Hendon made it 4 consecutive Ryman League Premier Division victories in a row (and 5 overall) with a hard-fought 1-0 defeat of St Albans City at LOOT Stadium on Thursday night. The Saints made things easier for Hendon by acting as sinners and getting two players sent off in an undisciplined performance.

Gary McCann, Paul Yates and Jon-Barrie Bates replaced David Hook, Byron Bubb and Steve Forbes from the Middlesex Senior Cup starting line-up, but the Saints were nevertheless much fresher, having had Monday off.

It showed in the early going, with St Albans forcing the early pace. Apart from a shot by Simon Martin, which was hit straight at the well-positioned McCann, there was nothing to show for their efforts. Mark Cooper and Steve Butler were completely dominant at the back and Micky Woolner and Mark Burgess stopped from of the attacks from out wide.

In the 28th minute, Simon Martin committed a bad foul on Woolner and earned a caution for it. Rob Smith rather disagreed with the decision of Mr Tingay and let him know in no uncertain terms. This earned the player a red card, much to the disgust of Saints' former Hendon goalkeeper Richard Wilmot, who said "That doesn't suprise me at all."

Even with the man advantage, Hendon struggled to get going. Eugene Ofori and Martin Randall got little change out of Ryan Moran and Scott Holding. Danny Honeyball was regularly aided by Richard Evans in trying to keep Dale Binns quiet, and the tactics worked, at least until half time.

The second half was a different story. Hendon dominated the game and should have taken the lead after 58 minutes. A shot from Binns was brilliantly saved by Wilmot, who parried the ball away. It fell to Randall, who had - in the opinion of 3 Ryman League managers standing in line with the incident - timed his run forward perfectly, and he slotted the ball home. Unfortunately the assistant referee, flagged Randall offside as the ball came off Wilmot.

Five minutes later, Hendon did take the lead when BINNS sprinted onto a long downfield ball and lifted the ball over Wilmot and into the net. It was typical of Binns' ability to score out of almost nothing.

In the 74th minute, Paul Towler joined an attack and planted a firm header off the foot of a post with Wilmot stranded. Almost immediately, Martin dived into another challenge and received a second yellow - and a red - card. Down to 9 men, St Albans realised the game was up.

Their numbers could have been reduced further in the 83rd minute. As Wilmot came off his line to deal with pass from Bates, Moran knocked the ball past his own keeper. Wilmot was already committed to kicking the ball as it went past him and he made solid contact with Randall. Many referees would have misread the situation and dismissed Wilmot, but Mr Tingey showed commendable commonsense. The free-kick came to nothing.

In stoppage time, Wilmot produced an outstanding save to deny Binns a second goal, but St Albans had long since given up hopes of getting anything out of the game.

"It wasn't a great performance," admitted manager Dave Anderson, "but Dale Binns scored another outstanding goal."