Hendon were far too good for an off-colour Lewes in the second round qualifying of the FA Cup with Budweiser at Vale Farm on Saturday afternoon. The Greens scored in the last minute of the first half, early in the second and then were able to coast into the third round qualifying, where they will visit Eastbourne Borough of the Blue Square Bet (Conference) South.

Manager Gary McCann promised that there would be changes after Hendon's dismal defeat at East Thurrock a week earlier, but Greens' fans were surprised to see that seven players came into the starting 11. Only Berkley Laurencin, Kevin Maclaren, Dean Cracknell and Greg Ngoyi retained their places, while second-half substitutes at Rookery Hill, Howard Hall and Elliott Charles started.

The other newcomers included two debutants, George McCluskey (brother of Carl), on work experience form Barnet, and George Smith, released by Southend United earlier this year, plus a first Hendon appearance in 13 months for Elliott Brathwaite - his second for the club - and returns from injury for Dave Diedhiou and James Fisher, named captain in the absence of Scott Cousins, who was away on England 6-a-side international duty and James Parker.

There were no places in the 18 for either Wayne Walters, Casey Maclaren and Jerome Federico, while Ryan Wharton, Scott Shulton and Michael Murray joined Mo Maan, Isaiah Rankin, Jack Mazzone and Craige Tomkins on the bench.

It took less than five minutes for the Hendon to fashion the first opening. Cracknell released Charles down the right and he cut inside Lewis Hamilton before hitting a low cross towards Ngoyi. The ball eluded Kieron Thorp's dive and the striker seemed to have an easy tap-in, but an intervention from Steve Robinson denied him. It appeared that the Rooks' centre-half and captain had clipped Ngoyi's heel or diverted the ball himself, but the referee awarded a goal kick, suggesting it was a straightforward miss by Ngoyi.

Lewes began to exert some control over the next few minutes and, midway through the half, twice came close to grabbing the lead. First, careless play by Hendon on the half-way line allowed the Rooks to break down the right side.

The ball was played into the feet of Aaron Wickham, who had his back to goal. Without taking a look first, Wickham span around and fired a shot that went a yard wide of the near post. Had he taken a look or aim before shooting, he would surely have put the effort on target.

In the 22nd minute, Anthony Thomas tried his luck with a dipping drive from 20 yards. Laurencin appeared to get a touch on the ball, diverting against the top of the crossbar, but the referee and his assistant saw no intervention from the goalkeeper and a goal-kick was the result. Thomas, it should be said, was the only Lewes player to claim a corner.

Smith then had a chance to celebrate his Hendon debut with a goal after Jack Walder had dithered in possession on the edge of his own penalty area. The shot from the midfielder flew over Thorp but didn't dip and cleared the crossbar by about a foot.

Sloppy defending proved costly to Lewes in the last minute of what had been a very cagey first half. Charles again did well against Hamilton, driving past the full-back before crossing towards Ngoyi. This time, there was an intervention - of sorts - by Karl Beckford, who was off-balance as he attempted to deal with the danger.

The result was a back-heel which fell right into the path of Cracknell. Taking a stride to compose himself, Cracknell let fly from just inside the penalty area. Although Thorp got a strong hand to the ball, he could do no more than push it into the roof of the net.

Any fears that Lewes would come out for the second half desperate to get back into the match and determined to lay siege on the Hendon goal was already proved unfounded when the Greens doubled their advantage six minutes after the resumption.

Hamilton and Walder again got into a mess on the edge of the Lewes penalty area, giving Cracknell possession. His clever pass invited Ngoyi to take a shot, but he elected to go past Lee Cooper before firing. This allowed a defender to deflect the ball away from the goal, but right into the path of Charles, who took account of the spinning ball in the badly rutted penalty goal area before side-footing the ball just inside the far post.

Still there was no urgent response from the Rooks. The only things Laurencin had to deal with were a few long-range shots, only one of which had any power behind it. None, however, were directed anywhere other than straight at him - or well wide of the target.

After Lewes had made all their substitutions, changes for Hendon saw Ngoyi make way for Rankin in the 69th minute, while Shulton came on for Smith (81 minutes) and Murray took over from Charles (85).

Hendon could have easily added a couple more goals to their tally as time wound down with Lewes a clearly beaten and dispirited side. Rankin used his experience to invite fouls from the increasingly frustrated Rooks back-line, earning a succession of free-kicks around the penalty area.

In the 82nd minute, the wall did part of its job in blocking Cracknell's first effort. The rebound went back to the same player, whose second effort was brilliantly turned aside by Thorp.

The carelessness of the defence proved costly in the 90th minute. Another foul on the edge of the box, this time almost central, was perfect for newly-arrived substitute Murray. He rifled the ball over and around the wall and the stationary Thorp with an excellent strike which flew into the top corner.