Hendon suffered their first defeat of the season away to Metropolitan Police at Imber Court on Tuesday evening. Hendon were unchanged from Saturday's win over Bury - even the five substitutes wore the same numbers.

Shortly before kick-off a heavy shower, with thunder growling away in the distance, made the pitch rather slick, though it was otherwise in excellent condition. A further sharp shower occurred around 10 minutes into the match and produced a double rainbow behind Hendon's left-back position.

Hendon had two early chances to take the lead. In the third minute Sam Murphy and Ollie Sprague stood over a free-kick awarded for a foul around 25 yards out. After the referee spent some time getting the Police wall back and trying to stop the usual jostling for position, Murphy drove the free-kick over the bar.

Nine minutes later Leon Smith was sent through, he rounded a defender and Police keeper Stuart Searle, and had an apparent easy finish, albeit from a fairly tight angle to the left of goal. Smith however, instead of shooting left footed, worked the ball back on to his right foot, giving a defender time to get back, cover the line and block the eventual shot.

Met Police went straight down the other end through a move down their right side, the move ending with a striker in the clear with just George Legg to beat, but the shot across goal was wide of the far post.

This was the first of four excellent chances for Met Police in the space of 10 minutes or so, all coming through attacks down their right side, an area that they continued to exploit for the whole match.

The second chance produced the first goal in the 16th minute. The attack found Bradley Hudson-Odoi in space and his shot gave Legg no chance. Shortly after this Legg foiled Ryan James before Met Police doubled their lead in the 24th minute. Lee O'Leary lost possession in midfield, and a quick diagonal pass from left to right found Hudson-Odoi beyond the last defender and he finished clinically.

Hendon were thrown a lifeline in the 31st minute. Murphy played a pass through to Ibe in the penalty area, only for him to be brought down by Ricardo Joseph, who was booked for the challenge. Smith took responsibility for the penalty but opted for placement rather than power, and Searle made an excellent save at the foot of a post.

Shortly after this another attack by Met Police saw a driven cross from the right elude three Police attackers in front of goal. Almost any contact from any of them would have increased the lead.

Hendon finished the half on the attack, a cross from Sprague being deflected away from Chris Seeby's boot as he was about to meet the cross, and then, in the second minute of added time at the end of the half, a Hendon corner was half cleared to Kevin Maclaren who played the ball back in. Ibe went up for it with Searle and the ball ended up in the net, but the referee disallowed a goal, claiming that Ibe had handled and had impeded Searle in the challenge.

Early in the second half, following yet another right wing attack, Hudson-Odoi went down in the area under a challenge, but the referee deemed the challenge fair.

Just before the hour mark Ibe got the ball near the left hand corner flag with Elliott Taylor in attendance. Ibe managed to make space and his ball in deflected off O’Leary just wide of the post with Searle well beaten.

Shortly after this a Hendon corner caused a scramble in the goalmouth with Searle eventually laying claim to the ball after several unsuccessful attempts to either clear it or turn it into the net. Almost immediately Andre Da Costa replaced Sprague.

Two minutes later a corner from Murphy eluded everyone in the goalmouth and went out for a goal-kick.

In the next 10 minutes Met Police had two excellent chances to put the game out of reach. First Hudson-Odoi, from much the same position as his goals, shot across goal but wide, then a fast break from a Hendon corner resulted in Michael Charles shooting wide from a central position when it seemed much easier to score.

The last ten minutes saw waves of Hendon attacks, but almost all were repulsed by Met Police's twin thin blue lines of four, only two shots resulting, one from Casey Maclaren straight at Searle, and the other from Aaron Morgan from around 30 yards that caused Searle a degree of discomfort in saving it.