comprehensive 3-0 demolition of Hinckley United at Middlefield Lane. In 6 matches, this preseason, Hendon have won 5 and drawn 1, scoring 14 goals and conceding 6, none in the last 219 minutes of play .

Things did not start well for the Greens as Hinckley forced a succession of corners in the opening 5 minutes. Richard Mitchell had a great chance in the 4th minute, but his effort was very weak.

After 20 minutes, David Hook produced a great save to deny Mitchell, but the balance of play was already shifting towards Hendon as Steve Butler and Mark Cooper began to get the upper hand over Mitchell and Zeke Rowe. In fact, it took just 6 more minutes for Hendon to make the breakthrough.

A quick break from defence saw Paul Yates sprinting forward to chase a high bouncing downfield ball from Martin Randall. David Crowley was shadowing Yates, hoping that his goalkeeper, Azerbaijani Under-21 international, Farhad Afandiyev would get there first.

He did. Sort of. Yates stuck out a leg as Afandiyev tried to clear the danger. The ball bounced off YATES' foot, looped high over Afandiyev and bounced over the line just before the goalkeeper could get back.

In the 30th minute, Eugene Ofori beat Afandiyev with a speculative shot from 25 yards, but the ball bounced back off the post and was hacked away to safety by Crowley.

Just before half-time, Hook produced an excellent save to deny Rowe when the striker had a clear sight of goal from 5 yards.

Hendon completely dominated the second half. Six minutes into the period, an angled ball over the defence found Dale Binns running onto it. As Afandiyev came off his line, BINNS lobbed the ball over him and he was turning away in celebration even before the ball entered the goal.

A third goal should have gone to Rob Haworth. He rose to meet a floated cross from Kieran Gallagher, did enough to put off Afandiyev, who dropped the ball and Haworth rolled it into the net. The referee, 40 yards behind the action, decided that the Hendon man had fouled the goalkeeper - a tough call against Haworth given that there was no contact between the players.

Seven changes did nothing to upset Hendon's rhythm and, indeed, they looked even stronger than the starting line-up as Hinckley tired noticeably and appeared bereft of ideas.

Leading the way was Byron Bubb, who provided a cameo of such brilliance, he must have given manager Dave Anderson something to think about when it comes to his first-choice line-up for the start of the regular season.

He delivered a corner that was headed over the bar by Cooper at the far post. Then, in the 78th minute, he set up Hendon's third goal. His first corner was headed back to him by Leon Blake.

Stuart Storer went out to try and stop Bubb, but the winger danced past him. He drilled a magnificent cross that flew past three defenders and the goalkeeper, but not Paul TOWLER, whose bullet header from 6 yards was as spectacular a finish as the cross deserved.

Bubb's next intervention may have been even better. He picked up the ball on the right wing. Micky Woolner moved to provide an outlet, but he knew that he was redundant, even though Jamie March and Andy Penny were determind to form a twin barrier to stop him. Despite being tackled simultaneously from right and left, Bubb lifted the ball over the defenders' outstretched legs and somehow wriggled through an almost non-existent gap between them. His shot was blocked out for a corner.

In the final minute of the second half Hinckley finally put another effort on target. It came from a free-kick, well struck by Martin Fox. Dan Burton was equal to it and the goalkeeper produced a fine save to preserve the clean sheet.

A very satisfied Mr Anderson said, "I don't think we turned up till 10 past 3, but after that we looked good. The point is that football is now all about squads, not teams so matches are about more than 11 players."