Hendon won a controversial FA Trophy second qualifying round tie against Bideford with a dramatic late winner, despite playing for 82 minutes with 10 men. It was a brave, disciplined performance when adversity was all around in the early stages.

It started in the warm-up when Tony Taggart pulled up with an injury. It meant a recall for Dave Diedhiou - previously named as a substitute - and meant that the only change to the starting XI was Michael Bryan's return after trials with clubs in the Conference Premier and Football League 2.

As it happened, it turned out to be a fortunate change, albeit in more unfortunate circumstances. In the eighth minute, after little of note had happened, a ball was played towards the Hendon penalty area.

The strong wind at Hendon's backs held up the ball so both the Bideford player and his marker Casey Maclaren had to move towards the Bideford goal. Maclaren, behind the striker rose powerfully, but clattered into the player with his forearm making contact in the back of the neck.

There is no question there was contact and the resulting injury wasn't feigned, but none of the Bideford players reacted as if they had seen a gross indiscretion. The referee, however, thought differently, ruling Maclaren guilty of violent conduct and he quickly produced a red card.

Hendon reacted by moving Chris Seeby into the centre of defence and Diedhiou dropped into the right side of the back-four. Although the defensive line was one the Greens had used previously this season, James Fisher marshalling the centre of defence and Jack Bennett operating on the left side, Hendon still had to play out 82 minutes - plus stoppages - a man down.

Bryan and Bennett had linked up well earlier in the season, but the former moved to the right side, where he caused some danger. Most of the play, however, was at the other end where Kevin Squire, Owen Howe and Ashley Yeoman were prominent.

However, Berkley Laurencin was in inspired form producing three good saves. A series of corners, wind-affected, didn't unduly trouble the tall goalkeeper, whose decisions to punch or catch the ball were correct every time.

Hendon's best moment came after 35 minutes when Bryan skipped past Ian Sampson, played a one-two with Diedhiou and delivered a teasing, low cross which went past goalkeeper Steve Oliver, guarding his near post.

Jefferson Louis slid in, but was inches away from making contact; Jack Farzer got the faintest of touches, enough to lift the ball over the onrushing Lee O'Leary and away from late-arriving Carl McCluskey. Any one of the three Hendon players would surely have scored had they made contact with the ball, but Bideford escaped.

A couple of minutes later, Rob Farkins led with his elbow as he challenged O'Leary in mid-air. Hendon fans screamed for the referee to be consistent and punish the Devonians' captain in the way that Casey Maclaren had been, but they were disappointed.

If there was one disappointing facet of Hendon in attack it was the waste of corners and set plays close to the Bideford goal. Kevin Maclaren and Bryan both failed to put the ball into the danger area, with first man Sampson clearing the ball before a green shirt could get close to it.

For 25 minutes of the second half, it was Bideford who held sway. They enjoyed both the bulk of possession and territory, but Fisher, Seeby and Laurencin put in magnificent shifts, the two central defenders denying Squire and Howe clear sights of goal and the trio clearing a succession of crosses.

Laurencin produced four good saves, especially an angled drive from Matt Bye and a 20-yard strike from Nick Milton. Gradually, however, Bideford began to grow frustrated and their play predictable and this gave the 10 men renewed heart.

With 20 minutes to go, Farkins again left his elbow in O'Leary's neck as the pair contested a ball near half-way, close to the dugouts. Hendon players and the bench were incensed, until the referee again pulled out a red card and the Bideford skipper made the long, slow trudge towards the dressing room.

Strangely, Bideford decided not to change their game plan and instead of seeing the game out and forcing Hendon to make a five-hour coach trip to Devon two days later, they continued to try attacking. It proved a most unwise decision, not least because their forwards had run themselves to a near-standstill.

With ten minutes to go, Louis finally had a chance to run at the Bideford defence. He got the better of Milton, who half-tripped him 25 yards out.

If Louis had gone down where the contact occurred, the referee would have been left with a difficult question: was there enough doubt to rule it was not both a last-man tackle and denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity. Louis made the question moot as he kept on his feet and the covering Milton did just enough to force the striker to fire the ball wide of the target.

With seven minutes to go, Hendon made their only substitution, withdrawing McCluskey and replacing him with Dean Cracknell, who had not been in the original 16. It proved an inspired change, because Cracknell played his part in the winning goal two minutes later.

It started with Bennett, who grew increasingly influential as an attacking force as the game went on. He got around Sean Downing and played in a low cross, which caused panic in the visitors' defence.

The ball ended up with Cracknell, who turned and instead of passing back to Bennett, sent it to Kevin Maclaren. The cross was inch-perfect as Diedhiou, arriving late, met the ball and guided the ball past the statuesque Oliver.

There was little in the way of positive reaction from Bideford. The Greens had two good scoring opportunities, first when a Bennett cross was headed out for a corner by Jack Farzer, who was at full stretch to reach the ball, but Louis was lurking with intent a couple of yards behind him.

As the game moved into stoppage time, Cracknell - on the anniversary of his stunning 30-yarder against Aldershot Town in the FA Cup first round - squirmed out of a tackle, but could not get enough power to trouble Oliver, who made the save.