Hendon, with a much reshaped team, bowed out of the Ryman League Cup with a 2-0 defeat at Aldershot Town on Thursday night. Continued uncertainty about the state of the LOOT Stadium pitch meant that Hendon had to concede home advantage to the Shots, although the conditions on the night turned out to be playable.

After playing two tough away games in 4 days earlier in the week, Hendon boss Dave Anderson was determined that none of his players who appeared in both matches would play more than 45 minutes. In for his seasonal debut came goalkeeper Gary McCann, while Pat Sappleton got a rare outing and James Burgess made his first start. Ricci Crace also made his first start since his serious knee injury in September. Dale Binns was back in the team after missing 4 matches through suspension.

Although Aldershot also made a number of changes, the players they brought in were all very experienced, including Mark Ward and John Nutter, both of whom played in the Nationwide League last season.

This Aldershot team is much changed from a month ago in terms of attitude. Under caretaker manager Stuart Cash, the Shots are more measured in their approach and it makes them harder to beat. When the inexperienced Burgess twins mistimed a couple of early tackles, there were no remonstrations and the game was able to flow.

The first half was dominated by the Shots, who were going down the slope, but there were few shots on target. Martin Randall had one good opening for Hendon, but his shot was easily saved by Gareth Howells. Binns was a little unfortunate in that his side of the pitch was very boggy and he looked rather tentative.

The pitch played a part in the opening goal, after 37 minutes. Sappleton won a header and tried to release Mark Burgess. The ball hit Grant Payne on the side of the head and dropped dead at his feet due to a bald and dead area of the pitch. A quick pass released Mark Graham and when Graham passed back to Payne just inside the penalty area, he fed the ball onto WARD, who shot home.

For the second half, Hendon brought on Simon Clarke (for Randall), Steve Forbes (for Jon-Barrie Bates) and Mark Cooper (for Paul Towler) and reorganised the formation. It certainly made a difference, but the fact that Binns had a much firmer surface was probably more important. He gave Lee Holsgrove a torrid time.

He created a number of chances, for himself as well as Crace and Leon Woodruffe, but none were taken. The best fell to Crace, who needed only the softest of touches to convert a Binns cross but, with Howells out of position, he hit the ball too hard and sent it wide of the near post. Woodruffe was a yard away from another Binns cross-shot.

In the 78th minute PAYNE sewed up the tie when he made space for himself and converted a Jason Chewins cross that eluded both Forbes and Sappleton.

"I thought we gave a good account of ourselves tonight," said Mr Anderson. "The boys were very tired after Saturday and Tuesday and I was not prepared to risk them suffering long-term muscle injuries by playing 3 90-minute games on heavy pitches in 5 days."