Hendon profited from a meltdown by Hastings United as they completed a four-day Ryman League Premier Division double over the Sussex club who remain in the relegation zone. This victory, however, lifted the Greens to within five points of the play-off positions, with four matches to play.

The Arrows had a night to forget, with players and officials suffering bad traffic problems on the way to Vale Farm, then lost their discipline in a crazy final 20 minutes during which time four players were either red-carded or dismissed from the dugout.

For Hendon, Sean Thomas and Warren Goodhind came in for Berkley Laurencin and Dean Cracknell, while there was a welcome return to the bench for Isaiah Rankin and Rouchy Efambe.

In the eighth minute, Sam Adams found himself in space just outside the Hendon penalty area and he sent in a powerful shot. Thomas was well positioned and had to be certain only that his body was fully behind the ball as he made the save.

A couple of minutes later, Sam Flegg picked up a hand or finger injury from a collision as the Greens defended a corner. After a brief spell of treatment, he was able to continue.

When Hendon launched their first meaningful attack, Casey Maclaren was sent tumbling 10 or so yards outside the penalty area. It looked a clear foul, but Lee Carey spent the next 30 seconds berating the referee about the decision and was extremely fortunate not to receive a card. As neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo had signed for the Greens in the previous 36 hours, it was left to the Hendon players to attempt to score from 30 yards ... the ball struck the wall.

Hastings got a touch of fortune in the 20th minute, when a looping header from Casey Maclaren beat Daniel East, but the goalkeeper was delighted to see the ball strike the top of the crossbar before bouncing away for a goal kick.

But there was no reprieve a minute later. Good work from Jack Connors saw him get clear of Elliott Cox and he sent a short pass to Lee O'Leary. Carey didn't risk making another challenge, so O'Leary was able to work himself into a good shooting position and he fired the ball past East and into the roof of the net.

O'Leary's celebrations were understandable as it was his first competitive goal for the Greens in 27 months and one day.

Having gone a goal down, Hastings looked to Adams and Alessane N'Diaye for a way back and it was the former Crystal Palace and Barnet man - released by the Bees at the start of this season – who very nearly grabbed an equaliser seven minutes before half-time. N'Diaye drilled a shot which seemed destined for the back of the net until Thomas flung himself full length to produce an outstanding almost point-blank save.

Three minutes before the interval, Hastings had make a change when Gareth Williams was replaced by Jono Richardson. Unusually, the substitute was an early departure from the dressing room at the interval as he went out to warm up further with three of the other Arrows substitutes - the fourth, Sean Ray, was giving his manager's talk in the dresssing room.

Hastings again set the early pace in the second half, but they once more found Goodhind, Scott Cousins, Flegg and Carl McCluskey in determined mood. When the Arrows found half an opening, they decided to test the reflexes of Thomas, but usually were so wayward with their shooting that Thomas's neck muscles were stretched as he tried to follow the balls' paths.

In the 58th minute Hendon squandered an opportunity to double their advantage and probably put the game beyond Hastings' reach. Howard Hall galloped down the right wing and again got the better of Freddie Warren.

Casey Maclaren and Dave Diedhiou arrived in the box just as the cross arrived and Diedhiou had a clear header at goal. He was, however, half a step too late to be able to get power and direction into the header, so East was not unduly troubled by the attempt.

The game went utterly mad in the final 20 minutes. Fifteen minutes from the end of normal time, Hastings attempted to replace Warren with James Crellin. The substitute, however, was wearing visible white undershorts, which clashed with the maroon of the Arrows' shorts.

He was ordered by the assistant referee to remove the undershorts and he reacted with a foul and abusive retort. The assistant referee notified the referee about what had happened and Crellin was shown a red. As he had not actually entered the pitch, although Warren had left it, he was able to return to the action.

Before play resumed, Rankin replaced Casey Maclaren for Hendon. Two minutes later, Warren's evening was over again, this time Rory Murphy coming on for him.

In the 80th minute, Kevin Maclaren controlled a bouncing ball in the centre circle, but received a studding down the thigh courtesy of a crude challenge from Danny Ellis. Maclaren would often have retaliated and the incident would have escalated. Instead, McCluskey, close to the scene, was able to grab his team-mate and he ensured no revenge was taken.

The referee ensured there would be no more chances for Maclaren to take the law into his own hands as he showed Ellis a red card. For some reason, the already cautioned Tom Vickers thought this was not the correct decision and his words to the referee ensured he received a second yellow card and the pair of disgraced Hastings players trudged off the field together.

Efambe and Kambo Smith then came on for Hendon, at the expense of O'Leary and Diedhiou. Amazingly, with nine men, it was the Greens who looked likely to concede as their passing game disappeared and Hastings created two or three openings which they failed to take thanks to more errant shooting.

In the third minute of stoppage time, Goodhind and Zac Attwood contested a ball right in front of the Hastings dugout. The assistant referee and referee immediately awarded the throw-in to Hendon, much to the disgust of player-manager Ray. His words to the referee resulted in him being sent away from the dugout, effectively the fourth dismissal of the evening for Hastings.

A minute later, Smith sent a pass into space behind the udner-manned Hastings defence. Rankin latched onto the loose ball, held off the challenge Richardson and fired past East to make it 2-0.

Given all the kerfuffles and chaos of the previous 20 minutes, it was probably a good thing for Hastings that the referee brought an end to the night's proceedings soon after the resumption.

"I am really pleased with the win tonight," said manager Gary McCann. "In the dressing room before the game, I said to the players that I wanted them to go out and show any neutrals watching that we were as keen to pick up the points as Hastings and I think they did that.

"We worked really hard and all of the players put in a very good shift, especially given where we're at with the run of games. We have to go again tomorrow night and we are very stretched with our personnel at the moment."