Hendon were made to work very hard to keep intact their perfect start to their Ryman League Premier Division campaign when Harrow Borough visited Vale Farm on Bank Holiday Monday afternoon. In their first four matches, the Greens have faced and beaten, three of last season's top eight (two of whom made the playoffs) and three of the top seven in the preseason championship betting.

There were no changes to the starting line-up 48 hours after the defeat of Carshalton Athletic, but the bench had two alterations, with Junior Lewis and Aaron Morgan being replaced by Danny Dyer and Bradley Fraser, neither of whom saw duty. Harrow, meanwhile, with just two points from three matches, made seven changes.

The first half was something of an arm wrestle. Former Hendon boss Dave Anderson made defence a priority for Borough and they largely kept Carl McCluskey and Greg Ngoyi quiet. Neither team was blessed with a multitude of height - Nick Pope, the Borough goalkeeper towered above all his team-mates and while McCluskey and Dave Diedhiou were taller than any Harrow defender, crosses were a rarity in the visitors' penalty area.

Maybe Hendon should have done more with them because not only did they nearly score with a first-half set-piece, the only goal of the period came from a ball delivered into the danger area by Scott Cousins' trusty left foot.

It was a 19th minute corner, delivered by Elliott Godfrey which nearly opened the scoring. A flick at the near post from James Archer was headed goalwards by McCluskey and, with the back post unmanned, Pope was left sprawling as the ball bounced against the far post. The goalkeeper, however, got lucky as the rebound fell into his arms and neither over the line nor into the path of a following-up green shirt.

Harrow won a couple of free-kicks around the Hendon penalty area, but Ryan Wharton and Peacock comfortably dealt with high balls and Berkley Laurencin, one misplaced punch apart, caught anything close to him, under little pressure. When Borough tried their luck from longer range, there wasn't the power or the accuracy to trouble the Hendon keeper.

While Laurencin looked assured in almost everything he did, the same could not be said for Pope, who flapped wildly - without punishment - at one cross and twice failed to get height or distance with clearances from his boot. One effort was controlled by Godfrey, 40 yards from goal, but his pass couldn't release McCluskey.

After 32 minutes Casey Maclaren and Jamie Busby combined well on the right side and the former delivered a teasing low ball which Shaun Wanklyn hacked to safety just before it reached, Ngoyi who, for once had got clear of his marker Wayne Walters.

The best move of the first half brought Hendon the opening goal. In the 43rd minute, Hendon attacked down the middle and the ball was sent to McCluskey, who had half a yard of space. Manny Williams quickly closed him down, assisted by Walters, so McCluskey laid the ball back to Cousins and ran into the penalty area.

Cousins' cross forced Pope to come off his line, but his punch was hampered by Ngoyi and Wanklyn. The ball went to the edge of the penalty where Dave Diedhiou was in splendid isolation. At first Diedhiou appeared ready to lash the ball goalwards, but he spotted the recovering Walters and Gary Jones going back to cover the goal, so he cleverly dinked the ball over the prostrate Pope.

Both Jones and Walters watched the ball float towards the top corner and were unable to do anything to stop it. In fact, Walters attempted overhead kick came closer to doing serious damage to Jones's head than it did to touching the ball.

Before the second half started, Hendon replaced Ngoyi with Isaiah Rankin - pretty much a like for like substitution - and Rankin's first major involvement led to Hendon's second goal. His run into the penalty area resulted in the ball being bundled away for corner, which Godfrey and Busby stood over.

Godfrey rolled the ball to Busby, who returned it to the former Canadian Under-21 international. His cross saw Peacock and Pope go for the ball together and the goalkeeper's punch went sideways rather forwards, right into the path of McCluskey, who guided his header just inside the still unguarded far post.

Harrow quickly made a couple of changes, Dave Lawrence replacing Troy Powel-Quarry and Christian Nanetti making way for Scott Orphanou. It signalled the best spell of pressure for Borough, though they didn't really look like finding a goal to get back into the game.

Instead, they were rather gifted their lifeline, courtesy of two challenges, both of which brought yellow cards for Hendon players. First, McCluskey left his feet to make a challenge a few yards from the angle of the penalty area. Then, when the ball was played into the penalty area a push from Peacock sent a red-shirted man flying, just as Laurencin was making an unchallenged catch of the cross.

Jones - himself earlier cautioned for denying Godfrey the chance of taking a quick free-kick - stepped up to take the penalty. Laurencin went slightly to his left, the ball, well struck, went to his right and, after 332 minutes of Ryman League action, Hendon had finally conceded a goal.

Hendon's reaction to conceding a goal was to stiffen their resolve. Borough looked for a way through, but James Archer, Cousins, Peacock and Wharton were determined there would be no chinks in the Hendon armour. With just over 10 minutes of normal time remaining, Hendon replaced Godfrey with on-loan Jerome Federico, while Dean Fenton took over from Jon-Jo Bates - himself a former Hendon player and currently on loan from Dagenham & Redbridge.

The Greens made the game safe a couple of minutes later. A ball forward saw Rankin and Walters tussle for the ball. Rankin won the battle and as Pope came off his line, the former Arsenal and Bradford City striker bent the ball past him and into the net.

Federico's involvement proved to be disappointingly brief. In the 87th minute, he left his feet to make a challenge and came off significantly worse. Not only did he see yellow for the tackle, but also he was unable to continue. Early indications are that he cracked a bone in his ankle and will miss up two months.

Bradley Ambrose replaced him and, almost immediately, Harrow should have been reduced to ten men. Jones made a dangerous tackle on Maclaren and when the referee's whistle sounded shrilly, he turned and walked towards the tunnel, assuming the worst. In fact, the referee, with some leniency told him that it was his final warning.

After three goals, five cautions and five substitutions, plus a couple of injuries, Hendon knew they would have at least five minutes of addition time to survive before they could celebrate victory. In the fourth of the five minutes, a strike from the edge of the penalty area forced Laurencin into a full-length save.

He diverted the ball away from the goal, but Lawrence was following up and he made no mistake, firing the ball into the almost unguarded net. It proved to be little more than a consolation as Borough didn't get close to the Hendon penalty area in the time that remained.

Greens boss Gary McCann said, "I am delighted with the win. I thought we were in control for most of the game, though we didn't really get out of second gear.

"After three tough games in seven days, this one, two days later, left us very leggy. I took off Greg Ngoyi at half-time because he had run his blood to water for us in those games. But I could also have taken off any one of the midfielders. They have all worked so hard for us.

"We have made a perfect start to the season, but there is a long way to go."