Hendon booked a second County Cup semi-final appearance in as many weeks as a Belal Aite-Ouakrim brace was enough to see off Harrow Borough 2-1 at Vale Farm on Tuesday night.

The Greens made seven changes to the team which had started against Lowestoft Town at the weekend, with Scott Cousins, Darren Currie and Jamie Busby all given the night off and Ryan Wharton, Casey Maclaren, Carl McCluskey and Greg Ngoyi named as substitutes. By comparison, only two of Harrow's starting 11 from their home defeat against Carshalton Athletic at the weekend weren’t in their starting line-up.

In Hendon's line-up Dave Diedhiou, Michael Peacock, Michael Lewis, Jerome Federico, Isaiah Rankin, Tom Davie and Aite-Ouakrim joined Berkley Laurencin, James Parker, James Fisher and Elliott Godfrey in a revamped 11, which also played a different system.

As an interesting sidebar, both teams' No. 10, Hendon's Davie and Borough's Jon-Jo Bates, were loan signings from Dagenham & Redbridge. Additionally, for the third consecutive season, Hendon and Harrow have met four times and while last season, it was the away team which triumphed on every occasion, in 2011-12 home advantage has proved decisive.

Both teams created plenty of chances but the finishing touch was lacking. Harrow had wasted three good openings before Hendon almost broke the deadlock in the 31st minute when a Diedhiou 25-yard drive cannoned off the top of the crossbar and the ball was cleared to safety. Two minutes later, from a corner, Peacock couldn't quite turn his foot around far enough to divert the ball inside the near post.

Lewis was the next Hendon man to go close. His superb run led to another shot at goal, but the ball flew over the target. Laurencin then made a good save at his near post following a spell of Harrow possession.

Federico became more and more of a threat as the half progressed and Borough were clearly uneasy when he used his searing pace. The final ball, however, was not quite there and a few good positions came to nought.

However, it did prove to be the conduit for the game's opening goal, in the 70th minute. His run down the right flank was followed by a short pass back to Rankin, whose first-time cross was turned into the net, just inside the near post, by Aite-Ouakrim. Although he had scored in friendly at Tring Athletic in October, it was Aite-Ouakrim's first competitive goal for the Greens this season.

Three minutes later, Federico could have sewn up the game when he burst down the right, cut inside and fired just over the angle of near post and crossbar. With both Rankin and Aite-Ouakrim almost perfectly placed to apply the coup de grace, however, Federico's shot was definitely the wrong option.

And it proved to be a costly miss because, in the 77th minute, just after Godfrey and Fisher had been replaced by McCluskey and Wharton, respectively, Borough equalised. Their right-wing corner wasn't cleared and Aaron Tumwa found the bottom corner of the net with a shot.

In the final 13 minutes, it was Borough who enjoyed most the possession and position. Two efforts from the left side curled just wide of Laurencin's far post, but the goalkeeper was not forced into making a save.

When Jack Bonham was called into action, he had trouble holding onto shots, though he dealt with crosses very competently. He was lucky when he let a shot from Lewis bounce away from him, but there was no Hendon player close enough to capitalise.

With five minutes of normal time remaining, Hendon made their last substitution, Ngoyi taking over from Rankin. Harrow's second change, Yassine Fehmi-Gil replacing Stephan Hamilton-Forbes (Rob Wooleaston had taken over from Aryantaj Tajbakhsh midway through the half) came in stoppage time, but he didn't have the opportunity to make a contribution before the referee blew the final whistle.

There really was very little between the two teams but it couldn't really be said that the next goal would definitely decide the match - Harrow had been trailing in all four matches between the clubs this season. That nearly changed in the 101st minute when Peacock stayed down as he stretched to try and stop a break by Bates.

Bates, however, took the ball a step too far and Parker was able to make an intervention. With all three substitutions made, Hendon were grateful that Peacock eventually got to his feet and, after a few ginger steps was able to continue, and apparently without too much inconvenience.

Akin Abiola-Daramola came on for Borough goalscorer Tumwa for the second period of extra time, the full-back having apparently picked up a slight knock. The game, however, continued to be nip and tuck, with both teams creating and missing chances.

With five minutes of extra time remaining, Hendon forced a series of corners. The third one was played short to Federico whose low ball found Diedhiou, who in turn passed to McCluskey. His attempt was blocked to Aite-Ouakrim, who made no mistake rifling the ball into the roof of the net just inside the post.

Harrow tried to hit back immediately and nearly succeeded when a drive from Bates smacked the top of the crossbar. Once more the rebound off the frame of the goal went the way of the defending side.

But Borough soon forced a corner for which Bonham joined the attack. The goalkeeper was, however, a decoy for the move which resulted in a second corner. This time Laurencin beat his opposite number to the ball and punched the ball to safety.

The goalkeeper still had more work to do in the last minute of extra time. A through ball required Laurencin to rush out of his penalty area and he was able to head the ball clear before colliding with Wayne Walters, who stayed down and required a spell of treatment.

"I was pleased with the attitude and application of my team tonight and to reach another London Senior Cup semi-final," said happy Hendon manager Gary McCann. "Everyone put in a very strong shift and their willingness to impress was very good. Jerome Federico, Belal Aite-Ouakrim and Michael Peacock all deserve special mention tonight.

"It was a tough game tonight and the exertions of those who played on Saturday showed as they began to look a bit leggy."