After a tremendously disappointing defeat against a previously winless Enfield Town on Saturday, Hendon were given the opportunity to redeem themselves in what was on paper a more daunting challenge - a trip to the Prospect Stadium to face Canvey Island.

With Casey Maclaren taking injured brother Kevin's place in midfield and James Fisher and Tony Taggart starting, the Hendon line-up saw a few changes to the previous match, but perhaps the biggest change was in attitude.

Hendon rarely allowed the home side to relax on the ball and were constantly closing down their opponents. This, combined with some genuinely impressive attacking play, more defensive resilience and a couple of great stops from keeper George Legg, ensured that Hendon returned from Essex with three points.

That said, some worryingly typical profligacy in front of goal meant that the visitors were left hanging on in the final minutes rather than comfortably cruising with a two, three or even four goal advantage.

The opening ten minutes were a scrappy, even affair before both sides started pressing in a more coherent fashion in an attempt to grab the first goal. Canvey came closest first, with no-one in the danger zone to capitalise and what looked like a dangerous cross into the six yard area. Hendon had the next half-chance, with what looked to be a goal bound header from the impressive Taggart ricocheting off a Canvey defender for a corner.

Hendon began to assert their ascendancy thereafter, with the Canvey crowd becoming audibly frustrated with the home side's inability to find each other in approach play or muster much in the way of a coherent attack. It was Hendon who made the breakthrough midway through the half. Chris Seeby, who had one of his best games for the club, made one of many surging runs down the right flank. After a deft one-two with Leon Smith, he stretched out a leg to divert the ball toward the Canvey goal where Kezie Ibe was on hand to force the ball home from close range. This was a great move that was rewarded with a lead which was almost doubled five minutes later when the irrepressible Murphy saw his strong long-range effort pushed away from the top corner by St Louis-Hamilton in the Canvey goal.

The home side seemingly stepped up a gear in an attempt to find an equaliser. Firstly, what seemed to be a goal bound shot was inadvertently cleared off the line by an oblivious Canvey attacker, while minutes later Legg in the Hendon goal pulled off a breath-taking save from a Canvey header that kept Hendon's noses in front.

They soon nearly extended their lead. Taggart saw a speculative cross/shot smothered by the Canvey keeper before he whipped in a cross for Casey Maclaren in what seemed to be a must-score scenario. However, Maclaren, leaning back in an effort to reach the ball, smashed the ball over the Canvey keeper, but sadly also some distance over the Canvey crossbar. Somehow, the first half ended with just the single goal in it, with both sides having numerous chances to increase the tally.

Canvey set about the second half with renewed resolve, drawing a decent save out of Legg from a bending shot. Hendon regained the initiative soon after. Ibe was played in by an ebullient Oliver Sprague and looked to be winding up for a shot before he was abruptly grounded by a blatant shirt-pull by Canvey's Victor Osubu.

The referee rightly had no hesitation in blowing for a penalty, although his dismissal of Osobu came as something of a surprise as Hendon's goal-scoring opportunity was still opaque rather than clear to say the least. A penalty and a yellow card would have been ample retribution.

Or at least it would have been if Hendon had a reliable penalty taker in the team. A third penalty miss of the season, from Ibe on this occasion, made it six consecutive missed penalties in the league for the Greens, with Ibe's tentative shot anticipated by St Louis-Hamilton who made a decent save.

The rest of the second half saw Hendon have at least half a dozen more reasonable chances, with Murphy, Ibe, Seeby (who coasted up and down the wing with the grace of a mild-mannered okapi) and Sprague all coming close. For their part, Canvey headed into the side netting and looked progressively dangerous as full time approached.

Hendon can feel proud of a fine three points picked up on the road in front of around 20 or so away supporters, although both they and the management team must have left a surprisingly gust-free Canvey Island wondering how the victory was not a more comfortable one.