Hendon backed up Thursday night's 1-0 defeat of Bury Town with another single-goal success, this time over Carshalton Athletic. In both games the Hendon match-winner was Leon Smith, who took his tally to seven goals in 10 starts since arriving from Wingate & Finchley last month.

There was one change from the Greens line-up from Thursday night, Adam Wallace making way for Michael Bryan. Wallace was named among the substitutes, but wasn't used. Two former Greens were on the bench for the Robins, assistant manager Curtis Warmington and substitute Paul Scott, who had been a team-mate of Warmington, Gary McCann and Freddie Hyatt when they were on the Claremont Road playing staff.

A beautiful, sunny spring day greeted the teams but a strong wind would prove to be a big factor in the match. Hendon started brightly, but neither Leon Smith nor Anthony Thomas could fashion an opening.

The first attempt on target came from Carshalton's Tommy Bradford, who drilled a 20-yard shot straight at Joe McDonnell. Although he might have been inconvenienced by the ball bouncing just in front of him, McDonnell made a comfortable save look very easy.

A couple of minutes later, Kevin Maclaren received a pass in acres of space just outside the penalty area. He took a couple of strides forward before unleashing a powerful drive that was always going too high to trouble Michael White in the Carshalton goal.

Jose Figura showed a couple of flashes of what he is capable of doing, but the final ball lacked the clinical accuracy required. He tried his luck with a shot towards the near post, but it went the wrong side of the upright from his perspective.

In the 31st minute, Smith made a good run, cutting inside from the right. His shot was arrowing towards the goal, but White made a very good save. Before the resulting corner could be taken, Carshalton had to replace hamstring-injury victim Rhys Coleman with Paddy McCarthy.

A few Hendon raids faltered as the wind blew the ball too far downfield, but some of the Carshalton defending was also affected, the result of one of these led to the Hendon goal. The set-piece was not cleared and when it fell to Elliott Brathwaite, he swivelled and delivered a teasing floated ball into the danger area.

First to react was Smith, who brought down the ball and strode past the covering defender. White came off his line, but could do nothing as Smith rolled the ball just inside the far post.

Hendon started the second half brightly and twice came close to doubling their advantage. A shot from Smith was saved by White, and then a powerful header from Brathwaite crashed into Smith, though there was both a defender and a goalkeeper in position to stop the ball before it reached the goalline.

Gradually, Carshalton began get more into the game, without ever creating much in the way of clear-cut openings. Sam Flegg and Brathwaite dealt with almost everything delivered into the penalty area, and Chris Seeby and Jack Bennett stopped most attempts to create chances.

Behind them, McDonnell was confident and competent, while, in the middle of midfield, Lee O'Leary and Maclaren ensured that attacks were broken up before they could become dangerous.

Jason Goodchild was another Robins injury victim and he was replaced by Scott for the last 40-odd minutes. He would have the best chance for Carshalton, but couldn't take it, McDonnell making a good save and further danger was averted by an assistant referee's up-raised flag for offside.

Both Smith and Thomas had half-chances, but Carshalton's defenders were brave, throwing themselves in the ball's path. Bryan and Thomas, who appear to be struggling for confidence at the moment, were replaced by Dave Diedhiou and Archange Nkumu as Hendon looked to freshen things up in attack.

Carshalton then made their final change, sending on Stefan Cox in place of Bradford and the Robins started to prey on Hendon's growing nervousness.

With eight minutes to go, Carshalton felt they should have a penalty as a ball rolled harmlessly towards McDonnell. A striker and covering defender were chasing back when they veered towards each other.

The Hendon player raised his arms to brace himself for contact with the slowing down attacker and in the ensuing collision both players went down. To the visitors' disappointment, although the assistant referee was prepared to signal for a penalty, he deferred to the referee, who was much closer and the ruled the collision as accidental.

In the first minute of additional time, Hendon sent on Max McCann to replace Smith, who had worked a really hard shift. McCann just mistimed a run as Hendon counter-attacked and was caught offside.

The game should have been made safe, however, when Figura chased hard and forced White into a rushed clearance. Nkumu controlled the ball 30 yards from goal, with no one in front of him and the goal gaping.

Maybe he should have shot after taking a single touch, but Nkumu elected to run towards goal - without much assuredness - before shooting. His effort, unfortunately, matched the lack of confidence and was little more than a back-pass which White gathered easily.