Hendon missed another great opportunity to move back to 3rd place in the Ryman League Premier Division when a sloppy performance resulted in a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Boreham Wood on Wednesday night.

The match had been postponed on Tuesday night because the pitch was waterlogged, but Trojan work from the groundstaff got the surface playable 24 hours later - the rain have fallen a few hours earlier in the day on Wednesday.

The only change to the starting line-up from Saturday's victorious team against Braintree was Jamie Burgess replacing the absent Iain Duncan. With Jon-Barrie Bates not on the bench and Rob Hollingdale returning to Woking after his 3-month expired, Jamie Kelly and Sam Byfield joined Rob Haworth, Eugene Ofori and Kieran Gallagher as substitutes.

That last quintet were the least responsible for what happened on the pitch, because the starting 11 certainly failed to cover themselves in glory. Hendon were second to most balls and looked sluggish on a difficult surface, that was nonetheless definitely playable.

Even with an FA Cup 1st round tie against Torquay United less than 72 hours away, Boreham Wood were keener and more incisive in just about everything. They even overcame the loss of defender Colin Wall, who limped off with a muscle injury after 20 minutes.

The opening goal came in the 27th minute, when Hendon were penalised on the edge of their penalty area. Ellis KODRA curled the free-kick perfectly over the wall and off David Hook's right post on its way into the net.

All that Hendon could muster in return was a couple of corners. However, nothing came of them.

So it proved. In the 55th minute, Martin Randall made a well-timed run into the penalty area and he headed powerfully at goal. The ball arrived at a comfortable height for Kenny Addai to save.

The decisive moment came in the 67th minute. A cross from Adrian Clarke caught out the Boreham Wood defence and Gary Howard was on the wrong side of Steve Forbes. Trying to recover his position, Howard succeeded only in bundling over Forbes for a penalty, duly awarded by referee Mr I Batchelor.

Paul Yates stepped up and struck the ball firmly, but a good height for Addai. The goalkeeper guessed correctly and made an excellent save, pushing the ball down and regathering it before a Hendon player could follow up for the rebound.

Haworth and Ofori came on for Randall and Yates as Hendon went to a 3-man attack, but the veteran Lee Harvey marshalled the Boreham Wood defence well, allowing neither them nor Ricci Crace even a glimmer of a chance. In the 87th minute, Ofori had a half-chance as the ball ricocheted around in front of the Boreham Wood goal, but Addai quickly smothered it.

Then, in the 89th minute, as Hendon tried to play their way out of defence, Scott FORRESTER pounced on a loose ball and fired past Hook for a second goal, that Wood barely deserved.

"I said to Jon Turner when Paul Yates missed the penalty that was our last chance," admitted manager Dave Anderson. "If we had scored then I am sure we would not have lost. On nights like that, when the pitch is heavy, you don't get that many chances, and I don't think there were more than 3 good ones in the whole game."