Hendon moved to within a point of new Ryman League Premier Division leaders Billericay Town, and with a game in hand, after they easily saw off the challenge of Hastings United at their Pilot Field ground on Saturday. The Greens are level with Lowestoft and Lewes, both of whom have played a game more, with the Trawlerboys leading Hendon by five goals and Rooks five worse off than Hendon.

A warm-up injury suffered by Elliott Godfrey meant that Casey Maclaren was the only change from the starting line-up, with Dave Diedhiou a late call-up to the bench. The result was that Hendon rather lost the shape they had planned on using.

Hastings, who had not won since 13th September and had failed to score in three matches - indeed their coach Mark Stapley admitted they had not managed a shot on target in those games - started brightly, but without suggesting they knew where a goal would come from.

After 18 minutes, a diagonal ball required Sean Thomas to sprint out of his penalty area to head away the danger. It proved to be the most difficult thing he had to do all afternoon as the Us once again failed to put an effort on target.

Gradually Hendon began to exert control and they nearly took the lead after 32 minutes when a free-kick from Jamie Busby was slightly overstruck and the outstretched leg of Greg Ngoyi could only lift the ball over the open goal.

That was a half-chance; the next opportunity he spurned was in the gold-plated class. Released by an astute through ball, Lloyd Anderson's run off his line offered Ngoyi more than half the goal at which to shoot. If he had struck the ball a little less powerfully it would have gone just inside the post; instead it struck the outside of it and went out for a goal kick near to the corner flag.

Hendon then had two very good penalty appeals turned down. First Carl McCluskey was clearly impeded by the outrushing Anderson, but the midfielder honestly stayed on his feet, though he stumbled and the chance went begging.

Ngoyi was then clipped by Jamie Crellin as he latched onto a pass from Busby. He again tried to stay on his feet, but always stumbling forward he finally went to ground close to the goalline.

The referee blew his whistle, but decided the contact was just outside the penalty area. The assistant referee ran towards the goalline, but did not signal for a foul let alone whether it was inside or outside the penalty area. Crellin, surprisingly, was not cautioned and Busby's free-kick strike was comfortably saved by Anderson.

Two minutes before half-time, Hendon had the ball in the Hastings net. A corner was not properly cleared and when the ball was returned to the penalty area by Kevin Maclaren, Michael Peacock was quickest to it.

He looked up, and delivered a clever diagonal low ball, beyond the reach of Anderson, but well within the sliding range of both Elliott Charles and Ngoyi. With Scott Manning also trying to reach the ball, it was probably a dead-heat between Ngoyi and Charles for the honour of bundling the ball over the line.

Their joy was stilled as they that the referee's assistant had ruled that they were in front of Peacock when he struck the ball and flagged them for offside.

At the start of the second half, Hastings again were a little brighter, while Hendon, clearly feeling the frustration of a multitude of key decisions going against them, weren't rattled. In truth, Hastings' front two never got close to beating James Parker and Peacock, while James Archer and Scott Cousins were more than comfortable stifling any raids down the wing. The two full-backs were able to get forward more in this game than they had for many weeks.

One such foray forward cost Cousins a caution for a foul on Jack Dixon, who had dispossessed him. It was a disappointing outcome for the Greens’ skipper on his 150th appearance, but probably the only negative from the game.

In the 67th minute, Ryan Thomson fired a 25-yard drive which had Thomas diving across his goal-line, but the ball went about a foot wide of the post. At the other end, a horrible clearance by Anderson went only as far as McCluskey, who returned the ball with interest, but Josh Jirbandey, easily the best defender all afternoon for the Us, was able to make a clearance on the line.

Neutrals in the crowd were convinced it would only be a matter of time before the Hastings rearguard was finally breached. But Hendon had to be patient and, more importantly, disciplined, something that could not be said of their hosts, who picked up three cautions in quick succession.

The breakthrough finally came in the 74th minute. A break by Ngoyi was followed by a fierce shot which was palmed away well by Anderson, at the expense of a corner.

Cousins' delivery was inch-perfect and a thumping header from Peacock brought him his second goal for the club.

Less than two minutes later the lead was doubled. A ball into the penalty area was superbly controlled by Charles, who steadied himself before driving the ball firmly into the roof of the net.

Both teams then made a host of changes, Belal Aite-Ouakrim returning to Hendon from Staines, while Dewayne Clarke (signed from Kingstonian) made his debut and Diedhiou also got a run out. Casey Maclaren, Ngoyi and Busby were the men who went off.

In the final few minutes, chances were at a premium. Hastings were in damage limitation mode and Hendon - with the game well and truly won - didn't want to pick up any injuries.

"I thought we were very good, apart from the first 15 minutes when they came at us a bit and we didn't have our shape. After that we were nice and solid and very comfortable. It was one of our most complete performances of the season", said a very happy Gary McCann after the game.

"I said to the players at half time 'Don’t panic and the chances will come.' And that is what happened."