being torn to shreds almost every time Hendon went forward. Only a magnificent recovery from Darrell Bourgeois denied Ofori a second goal, but it denied the inevitable by a few minutes.

A long free-kick was aimed at the head of Forbes, but he was beaten to the ball by BOURGEOIS, whose header did just as good a job. With Newell hopelessly out of position, having come off his line when he had not chance of getting to the ball, it looped over him and dropped into the net.

Alex Fiddes prevented a third goal by throwing himself in front of a shot from Paul Yates and Crace and Ofori both came close to adding to Hendon's lead. When they attacked, Ford showed that the game was far from over and they forced a succession of corners as the first half came to a close.

Towler came on for Micky Woolner at the start of the second half, a straight swap at right back, and he was almost caught out in the opening minute of the period. Despite a call to head the ball away, Mark Cooper attempted to find Towler and Ronnie Watson collected the loose ball. He ran at David Hook's goal but wasted a golden chance with a poor shot.

One of the most potent attacks in the division showed why they had failed to score only twice in the the League this season as John Buffong went close with a diving header and Fiddes forced Hook into a full-length save. However, the Motormen's leaky defence was given a few scares when Hendon attacked, because Crace and Ofori still had the measure of them.

In the 69th minute, Hendon finally put the issue beyond doubt with a fine third goal. A chipped ball over the top invited Crace to embarrass Perkins for pace, which he duly did. Newell came off his line in a vain attempt to block Crace, who slipped as around the goalkeeper.

Two defenders got back towards the goal as CRACE regained his feet and the striker lifted the ball expertly into the roof of the net. It was Crace's first League goal for over 2 months.

The goal of the game came in the 79th minute and it gave Ford just a glimmer of hope. The move started with a free-kick 10 yards from the penalty area. Ford lost the ball and Forbes had a chance to clear the danger but succeeded only in finiding Glenn POOLE, who rifled a 25-yard angled drive into the roof of the net.

Iain Duncan and Steve Butler both had chances to restore Hendon's three goal advantage in the final 10 minutes, but Ford had a couple of opportunities of their own. The reality was that form team of the Premier Division were a well beaten outfit.

"As rusty as we were on Tuesday night, we were sharp today," gushed delighted manager Dave Anderson. "Ford are a good team and we outplayed them. This was an excellent performance."