Hendon completed one of the more remarkable 3-day bursts with a 5-0 demolition of Bedford Town at the New Eyrie on Tuesday night. The victory meant that the Greens have scored 11 goals away from home in 3 days and climbed 9 places up the Ryman League Premier Division table - to 11th - in that time.

Steve Forbes sat out the game and a bad road accident delayed Simon Clarke so much that he could not make the starting line-up. It meant that Paul Yates joined Paul Towler in midfield and Mark Burgess slotted in at left-back.

More importantly, for the Bedford defence it was a matter of pick your poison: Eugene Ofori and Martin Randall rampaged down the middle and Dale Binns and Byron Bubb made hay along the flanks. Either way, the Eagles had no answer.

In the second minute, Ofori came close to opening the scoring but fired just wide. Ninety seconds later, Randall saw a header flash inches past Andy Lomas's left post.

Binns had another outstanding evening on the left wing. He gave Lee Harvey a torrid time and the full-back was very fortunate to see out the 90 minutes without being sent off.

The opening goal came in the 34th minute and it came from another Binns run. This time the illegal stop was inside the penalty area and referee Mr S Head (Stokenchurch) had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Up stepped RANDALL and he stroked the ball past Lomas.

Four minutes later, the lead was doubled. Bubb was the instigator this time, feeding the ball to OFORI, whose first time shot struck the heel of Paul Wilson and curled just inside Lomas's left upright.

Mark Cooper did well to limit Mark Paul and Kevin Slinn (who had scored in 9 straight games, including 3 hat-tricks) to a couple of long-range efforts, both of which were easily dealt with by David Hook. Burgess was forced to be more defensive than he liked, but his performance as emergency left-back was steadiness personified, just as was the case with Micky Woolner on the right side.

Early in the second half, Bedford enjoyed a spell of concerted pressure, but they could not get a goal. Hook produced a superb save to deny Rob Miller, while the defence handled a series of corners with great discipline.

The discipline shown by the players was another great plus on the night. Five Bedford players were cautioned - three for fouls on Binns - to just Randall for Hendon.

In the 58th minute, a cross from Binns was beautifully controlled on his chest by Ofori. He then swivelled and smashed a shot that had "goal of the season" written all over it, until Lomas tipped the ball against the crossbar.

Eight minutes later, Binns went on a mazy run that took him through four defenders, although he did get one lucky ricochet on his way through. Lomas was quickly off his line and did well to block the ball away for a corner.

Lomas got a hand to Bubb's corner, but he could only help it on towards the far post where Ofori was waiting. Although there was the slightest hint of handball - no Bedford defender appealed - OFORI brought the ball under control and smacked into the roof of the net. That goal, his 10th of the season, made him the club's leading scorer.

From then on, things went from bad to worse for the Bedford defence. In the 72nd minute, another corner from Bubb caused chaos in the home penalty area. Butler went for the ball, but he was beaten to it by Derek BROWN, whose header was at least as good as anything Butler could have achieved. The result was a spectacular own goal.

Hendon could even afford to take off both Ofori and Randall in the final few minutes and give run-outs to Ricci Crace and Leon Woodruffe, respectively. Clarke had already replaced Cooper in the middle of the defence and he did well slotting in alongside Butler.

Woodruffe laid on the final goal, in the 88th minute. He worked an opening down the left flank and tried to deliver a cross. The ball struck Harvey and looped over Lomas at the near post. As Bubb closed in at the far post, WILSON tried to clear the danger, but succeeded only in putting the ball inside the near post for own goal No. 2.

"Eleven goals in 3 days," said a delighted Dave Anderson. "Oh happy days. The boys played really well tonight. Bedford are one of the form teams in the league and we stopped them."