Hendon staged their second "Freeze-buster Friendly" at Barnet FC's The Hive training ground, on one of the 3G all-weather pitches, and, for 45 minutes at least, gave Npower League 2 Dagenham & Redbridge all they could handle.

It was a bitterly cold day, but the 3G pitch more than held up thanks to the stirling efforts of the ground authorities, a day earlier, to sweep the pitches clear of heavy snow which lay carpeted around the rest of the facility.

The Daggers' starting 11 contained 9 of the 16 who were involved in their last competitive fixture, on 28 January, plus new signing Matt Saunders from Fulham, who joined the club in midweek. Hendon, meanwhile were without James Parker and Scott Cousins, both working, and Elliott Charles, nursing a minor knock.

Whatever the merits of the 3G surface, there is no doubt that the ball behaves differently to natural grass and this proved Hendon's undoing inside two minutes. Mark Arber sent one header deep into Hendon territory, only for the clearance to go back to him.

Arber's second header was even longer and it went over Ryan Wharton, who turned under pressure from Jon Nurse. He had no alternative but to head the ball back towards his own goal, but a communication breakdown with Berkley Laurencin resulted in the ball sailing over the goalkeeper and into the net for an own goal.

It took Hendon less than two minutes to hit back. Jamie Busby found himself in space down the right and he cut inside Femi Ilesanmi, who was already struggling with a knock. Busby's powerful drive was well saved by Chris Lewington, but he could do nothing as Greg Ngoyi tapped home the rebound.

Another capricious bounce gave Nurse the chance to restore the Dagenham lead in the eight minute. His shot, on the turn, beat Laurencin, but struck a post and bounced away to safety.

Moments later, when Hendon went back on the attack, Kevin Maclaren tried his luck from 25 yards. He was denied by an excellent save from Lewington and this time there was no rebound for Ngoyi to feed upon.

After Ilesanmi had been replaced, the game calmed down in terms of chances, but remained an even contest. It should be said that neither team went full out and challenges were few and far between, both sets of players showing excellent common sense.

Dagenham regained the lead after 21 minutes when Hendon failed to clear the ball despite two chances to do so. When the ball fell to Nurse, he made no mistake.

Once again, the Daggers' lead was short-lived. An excellent Hendon attack saw the Dagenham defence pulled out of shape and when Busby crossed from the right wing, no one was marking Dave Diedhiou, who rose well and sent a cushioned header into the net.

That was the end of the first half scoring, but Laurencin did make an excellent save to keep out a free-kick from Danny Green seven minutes before the interval.

At half-time, Dagenham made nine changes, with only Richard Rose of the starters remaining on the pitch for the second half. Hendon's changes were only three in number, Casey Maclaren, Belal Aite-Ouakrim and Isaiah Rankin taking over from James Fisher, Elliott Godfrey and Ngoyi, respectively.

For the elder Maclaren, it was his first action since suffering a knee injury in the FA Cup tie at Luton in late October, and he slotted in at centre-back, alongside Wharton. The Greens would make seven more changes 17 minutes into the second half.

It was only after that second multiple change that Dagenham took control. Hendon's replacements, Tom Davie and Michael Lewis apart, were all peripheral members of the squad, none of whom have played much football in the past few months.

Soon after the changes had been made, Jake Reed scored with a clever lob. Dagenham, controlling the midfield, forced the Greens to look for the ball nearer and nearer to their own goal, leaving Rankin sadly isolated, while Aite-Ouakrim was foraging for possession nearer his own goal than Dave Hogan's.

In the 76th minute, Luke Howell turned the pressure into a fourth goal, this after Cameron Inch had made a good save to deny the giant Robert Edmans. Five minutes later, Howell appeared to push over Casey Maclaren, but was allowed to run on and his finish was too good for Inch to save.

"It was a good exercise and I thought we matched them for an hour," said Hendon manager Gary McCann. "And with better concentration defensively, we could have been ahead at half-time.

"It was great to see Casey Maclaren coming back after being out since October."