Hendon remain in the Ryman League Premier Division bottom two after another disappointing result, this time going down 3-1 at Bognor Regis Town on Saturday. Once more the Greens did more than enough to take one or all three points but went home empty-handed.

Dean Cracknell and Lee O'Leary came into the side at the expense of the unavailable Darren Currie and Ryan Wharton, while newcomer Niko Muir was named on the substitutes bench.

It took less than three minutes for the first chance to arrive and Bognor centre-half Stuart Axten will still be wondering how he manage to lose his marker at a corner, then plant a free header - which arrived at a perfect height for him - wide of the target. It was a big escape for Hendon.

But the Greens found the beautifully flat - if soaking wet - surface ideal for their style of football, one the Rocks also enjoy. And it was Hendon who used the pitch better and Isaiah Rankin carved open the home defence with a good run. His low shot was well saved by Craig Stoner, though the goalkeeper would have been very disappointed to have been beaten by the effort.

In the 21st minute, Terry Dodd had another chance for Bognor, but he was errant with his shot from a good position. Hendon's response came a couple of minutes later when Julian Owusu fired into the side-netting.

Rankin and Belal Aite-Ouakrim both had chances to open the scoring for Hendon, but the former was again denied by the home goalkeeper, while the latter - forced to shoot because passing option Owusu was clearly offside - did not force Stoner into action.

Bognor's wayward passing was beginning to unsettle the vocal home support and the players became jittery as Hendon pressed them. But the orange-clad Dons nearly committed the cardinal sin of conceding from their own attacking set-piece.

Scott Cousins and Kevin Maclaren worked a corner move (it led to a goal against Carshalton), but this time the passing wasn't accurate. Attempting a quick break, Hendon breathed a sigh of relief when the pass to Dodd was severely overhit and went out for a throw-in on half-way.

Just before half-time, Rankin saw another shot well saved by Stoner, while Laurencin did well just to get his body in the way of a fierce drive from James Crane. This latter effort swerved and dipped in the pouring rain - made bitterly cold by a biting wind off the coast - and whilst Laurencin looked anything but convincing, he kept the ball out of the goal.

Four minutes after the resumption, with the rain and wind making it a truly miserable afternoon, Rankin was sent into the clear by a through ball from O'Leary. He had only the goalkeeper to beat, but failed to do so, allowing the goalkeeper to make a rather comfortable save.

Six minutes later, Aite-Ouakrim was in an identical position - having taken advantage of more hesitant passing by the home defence. Unfortunately, he so underhit the ball that Stoner moved too soon and could only push it aside. Aite-Ouakrim, from an absurdly narrow angle, then fired a shot which beat Stoner, but caromed off the crossbar and bounced away to safety.

Hendon were in control and looking by far the more likely winners, which resulted in the home team replacing Ashley-Paul Robinson with former England schoolboy international Ollie Pearce after 57 minutes. Within a minute, the game flared up when a poor from Cousins was not well controlled by O’Leary, who was then fouled hard.

Four minutes later, with tempers still a little frayed, Brathwaite went in hard on Pearce, both players going for a loose ball, winning the challenge thanks to his determination. It seemed to be a fair tackle, though the home bench and supporters did not agree.

The referee was satisfied that there was nothing untoward in the challenge and allowed play to continue. Pearce, however, lay on the ground and although he continued briefly after receiving treatment, he had to be replaced by Doug Tuck.

This break-up in the game's flow was just what Bognor needed as Hendon began to lose their way. The Hendon back four of Howard Hall, Cousins, Braithwaite and Casey Maclaren were being asked more questions by the Rocks' front men, but they seemed to have all the answers - until the 75th minute.

There seemed little danger as Bognor built down the right side. When, however, the ball was played towards the edge of the 'D' of the penalty area, none of the midfield had tracked the run of Crane.

Unchallenged, Crane took the ball forward and, from 20 yards out, with the whole goal to aim at, tried his luck with a shot. Laurencin was able to block the ball, but neither gather it, nor push it away from the target. Two orange-shirted players stood statuesque as Harvey Whyte pounced on the rebound and slammed the ball into the net.

Hendon's response was to replace Owusu and Aite-Ouakrim with Jack Mazzone and Dave Diedhiou. Within three minutes of coming on, Mazzone had forced Stoner into a sprawling save, the rebound being hacked to safety by a home defender before a Hendon attacker reacted.

Within a minute, the game was put beyond Hendon's reach when a free-kick was played short down the right side and when Lewis Stockford crossed towards the near post Dodd nipped in front of Casey Maclaren and deflected the ball just inside the upright with a neat finish.

Before play resumed Michael Murray came on for the tiring O'Leary and he had a great chance to give Hendon a lifeline back into the game when an errant pass from Darryl Wollers - after Mazzone had pressured Stoner into a hurried ball to his full-back - fell to him. Murray was, admittedly 35-40 yards from the target, but there was no one protecting it and it was terribly wasteful by the midfielder to put his shot wide.

To waste a bit more time, Bognor replaced their man of the match Dodd with Louis John and, within a minute, added a third goal. It was a Hendon corner which was played in by Cousins, but headed clear under no pressure by Wollers.

The ball broke to John, who sent Tuck into the clear. Tuck had Wollers in support and the full-back, from 30 yards, showed Murray how it should be done, driving the ball past the exposed Laurencin into the net off the underside of the crossbar.

Finally, in the last minute of added time, Hendon were able to grab a consolation. With little in the way of options in front of him Cracknell tried his luck from 25 yards. The ball didn't appear to have a great deal of pace, but Stoner either didn't see the shot or thought it was going wide, but he left it and looked on in dismay as, almost apologetically, the ball struck the inside of the post and trickled over the line.

"Their manager said to me after the game that the final score was a travesty," said Hendon boss Gary McCann, "but I have heard that so often in recent weeks."

"We did more than enough to win the game, but our final ball in attack was found wanting on so many occasions. We wasted numerous great opportunities to score before they got their first goal. All three goals we conceded were poor because individual players didn't track back as we told them.

"I spoke with the players afterwards, told them I am doing a lot of soul-searching at the moment."