Hendon returned from beautiful leafy Tring Athletic with a narrow 2-1 victory at Cow Lane.

It was an excellent workout for the Greens on a lush pitch, something that slowed down the pace of the game, not a bad thing in the first two of the 25-minute periods as the heat of the day slowly waned.

In the second minute, Stewart King got behind Elliott Brathwaite, who fouled him on the edge of the penalty area, but the free-kick came to nothing.

Later in the period, Hendon were awarded a free-kick, which they also failed to use well.

There were no goals in the second quarter, the last for the majority of Hendon's starters, though King forced a good low save from George Legg while, at the other end, Richard Worrell shot narrowly wide after wriggling past a couple of defenders.

There was also a powerful low drive from Tom O'Regan, cutting in the from the wing. Craig Garrett got down quickly to make a decent save.

Small concerns for Hendon came at the end of the first period when Tony Taggart had to be replaced because of tightness in a calf and it was a precaution that he was removed. More worrying was Peter Dean's groin injury which he picked up a few minutes into his first - the third period.

It meant that Kevin Maclaren was given three periods to work and Lee O'Leary was on the pitch for just over 90 of the 100 minutes of action. O'Leary was, however, easily Hendon's best player on the night.

Early in the third period Bobby Sturgeon made a good save from King after he had got clear of the defence, but most of the numerous attempts at goal from Tring came from long range and lacked the range to trouble Sturgeon, or Legg before him.

It must be said, however, that Hendon were also unable to score with a number of good openings, especially in the first two periods, the wrong decisions often being made.

However, it was Hendon who took the lead six minutes into the period. A good passage of passing by Hendon was finished off by O'Leary, whose low, well-placed drive from the edge of the penalty area flew into the bottom corner.

The lead did not last long because a defensive mix-up between Brathwaite and Bobby Sturgeon allowed King the chance to run onto a loose ball and he finished with aplomb. The goalkeeper came off his line, but didn't communicate with the centre-back, who was unaware of King's presence and the striker - who had a trial at Hendon a few seasons ago - use his speed and attacking instincts to do the rest.

Hendon's winner came from Michael Murray in the fourth quarter. He combined well with Ryan O'Sullivan before sweeping the ball imperiously into the bottom corner.

In the final few minutes, Hendon really should have added to their advantage as Ollie Sprague put in two outstanding crosses. They landed on the heads of Murray and Andre Da Costa, respectively, and would surely have brought goals had either player managed to put their efforts on target.