Hendon were not entirely convincing but did more than enough to record their second Ryman League Premier Division win of the season, beating the only team below them in the table - Carshalton Athletic - 3-1 at Vale Farm on Saturday afternoon.

After the embarrassment of the Middlesex Senior Cup defeat at North Greenford United on Tuesday, there were a number of changes, with Dave Diedhiou, Belal Aite-Ouakrim, Greg Ngoyi and Casey Maclaren all coming into the starting line-up, and Elliott Brathwaite, Lee O'Leary, Michael Murray and Jack Mazzone dropping to the subs' bench.

For more than 35 minutes, nothing of note happened at either end. The two goalkeepers, Hendon's Berkley Laurencin and Carshalton's Nick Hamann were pretty much unemployed as the game was played almost exclusively in midfield. The Greens did concede a number of free kicks but James Fisher and Ryan Wharton dealt with any danger before Laurencin could get involved.

In the 38th minute, Howard Hall won a challenge on the edge of his penalty area and played a ball downfield. Julian Owusu, who had fallen foul of the assistant referee's offside flag on a number of occasions, profited from a lapse in concentration by Mark Goodman, who was so deep he played Owusu onside.

With no defenders anywhere near him, Owusu had an unchallenged run at the Carshalton goal and, when Hamann came off his line to narrow the angle, Owusu drilled an early left foot shoot past the goalkeeper and into the far corner. It was a clinical finish.

Six minutes later Hendon had doubled their lead. A Greens attack built down their right flank and, suddenly, Robert Bartley went to ground, clutching his head or neck.

The referee saw nothing of the incident - Bartley had run into Owusu and come off worse - and allowed play to continue and when the ball was moved across to the opposite side of the penalty area. Aite-Ouakrim had time to control the ball and he slipped the ball past Hamann with just enough power to beat the retreating Ricardo Joseph.

Before he awarded the goal, the referee allowed Bartley to receive treatment, then checked with his assistant that there had been no foul play involving the central defender. Given no reason to disallow the goal, the referee pointed to the centre spot and Hendon were two goals to the good.

It should be said that there was not a word of complaint by any of the Carshalton players but Hendon were, nonetheless, a little fortunate that the referee didn't stop play immediately for what might have been a head injury for Bartley.

Before the start of the second half, Hendon replaced Fisher with Brathwaite. And, in the opening seconds of the period, the Greens almost put the game away.

Aite-Ouakrim again got past the outclassed Goodman and rolled the ball across the six-yard line. The ball was just too far in front of Ngoyi, but fell to Casey Maclaren, whose drive was blocked bravely by Joseph.

Given a reprieve, Carshalton then took control of the match. Hendon, forced onto the defensive, suddenly couldn't pass the ball crisply or clear their lines particularly well. In the 52nd minute, Luke Pigden tried his luck from the edge of the penalty area, but Laurencin spread himself well to make the save.

Four minutes later, the Robins were back in the match, courtesy of a gift from Hendon skipper Scott Cousins. Receiving a short pass from Aite-Ouakrim, he was under no pressure, but passed the ball into the centre circle, where no Hendon players were stationed.

Justyn Roberts latched onto the loose ball and ran straight at the out-of-position Hendon defence. He had options right and left, went right and passed to Josh Clarke, who fired past Laurencin.

The Hendon goalkeeper was then forced to make saves from both Tommy Brewer and Ola Sogbanmu, but the Robins - who have had as much trouble scoring goals as the Greens - didn't have the accuracy to beat Laurencin. They also put two or three other shots well wide of the target from good positions.

Owusu made way for Isaiah Rankin after 73 minutes as Hendon looked to add the goal that would almost certainly decide the match. This came a couple of minutes after Nathaniel Pinney had taken over from Pigden - the only change Carshalton would make in the 90 minutes.

With six minutes to go, Hendon finally won a free kick in the Carshalton half. The ball was played deep into the Carshalton penalty area and Goodman headed the ball away for a corner just before Casey Maclaren could get an attempt at goal.

The corner was another superbly worked Hendon set piece, involving Cousins and Kevin Maclaren. Rankin should have scored, but his sidefoot had almost no power. It worked to Hendon's advantage, however, because the lack of pace bamboozled Hamann, who let the ball roll through his legs.

He still had time to dive on the ball, but elected, instead, to pick it up. This allowed Diedhiou to nip in and he scored from less than a yard out.

Almost immediately, Mazzone came on for Ngoyi and he almost made it 4-1 a couple of minutes later. Latching onto a pass, he fired a first-time effort which Hamann acrobatically pushed aside for a corner.

At the other end, another poor pass in defence by a green-shirted player gave Brewer another half-chance, but Hendon were quick to crowd him out and the Robins' last hope of salvaging a point disappeared.

"This is a very good win for us," admitted Hendon manager Gary McCann.

"I thought we looked comfortable in the first half, but once they pulled a goal back early in the second half, we did look a bit edgy. This will help our confidence a lot and if we can pick up a couple of wins in the next week or so we will move up towards mid-table."