Hendon, facing a run of four matches in six days, couldn't quite produce another Middlesex Senior Cup miracle and went out at the semi-final stage, losing 4-3 to Hampton & Richmond Borough, despite leading three times. However, the match ended with the Greens down to 10 men.

Only Kevin Maclaren and Jack Bennett retained their starting roles from the team which had seen off Carshalton 48 hours earlier. Two players made their debuts, Jonathan Hippolyte and Archange Nwaku, while Elliott Brathwaite returned to the first team a year and four days after he suffered a serious knee injury.

It would be fair to describe the Greens as having a makeshift team, which saw Max McCann and Ryan Wharton at full-back and Brathwaite and Sam Flegg at centre-back.

For the Greens, Bennett moved into midfield where, for 45 minutes, he teased, tormented and completely dominated Hampton, leaving players trailing in his wake almost every time he touched the ball. Maclaren, who had nearly been forced to pull out because of illness, fulfilled his role with his usual efficiency, while Nkumu and Diedhiou played behind Michael Murray and Hippolyte.

Hampton, whose Tuesday match at home to AFC Hornchurch was postponed, had a much more rested and near full-strength squad to choose from. Although omitting their preferred front two, Dave Tarpey and Charlie Moone (both were on the bench), the Beavers still had Aaron Wickham and former Greens favourite Belal Aite-Ouakrim to call upon.

It look less than nine minutes for Hendon to make the breakthrough. An attack down the right side resulted in a good pass from Nkumu. The ball was deflected away from the heart of the penalty area by a Hampton defender, but straight to Bennett. The youngster took a touch, then drilled the ball off Rodney Chiweshe's hand and into the net.

Less than 60 seconds later, Hendon had been pegged back. The ball ricocheted to Wickham, whose shot went through the legs of a defender and past Berkley Laurencin on its way into the far corner.

Hendon regained the lead with another excellent goal. Bennett was involved again, playing a one-two on the edge of the penalty area before delivering a perfectly-weighted cross to the far post where Diedhiou arrived to nod the ball into an unguarded part of the goal.

The Hampton response was, once again, almost immediate, but this time had more than a hint of good fortune about it. It must be said, the Greens didn't defend the first ball into the penalty area particularly well, but Tommy Brewer's shot took a huge deflection and looped over Laurencin, who had already started to dive for a shot along the ground.

Parity again did not last long. Hendon regained the lead in the 35th minute, when Murray converted a penalty. Bennett had made another superbly-timed run into the penalty area and was about to shoot at goal, with only Chiweshe to beat when he was pushed over by a defender.

This time there was no immediate response from Hampton, and Bennett and Hippolyte both then squandered good openings to extend the Hendon lead, but the half-time whistle did allow everyone to draw breath.

Before the second half started, Bennett and Maclaren were withdrawn, Anthony Thomas and Jose Figura replacing them. There was also a reshuffle of the formation, with Thomas and Murray playing behind Hippolyte who was in a lone striking role.

And Thomas came desperately close to scoring a fourth Hendon goal when he curled a shot towards the top corner. Chiweshe made an acrobatic save to keep out the attempt that might just have settled the tie.

Just before the hour mark, the Hendon lead disappeared for the third time. The defending by the Greens was, once again, found wanting and Aite-Ouakrim drilled a shot across Laurencin just inside the far post.

Diedhiou then had a great chance to make it 4-3 to Hendon when he rose to meet a header with no defender close to him but he failed to put the ball on target.

It proved to be a crucial miss because, as the half progressed, Hampton began to dominate. Their winner came about ten minutes from time.

Greens boss Gary McCann was upset, again, with the quality of Hendon defending in the build-up, but Laurencin appeared to spread himself well and palmed the ball a little away from the onrushing Aite-Ouakrim who tripped over the keeper's outstretched arm.

However, the referee didn't see the touch on the ball by Laurencin and awarded a spot kick, also ruling that it was a clear goalscoring opportunity, resulting in a red card for the Hendon stopper.

Joe McDonnell, the substitute goalkeeper, was sent on. Nkumu, who had played well but is very much in McCann’s plans for the busy period of fixtures coming up, was the man sacrificed.

Wickham made no mistake with the spot-kick and that proved to be the last clear-cut chance of the match.

"With a spell of four matches in six days, I really didn't want extra time," McCann, senior, admitted, "but at 4-3 down I would have taken it.

"I really wanted to get to the final of this competition but things went against us. I am very disappointed that we went out, but our defending wasn't good enough - and this comes from the players not having played enough minutes for us recently.

"My team selection for the game was pretty much forced on me and I had to take off both Jack Bennett and Kevin Maclaren at half-time. It had been my plan to give them only 45 minutes, but they had been so good, I was thinking of keeping them on for longer.

"The two boys who came in for their debuts did very well and contributed a lot. I could not be more proud of the effort all the players put in."