Hendon enjoyed a more than comfortable victory over landlords Harrow Borough on Bank Holiday Monday. Although Borough were distinctly unhappy with offside decisions for both of the goals, they were equally satisfied that the result was the correct one and, indeed, they were rather flattered by the 2-0 scoreline.

The Greens made one change to the starting line-up - and two to the bench - from the squad which had drawn 1-1 at East Thurrock on Saturday afternoon. Leon Smith replaced the injured Andre Da Costa in a potent attacking formation, while Max McCann and Richard Worrell came onto the bench, Smith now starting and Michael Murray also making way.

Heavy rain made the pitch very greasy on top and the ball rather skidded through, but below the grass, the surface was very good and the pitch did not appear to cut up a great deal. The cutting up was done by Hendon, on the Borough defence, which was at full stretch for pretty much the whole afternoon.

George Legg's whole afternoon could probably be summed up as: one punch clear of a cross in each half, three crosses caught and three easy catches from efforts by Charlie Horlock, from his own penalty area, Francis Otiba from near the half-way line, and Steve Butterworth from the edge of the penalty area - and the first two of those were overhit clearances which were, nonetheless on target.

Horlock, meanwhile, was putting in a man-of-the-match performance, denying, Kezie Ibe, Smith, Aaron Morgan, Sam Murphy and Casey Maclaren with good first-half saves.

Lee O'Leary, Kevin Maclaren and Murphy were dominant in midfield, stifling the dangerous Simeon Akinola and forcing Marc Charles-Smith and Shaun Lucien to run into blind alleys or the immovable forces, which were Chris Seeby, Elliot Brathwaite, Casey Maclaren and Oliver Sprague, the Hendon defence.

Possibly the most damning indictment of the Harrow performance were the substitutions of Ola Williams, in the 43rd minute, and Lucien, at half-time, both "tactical and that would be the nice way of saying it," suggested Borough manager Dave Anderson. "It would be a good way of saying it: we were not at the races today," he added.

Ibe saw a seventh-minute shot well saved and, four minutes later, Smith fired narrowly wide from a good position. But the best move of the match - and had it gone in a contender for goal of the season - came in the 27th minute, when Seeby started a move which then involved half a dozen slick passes before Morgan was put clean in on goal.

The striker rolled the ball past the advancing Horlock but watched the ball hit the inside of the post. He was not quite quick enough to latch on the rebound, which was gathered more than gratefully by Horlock. Morgan was then denied by an excellent Horlock save at his near post after another good break.

The opening goal came in the 34th minute when another good interchange of passes saw a beautiful diagonal pass from O'Leary releasing Smith. The Harrow defence was convinced Smith was offside, but the assistant referee disagreed.

Smith ran towards goal, slowed down to invite Horlock to rush off his line and promptly knocked the ball past him and just inside the far post. It was a very neat finish and the very least that Hendon deserved for their approach play.

Just before the break Casey Maclaren drilled a shot, following a partly-cleared corner, towards the angle of near post and crossbar. Horlock tipped the ball away, but the assistant referee ruled the ball was already beyond the goalline, but over the bar.

The second half was barely a minute old when Hendon doubled their advantage. A corner was not properly cleared and when the ball fell to Sprague, who drilled it back towards goal.

A Borough defender deflected the ball high into the roof of the net, but Hendon cheers were stilled when the assistant referee was spotted signalling an offside. The Greens ran on mass towards the official, disbelieving the decision, mainly because no player could have done anything to interfere with the shot or impede anyone.

The referee ran over to speak to his assistant and they had a conversation that lasted more than a minute before the goal was signalled. Fifteen years ago, there is no doubt the goal would have been disallowed because a Hendon forward was in an offside position.

However, the modern interpretation of active and pass positions meant that whilst the assistant was correct to flag for offside, the referee, with a different angle, was equally correct to overrule him and award the goal. Ten minutes later, when Ibe deflected a Smith shot into the net, the offside flag against the former was the right decision as he had been active merely by going for the ball and by doing so forced Horlock out of position.

Ibe then was fortunate not be given offside when he ran onto a through ball. He rather wasted the chance that came to him, dithering at the wrong moment as he tried to get his feet right for a shot.

Midway through the second half, Harrow were forced to replace Ben Long, who had temporarily blacked out after a heavy landing following a mid-air collision. It meant Borough were not able to make any more changes.

Hendon, had the luxury of making their changes pretty much at their leisure and, with the game won, Morgan (70 minutes) Smith (78) and Ibe (85) were all withdrawn, Tony Taggart, Dave Diedhiou and Worrell, respectively, being the replacements.

There was still time for Diedhiou and Ibe to take too long to decide who was going to take a shot from a good position and then for Taggart to be denied by another top-class save from Horlock.