Hendon's day reflected manager Gary McCann's as the Greens came from 2-1 down at half-time to overcome Margate 3-2 at a cold but mercifully dry Hartsdown Park on Saturday. The victory lifted the Greens up to ninth in the table, their best position since the opening weeks of the season.

As for Mr McCann, he was delayed setting off for the Kent coast by a flat tyre, then watched his team concede an early goal, another on stroke of half-time, but like the reflated tyre, his team bounced back to take home the three points.

With Carl McCluskey leaving Hendon to join Wealdstone a day before the match, Tony Taggart came back into the starting line-up. Max McCann was added to the subs bench.

The pitch at Margate had survived an early inspection and although perfectly playable was clearly very wet. Saturday morning was sunny and breezy, which undoubtedly helped all concerned, but most importantly the pitch was flat and devoid of mud-patches.

Margate, under new manager Terry Brown, have strengthened their squad in the past few weeks and the former Hayes, Aldershot Town and AFC Wimbledon boss had three players making debuts. It meant that there was a lack of cohesion from which Hendon were able to profit, but not as fully as they should.

In the sixth minute, the Greens forced a corner on the right wing. Margate couldn't clear the ball and when it fell to Casey Maclaren, he tried to score with an overhead kick, but the attempt cleared the crossbar by a few inches.

Two minutes later, the Gate took lead, courtesy of cataclysmic defending from the visitors. Hendon had probably four good chances to clear an attack which started on the left side. When the ball came into the middle, it bobbled to Matt Bodkin, who wasted no time in shooting past Ross Fitzsimons.

Hendon's reaction was good and a couple of half-chances came and went before the equaliser in the 19th minute. Margate had rather unconvincingly broken up an attack at the expense of a throw-in midway inside their own half.

Kevin Maclaren, Chris Seeby and Michael played a triangle before the ball was played through to Bryan. The winger, who absolutely terrorised Sam Rents in an outstanding first 45 minutes, got the better of the full-back and raced into the penalty area.

His cross, from near the goal-line, was superb. Jefferson Louis's towering header at the back-post was even better, giving Craig Holloway no chance of making a save.

For the rest of the first half, Hendon's forwards found ways to fail to score a second goal. In the 27th minute, Anthony Thomas got clear of the Margate defence chasing a loose ball.

Holloway came off his line, but realised he wasn't going to get near the ball and retreated. As Holloway back-pedalled, he stumbled. Although he was quickly back on his feet, he was hopelessly out of position.

Had Holloway been well-placed, the goalkeeper would probably still have been helpless as Thomas drilled a dipping volley towards the far post. Unfortunately for him, he struck the ball just too well, because the dip wasn't quite enough to go under the crossbar, striking the underside. The rebound favoured Margate and the ball bounced to a blue-shirted defender who cleared the danger.

Bryan, Taggart, Thomas and Louis all took shooting options in good positions -invariably with one or more team-mates calling for a pass. Each time the strike went wide of the goal.

In the 40th minute, Taggart blocked a crossfield pass from Richard Avery and profited from his bravery by finding the ball close to his feet without a defender nearby. Taggart ran at goal and although Holloway's angle was good, Taggart saw a gap by the near post. His shot, however, was a yard off target.

Two minutes later, Kevin Maclaren drilled a shot from just outside the penalty area inches over the crossbar.

And those misses came back to haunt the Greens in first-half stoppage time. A free-kick was played down the left wing, where no one was covering. The ball was crossed into the danger area and Jamie Stuart headed home.

Many teams would have been crushed by the timing of that second goal, but not this Hendon team. Margate had reacted to Bryan's first-half domination of Rents down the Hendon right wing by having two or three men patrolling that side. It meant, with the slope and chilling wind at their backs in the second half, the Greens set about getting back on level terms, using the opposite flank.

It took them only 10 minutes to achieve their target. The goal was a mirror image of Margate's opener, the defence failing with numerous attempts to clear the danger. Lee O'Leary and Louis had half-chances, but a shot from the edge of the box fell perfectly for Casey Maclaren, who turned and diverted the ball into the bottom corner.

Hendon's winner came six minutes later. Thomas again got the better of his defender, who failed in four attempts to slow him down by grabbing his shirt, and drilled a diagonal cross-shot towards the far post.

The difference between his first-half and second-half attempts was the power in the strike. This second strike was a little lower, but still too high for Holloway, who got a soft hand on the ball but couldn't stop it from finding the net.

Brown tried to change the game with a trio of substitutions but Margate were still hanging on. They had another escape when Jack Bennett made another of his superb runs out of defence. His shot took a slight deflection and bounced off the inside of the post before being ferried away to safety.

Hendon brought on Dave Diedhiou, Adam Wallace and Ryan Wharton for Taggart, Thomas and Louis, but held on without too many alarms. The one good chance that came Gate's way fell to one of their substitutes, Dean McDonald, but Fitzsimons made an excellent save.