Hendon showed that their early season form was not a fluke with a brave 3-2 victory over one of the two teams above them, Margate. By a strange coincidence it was the third consecutive 3-2 result in Ryman League Premier Division matches between the clubs.

Injuries and unavailability meant Hendon were without three of the club's main four central defenders Casey Maclaren, James Fisher and Sam Flegg. This meant the club took defender Lewis Clark on work experience from Dagenham & Redbridge, and he was named on the bench - but wasn't used.

Margate started the game very positively and they completely dominated the opening 40 minutes. The only surprise was that they managed only one goal in that time.

In the third minute, Ryan Moss received a knockdown header in the middle of the penalty area, but he dallied too long and it allowed the defence to shut him down.

A minute later, Hendon were awarded a free-kick for a foul on Kezie Ibe just outside the Margate penalty area. Oliver Sprague's effort cannoned off the defensive wall and the chance went begging.

Less than 60 seconds later, play was back at the other end, where Luke Williams played a one-two with Lewis Taylor to create a good shooting chance, but a covering Hendon defender made a brave block. Margate fans screamed for a penalty, but the referee didn't believe there had been a handball.

Soon after that, Elliott Brathwaite made a rare mistake, slicing a clearance against his own goal-frame. The rebound fell to Luke Moore, but he lifted the ball over the crossbar, albeit from a tight angle.

The opening goal arrived in the 12th minute. Kane Wills worked himself an opening and fired in a low shot.

Although Ben McNamara half-saved the original effort, the ball was dribbling slowly towards the line. Charlie Allen and Moore chased in and Allen won the race, knocking the ball over the line from less than a yard out.

In terms of action, it was almost all at the Hendon end as Moore and Williams both tried their luck from outside the penalty area, but both were off target. Hendon did, however, have a very loud and valid penalty appeal turned down when Ibe was pulled to the ground.

The Greens then won a corner which almost led to a second Gate goal. A rapid counter-attack saw Moss have a good shooting chance, but he snatched at the effort and fired wide of the near post.

Hendon produced an excellent passage of play in the 34th minute, when Andre Da Costa, Sam Murphy and Ibe linked up well. The ball fell to Lee O'Leary, but his touch deserted him and Nikki Bull made a sprawling save.

Six minutes later, Hendon were level. The Greens kept the ball well and then O'Leary played an astute ball forward to where Leon Smith was on the shoulder of Charlie Wassmer.

The striker did well to turn the defender and had a clear run at goal. Bull charged out of his goal sent Smith flying, but only after the ball had been knocked past him into the net.

Smith needed treatment before continuing while Bull was shown a yellow card, one that the referee admitted would have been a different colour had the ball not gone into the net.

Margate's response was quick and Moss nearly scored with a header from a cross by Wills.

In the second minute of additional time, Gate did regain their lead. Tambeson Eyong did well down the right wing and passed back to Williams, whose cross was diverted into the net by a deft header from Allen.

This time, the lead lasted less than two minutes as Brathwaite cleverly directed a downfield clearance to the right of Smith. Wassmer was on the wrong side of the goal-hungry striker and was left floundering as Smith ran in on goal and smashed the ball past Bull.

Both teams made changes at half-time, Wassmer being replaced by John Beales for the Gate. Hendon's change was positional, and very successful because the second half was a much more even contest. Dave Diedhiou had a storming second half, winning his battles against the foraging Moore and Lewis Taylor.

Chris Seeby made three timely interventions alongside another colossal performance from Brathwaite. McNamara did make an excellent save to tip over a shot from Lewis Taylor early in the period.

Freddie Grant was given a tough time in a compelling second-half contest with Da Costa. It was the Hendon man who came out on top in the build up to the match-winning goal.

After 61 minutes, Da Costa crossed low into the middle of the Margate penalty area, where Ibe controlled the ball. He laid it back into the path of Smith, who drilled the ball first time into the bottom corner to record Hendon's first Ryman League hat-trick since April 2012.

The Allen v Smith battle was nearly levelled on two occasions as Margate's captain twice saw efforts cleared off the line, first with a shot hooked over his shoulder then with a header.

Both teams made a couple of changes, Hendon sending on Aaron Morgan for hat-trick hero Smith and Tony Taggart for Da Costa. Margate replaced Wills with Zac Attwood and Moore with Jamie Taylor.

With half a dozen minutes of normal time remaining, a raking Margate run from midfield ended with Maclaren receiving his second yellow card for a trip. It seemed a harsh decision and the disconsolate captain walked off with his armband still on.

This meant the referee had to recall him to pass it on to O'Leary. The free-kick came to nothing. One result, however, was the sacrifice of Morgan, who had been on the field for 17 minutes, and Max McCann was sent on to rebolster the midfield.

It was tough on Morgan, but in the big scheme of things, it was the right move as the Hendon defence and midfield worked hard to resist the pressure from Margate. Murphy and Ibe showed excellent control to kill time on two or three occasions.

In the dying seconds, Margate forced their ninth corner of the game - Hendon had two at that stage. The ball bounced around the penalty area and Jamie Taylor had the chance to rescue a point, but he was off target with his close range header, Gate's 16th attempt, of which seven had been on target (for the record, Hendon mustered four attempts, all on target).