Hendon moved another place away from the danger zone at the foot of the Ryman League Premier Division table and consigned fellow strugglers and neighbours Wingate & Finchley to more nervous looking over their shoulders with a stoppage time penalty to snatch all three points. It was, in truth, no more than Hendon deserved, but the Blues contributed to their own downfall by having two players red carded.

The foul weather no doubt deterred some of the less diehard supporters and the crowd of 182 saw Hendon line up with a few changes from the one which beat Thurrock a week earlier. The departure of Greg Ngoyi to St Albans City meant a recall for Isaiah Rankin, while the unavailability of Darren Currie allowed fit-again James Fisher to return, which meant a reshuffle in the other personnel.

Pouring rain and a strong wind were at Hendon's backs at kick-off, but they had to deal with a good start by Wingate & Finchley, who included three former Greens in their starting 11, Wayne O'Sullivan, Anthony Thomas and Scott Shulton, plus the son of an ex-Don in Jack Hutchinson (his father Terry played for the Greens in the mid-1970s).

In the 10th minute, a ball skidded away from Leon Smith and O'Sullivan shot at goal, where Berkley Laurencin made an excellent low save. Hendon's response was a long-range drive from Fisher, which forced Bobby Smith into showing his capabilities.

Andre Scarlett had the next chance for the Blues and Laurencin produced an outstanding block to push the ball away after it had swerved, bounced and skidded off the wet turf. Rankin had a good chance to give Hendon the lead when set up by Dean Cracknell after 34 minutes, but from a good position - albeit the angle diminishing - he found the side-netting.

If this gives the impression that the match was end-to-end entertainment, it wasn't. More accurately, it was a match that both teams, first and foremost, were desperate not to lose and the nerves were clearly on display. Hendon forced eight corners in the first half, but failed to take advantage of them - a far cry from last season when four first-half set-pieces from Scott Cousins resulted in four goals.

In the second half, Hendon made better use of the wind than the Blues. Smith, who needs a big man to play off and some space in which to work, had neither and was rarely even at the level of effective. His unwillingness to drop back to get the ball was in stark contrast with Belal Aite-Ouakrim, who regularly picked up possession for the Greens on the half-way line or even just inside his own half.

Although, there was often not a great result at the end of his runs, he caused consternation in the Wingate & Finchley defence and the Blues rearguard got lucky on more than one occasion. Smith was also in sparkling form and he produced two good saves, denying Cracknell and Casey Maclaren.

Part of Wingate & Finchley's problem was that they could not get the better of either Maclaren brother, with Kevin outstanding, while Cracknell and Lee O'Leary contributed effectively and unflashily.

There had been almost nothing in the way of heated reaction from either team for 65 minutes when, out of nothing, the match flared up. Scott Cousins and Scarlett tangled right on the touchline, some 40 yards from the Hendon goalline. What first appeared to be harsh words became slight pushing, then Scarlett grabbed Cousins.

Whether the Hendon captain threw a punch - the feeling of the home officials - or merely swung his arm trying to release it - how the Hendon bench saw it - is unclear. The match officials saw nothing untoward, but the assistant on the touchline and the man in the middle immediately reacted to Scarlett's headbutt into the face of Cousins.

Both teams reacted and the match officials took a while to sort out the square dance which ensued. Cousins stayed on the pitch, Scarlett left it having been shown a red card. Wingate & Finchley manager Gary Meakin - a former Hendon player - said after the game, "I said to Andre after the game, when Scott swung at you, you should have gone down. Then he would have been sent off and you would have stayed on. Instead, you reacted, he stayed on and you were sent off."

Three minutes later, Shulton went down under a challenge from Aite-Ouakrim. There was nothing malicious in the tackle, it was just slightly mistimed.

However, the behaviour of Shulton in trying to get his former team-mate into trouble was unedifying and the referee's unwillingness to allow him treatment suggested he was unconvinced by the seriousness of the injury. Before play resumed, Aite-Ouakrim received a talking-to but no card.

Hendon didn't really take advantage of the extra man, but Wingate & Finchley were slightly more cautious about sending men forward. After a Hendon chance was cleared by the home defence, the Blues had the ball in the Greens net.

A shot from the edge of the penalty area took a huge deflection and sent the ball past the wrong-footed Laurencin. However, the decisive touch came from O'Sullivan who had strayed into an offside position and the assistant referee's flag stilled the Wingate & Finchley cheers.

Despite the enormous effort put in by both teams, there were no substitutions before Hendon made an offensive move, withdrawing midfielder Cracknell and replacing him with striker Owusu. The big man had an immediate effect forcing Smith into a routine save.

Three minutes from the end of normal time, a rampaging run down the right wing set up Aite-Ouakrim, but Smith made brilliant block, spreading himself and saving with his legs.

As the game moved into stoppage time, Hendon forced a corner. The ball was headed goalwards and was clearly beating Smith on its way just inside the angle of post and crossbar. It didn't make it into the goal, only because Shulton produced a superb save, clawing the ball away. The assistant referee was again perfectly positioned to see the incident and he immediately waved his flag.

Once the referee's attention had been attracted the assistant signalled that it was a penalty and Shulton didn't even wait for the referee to produce the red card before trotting off.

Just as with the previous week, Owusu was first to raise his hand to take the penalty. This time, with no Currie to take seniority, and no one else in green apparently desperate for the responsibility, Owusu had the office. Smith guessed wrongly and Owusu had his fourth Hendon goal - the match-winner.

Wingate & Finchley made all their three changes in the next three minutes, while Hendon shored things up with Dave Diedhiou taking over from Rankin. But the Blues were unable to get even a look at the Hendon goal as the Greens saw out time.

"First and foremost, I want to dedicate this win to the memory of David Bedford's father who passed away last week," said Hendon manager Gary McCann.

"If we had lost today it would have been an injustice. But it was an important last-ditch goal for us and also for our morale and confidence. We had put in so much effort into the game, we deserved the three points."