Hendon moved up to 16th in the Ryman League Premier Division and five points above the relegation places after a third consecutive 90th-minute (or later) goal brought them all three points. Victims this time were Cray Wanderers, who succumbed to Belal Aite-Ouakrim's strike at Hayes Lane on Sunday afternoon.

The Greens welcomed back Darren Currie and he took over from Dean Cracknell, who dropped to the bench, in an otherwise unchanged starting line-up. Jack Connors, on work experience from Dagenham & Redbridge, also was among the substitutes with Julian Owusu, Dave Diedhiou and the unused Ryan Wharton.

Cray started the match very brightly and Paul Vines stung the hands of Berkley Laurencin after just 15 seconds. The goalkeeper was able to knock the swerving, dipping 25-yard drive down to his feet and pick up the ball before an amber-shirted player could get close to the rebound.

The Wands continued to set the piece and won a series of corners and free-kicks around the Hendon penalty area, but weren't able to get off any more noteworthy attempts on goal. Isaiah Rankin had one half-chance after 13 minutes, but the ball bounced higher than he wanted and by the time he had controlled it, Mark Willy was able to effect a block.

In the 33rd minute, Currie set up Scott Cousins for a cross which was only half-cleared and Casey Maclaren forced Andy Walker into a save. A minute later, from a corner, the Cray defence was a sixes and sevens, but Rankin and Belal Aite-Ouakrim couldn't force the ball over the line from close range.

For the rest of the first half, it was pretty even and when the teams reached the sanctuary of the dressing rooms, it was still all-square. As a contest, it had been good entertainment on a dank, but mild - for early January - Sunday afternoon.

Hendon were much the better team in the second half, reversing the balance of the opening 45 minutes, but they were unable to take the chances that fell their way. That said, Cray were not without openings themselves and they enjoyed a spell of good possession around the hour-mark and had a penalty appeal turned down when Danny Phillips went down.

Hendon also had a penalty shout at a similar stage when James Fray got in the way of a ball played towards the six-yard box, where Rankin was lurking. It may have been handball - and Rankin was certain of it - but the referee allowed play to continue.

After 58 minutes, Howard Hall did very well to skip past Jack Clark and he drilled a low cross which Walker spilled, but was able to regather just as Rankin tried to poke the ball into the net. It was the start of an unhappy half-hour for the goalkeeper as he received a kick on the head as he dived across to deny the Hendon striker.

The Greens made their first two changes before midway through the half, Rankin making way for Julian Owusu after an hour and Cracknell taking over from Lee O'Leary five minutes later. The only Cray replacement was Michael Power, who came on for Leigh Bremner, who had been superbly held in check by James Fisher and Elliott Brathwaite.

A couple of minutes after Bromley's substitution, they should have opened the scoring when a raking ball from Tyrone Stirling on the left wing picked out Paul Vines on the right flank. His cross found Phillips, for almost the only time all afternoon clear of the attention of Kevin Maclaren. Phillips' free header from eight yards out cleared the crossbar, reminiscent of the miss by Paul Vines in the dying seconds of the reverse fixture at Vale Farm in November.

Walker's problems came mainly from his distribution as he passed the ball too firmly between Clark and Sterling to concede a throw-in on the left side. Then a quick throw-out to Billy Burgess on the right was pounced on by Aite-Ouakrim but his pass went behind Owusu and too far in front of Currie and Cracknell.

And it was another errant kick which proved to be Cray's undoing and Hendon's match-winner. The game was in its final minute of normal time when, forced into a hurried clearance, thanks to Owusu's quick closing-down, Walker drilled the ball into touch 40 yards from his own goal.

Hall raced to take a quick throw-in and it released Cracknell, who rounded Clark easily and delivered a low teasing cross beyond Walker's dive. The went a little behind Aite-Ouakrim but the striker stuck out his right leg and was able to bring the ball under control.

No defender was in position to stop Aite-Ouakrim turning and Burgess ran to the goal-line to cover the out-of-position Walker. With time to control the ball and steady himself, Aite-Ouakrim took careful aim and drilled the ball beyond the full-back's desperate lunge into the back of the net.

There were still more than four minutes of stoppage time which were extended as Hendon replaced the goalscoring hero Aite-Ouakrim with Diedhiou. As it turned out, Cray had rather run out of ideas and inspiration and although they forced a couple of corners, Laurencin and the defenders in front of him were able to deal with the danger without too many alarms.

"We like leaving it late recently," said delighted Hendon manager Gary McCann. "I thought we were very good in the second half, but we put ourselves under a lot of pressure in the first 20 minutes, conceding free-kicks around our penalty area and corners. That said, we defended those situations very well.

"The changes we made were very effective as Julian Owusu and Dean Cracknell gave Cray a different set of problems, Owusu with his playing style and Cracknell - not only in setting up the goal - but also in the way that he stifled Tyrone Sterling.

"We now have to build on our last three victories as the games are coming thick and fast. It isn't ideal to have another game so soon after this one."