Hendon overcame a mounting injury list to produce a narrow, if deserved, 1-0 victory over Cray Wanderers at Vale Farm on Tuesday night. The victory lifted the Greens back over the Wands - who are two points behind, but have a game in hand - and into the last of the playoff places.

Jamie Busby was the latest player to drop out, the seventh member of the squad to be absent, and Jerome Federico came in for him. In addition, the injured Greg Ngoyi was replaced by the man who had come on for him on Saturday, Belal Aite-Ouakrim, while Dave Diedhiou took over from James Archer at right back.

An early shot from Elliott Godfrey floated just wide of the angle of post and crossbar before Hendon received a shock. From a 16th-minute corner, the ball was more than competently fisted away from the Greens' penalty area.

Unfortunately for Hendon, it was not Rikki Banks who did this, but Ryan Wharton, who, despite his protestations that he had been pushed, was punished by a caution. More importantly, the referee pointed to the penalty spot.

However, Cray's regular penalty-taker Tommy Whitnell was sitting on the substitutes' bench and it was quickly apparent that the Wands did not have a plan B. Eventually it was Lewis Perkins who volunteered to take the spot kick, but his body language suggested he was not entirely confident of success - a key component for any penalty-taker.

If Banks had guessed the wrong way, there is a chance he might have been able to get up and still make a save. As he guessed correctly, however, he almost had to wait for the ball to reach him before completing possibly the most comfortable penalty-save he will ever make.

In the 24th minute, Godfrey tried his luck with another shot, this time, striking the ball sweetly as it came to him. Andy Walker in the Cray goal used the power of prayer to keep the ball out of his goal, because he would not have had a chance of reaching it had the ball arrowed inside the goalkeeper’s right post. As it was Walker was relieved to see the ball flash wide of the target.

The next time Walker was called into action, he had an unusual perspective of what unfolded because it was behind him. Belal Aite-Ouakrim brought down an astute pass from Darren Currie and in one touch, escaped the attentions of Chris Saunders and rounded the goalkeeper.

Although he was not directly in front of goal, the target itself was unguarded. Aite-Ouakrim, however, failed to find it, missing by a foot from six yards out. In mitigation, another defender was closing in on him, and the ball did take a bobble, but it still has to considered a very bad miss by Aite-Ouakrim.

Just before half-time, Walker and Saunders had a very loud argument over ball which bounced out for a throw-in 20 yards from the Cray goal-line. The pair's discussion drew the attention of the referee - if the two men had been close it appeared heated enough that it might have come to blows - who ordered Saunders to hurry up and take the throw-in.

By this time, Leigh Bremner had suffered a leg injury and he was clearly struggling. The Cray management team took the decision to replace him with Sam Long in the 45th minute.

He had got little change out Wharton and James Parker, who with Diedhiou and Scott Cousins, did a fine job of limiting the openings for a Cray team which had played just 52 hours earlier. In the first half, at least, Banks had been far less busy than Walker.

The match was decided five minutes after the resumption and it was one of the goals of the season - deserving to win any game. A diagonal ball towards the edge of the penalty area seemed to be easy for Mark Willy to deal with.

He, however, was beaten to it by McCluskey, who flicked the ball over his head and controlled it with a neat touch. McCluskey then jinked past Saunders, took the ball away from Joe Vines, waited for Walker to commit himself and lifted the ball over the prostrate goalkeeper with a left-foot dink.

Cray responded to the setback in positive fashion. A first-time effort from the edge of the penalty area was well save by Banks, who had to move smartly to his left. Two other attempts from the Wands were distinctly less successful and these efforts flew well wide of the target.

With 20 minutes to go, McCluskey went off, to be replaced by Isaiah Rankin. His excellent first touch and ability to hold up the ball resulted in a couple of rather agricultural challenges on him.

From one of these free-kicks, the ball was cleared to Kevin Maclaren, whose shot at goal was powerful enough, but sadly, not accurate enough to concern Walker. Having been happy to take his time over goal-kicks throughout the first half, in the same way that Vines was content to be slow to resume play with throw-ins, the two Wanderers became more and more vocal about Hendon's dalliance at restarts. What’s good for the goose is good also for the gander.

Federico then had the chance to set up a second Hendon goal when he got around the back of the Cray defence. He looked up and tried to find a green shirt in a sea of orange, but didn't succeed, the boot of Saunders launching the ball out of the ground for a corner.

Moments after Jack Clark had replaced Saunders, Michael Lewis came on as Aite-Ouakrim went off, leaving Hendon with a solitary striker. Not that Rankin was able to do a great deal of attacking, it should be said, because Cray dominated possession and position in the final stages of the match.

Following a foul by Scott Cousins, an 87th-minute free-kick was curled into the Hendon penalty area. The assistant referee had already raised his flag before Danny Young planted a header beyond Banks, but the Cray celebrations were stilled. Young was probably not offside when the kick was taken, but the one or more team-mates in active positions in the middle of the penalty area ensured the goal would not stand.

Hendon players, officials and supporters had to endure almost eight minutes of stoppage time, testament to not only delaying tactics, but also multiple substitutions, a few injuries and the dismissal of a member of the Cray bench for an injudicious comment to the assistant referee. And, in the final three minutes of this added time, Cray, it appeared, began to accept the inevitable as they struggled to keep the ball in play.

"This win is dedicated to my assistant Freddie Hyatt, who underwent back surgery today," said Greens manager Gary McCann. "I am really pleased with the result and the performance tonight. The players put in a very good shift.

"I was especially pleased with the solidity of the defence and the work put in by the midfield. To be missing so many key players and still be able to put in as complete a performance as that is great.

"I said a few weeks ago that these two games would be pivotal to our season. We have beaten Cray and now if we can beat Lewes on Saturday we will be in a great position. If we put in performances like tonight for the rest of the season, I think we will make the playoffs."