Hendon reached the midway point of the Ryman League Premier Division season with a more than healthy 46 points - averaging two per game - and place cemented in the top four. Indeed third-placed Dulwich Hamlet, who have played a game more, lead Hendon only on goal difference after the Greens' midweek victory.

A trip to Leiston is difficult enough at a weekend, but for part-time players it is a real chore and Hendon faced it nine days before Christmas. That the whole team was able to make the journey, and return home with the three points following a 1-0 victory, is even more laudable.

There were two changes to the starting line-up from the team which had shared the points with VCD at the weekend, Oliver Sprague replacing Tony Taggart at left-back and James Fisher coming for Andre Da Costa in midfield.

This was an excellent match, played on a cold but dry night. It was the Blues of Leiston who started the brighter, but they had few sightings of the Hendon goal. Elliott Brathwaite and Charlie Goode held sway over Danny Cunningham and Leon Ottley-Gooch.

It was the prolific and dangerous Gareth Heath, coming from midfield, who caused the most problems. He fired narrowly wide, was denied by a perfectly-timed intervention by goalkeeper Ben McNamara, and then forced a corner from which Joe Jefford was just off target.

Hendon gradually got into the game and Jefford and Adam Tann had to be alert when dealing with Kezie Ibe and Leon Smith. All that said, the truth is that clear-cut openings for both teams were at a premium.

Leiston were forced to reshuffle midway through the first half when Tom Winter limped off, but his replacement Craig Parker was more than adequate substitute.

The second half started much like the first, with Leiston forcing the early pressure. It was soon clear that, for the all obviously quality of the two teams in the top five of the table, they did rather cancel each other out.

As the half progressed the teams felt the added pressure of the realisation that a single goal was likely to be enough to obtain a maximum haul of points. With just over 20 minutes remaining, Danny Gay produced an excellent save to keep out an effort from Smith.

A couple of minutes later, Hendon made their first substitution, Peter Dean coming on Dave Diedhiou. The response from Leiston was to withdraw Daniel Cunningham and replace him with Tom Bullard, who had scored the Blues' goal when they lost 4-1 to the Greens in the FA Cup in late September.

Hendon's change proved to be an inspired one because it took only a few minutes for Dean to play a key role in the breaking of the deadlock. He ran at the Leiston defence, but was forced wide of the right side of the penalty area. He did, however, draw a foul.

The free-kick was floated in and Brathwaite powered a header goalwards. Gay got a hand to it, but it required Tann to complete the goalline clearance with Hendon players in the vicinity convinced he had done so in vain.

The ball went back to Brathwaite, whose second attempt was probably off target, until Ibe flicked the ball neatly past Gay into the net.

As Leiston looked for way back into the game, they turned to Heath, but he fired into the side netting. Hendon then sent on Adam Wallace at the expense of Smith, while Leiston's final change saw Josh Mayhew replace Scott Mitchell.

Wallace thought he had made the points safe when he knocked the ball past Gay and into the net. His celebrations were stilled by an offside flag from the referee's assistant, but it was a borderline decision that went against the Greens. Sam Murphy then came close with a curling shot, but it was just off target.

Five minutes of added time gave Leiston a glimmer of hope, but McNamara. Chris Seeby, Sprague, Goode, Brathwaite and Fisher were determined that they were not going to concede. In fact, Hendon, on the break - Taggart having replaced Ibe at the start of stoppage time - seemed as likely to get a second as Leiston a first.