Hendon completed their first Ryman League Premier Division double of the season and moved to within a point of second-placed Maidstone United with a 3-1 victory over Bury Town that was nothing like as comfortable as the scoreline suggests. Indeed, Ben McNamara saved a penalty in the final minute, before Kezie Ibe added a stoppage-time third goal.

Oliver Sprague and Lee O'Leary returned from injury and Elliott Brathwaite from suspension as Hendon made three changes to the team which had beaten Worthing in the FA Trophy a week earlier. The two teams had met three weeks earlier in the FA Cup, and Bury made four changes from that match (Hendon had three), including a third goalkeeper to face the Greens this season.

This match was played in entirely different weather conditions to the one at the start of the month; the brilliant, warm (for November) blinding sunshine had been replaced by a miserable dank afternoon which had seen the floodlights turned on early in the first half and the pitch surface was distinctly heavy after hours of rain leading up to the match.

The Greens started well, but without quite the same danger as in the Trophy tie. An early goal might have settled Hendon nerves, but it didn't come, although some of the Bury defending suggested a breakthrough was always imminent.

In fact, after a couple of crosses had been cleared in desperate fashion by the Blues, the opening goal - in the 20th minute - came from the first clear opening. Andre Da Costa gave Kye Ruel a torrid first half and his cross was met with a superb, powerful downward header from Leon Smith, giving Alex Archer absolutely no chance of making a save.

Dave Diedhiou almost connected with a far post header and O'Leary's touch let him down just on the edge of the Bury penalty area as Hendon looked to extend their advantage. Kezie Ibe and Sam Murphy both took wrong options when in good positions, but a second goal looked imminent.

It came, against the run of play, at the other end as Hendon were punished for being careless in possession. Jordan Patrick made a break following a Hendon corner, not tracked by the Hendon midfield. Joe Benjamin moved towards the far post, dragging James Fisher out of position, and when Patrick played the ball towards the near post, no one had followed Russell Short, who wrong-footed McNamara with a side-foot inside the right post.

Bury's confidence grew dramatically with the equaliser - just as it had three weeks earlier - but they didn't get many clear sights of the Hendon goal. It was the same at the other end as the two teams showed defensive resilience only when it became absolutely necessary, making the action a little harum scarum.

The closest either team came to goal was in the 38th minute when Chris Seeby drilled a cross from the right flank. The ball came at the wrong height for either a header or shot, so Ibe used his chest, but he was off-target by inches.

On the stroke of half-time, Hendon regained the lead with a moment of either good fortune or great instinct. O'Leary fired a shot from the edge of the penalty area. It would have been a relatively easy save for Archer, except Ibe stuck out a leg and deflected the ball in a slow gentle loop over the committed goalkeeper into the net.

Bury players were incensed, feeling that Ibe - who had been caught offside on a number of occasions - had strayed again. However, Joe Whight was about two yards closer to his goal than Ibe, but a few yards wide of the goal. An attacking player in Whight's position would not be considered interfering with play unless he went towards the ball, but defenders have no such luxury.

In the second half , Hendon were, in the main, comfortably in charge, apart from one Whight free-kick which McNamara saved well and a header that looped onto the roof of the net. The Greens, meanwhile, might have scored four times.

The first effort was from Diedhiou, whose bullet header from close range was pushed away magnificently by Archer. Diedhiou arrived late to meet the ball and was right to head it where he did; Archer's positioning, however, was faultless and it still took brilliant reactions to send the ball over the crossbar.

Ibe had no such excuse in the 79th minute, when he intercepted a pass across the penalty area, got the better Archer, but kissed the outside of the post when he struck the ball goalwards.

By this time, Aite-Ouakrim had replaced Smith and Dean had come on for Da Costa, whose second half was frustrating as the canny Ruel gained revenge for his first-half torture.

In the 84th minute, Archer made a good save from Aite-Ouakrim before Hendon had the ball in the net again. Good approach play down the left flank led to Aite-Ouakrim crossing low for Ibe to sweep home. The referee's assistant ruled that Ibe was offside, though it looked as if he had been behind the substitute when the ball was played across the six-yard box.

Bury, who had used all three of their named substitutes, gained in confidence and spent the last five minutes of normal time camped around the Hendon penalty area. Substitute Remi Garrett fired wide at the far post when any sort of attempt on target would have brought the equaliser.

Then, in the last minute of the 90, Seeby and another defender lunged in on a Bury attacker, who went to ground. The shouts for a penalty were followed by cheers as the referee pointed to the penalty spot.

Chris Benjamin took responsibility for the kick, sending it low towards the post. McNamara, who had been dancing along the line, plunged low and pulled off a magnificent save at the expense of a corner.

The pressure remained on the Hendon goal, with only Ibe not joining the defence. He was the only one needed, in the third minute of stoppage time.

A long ball out of defence should have been dealt with by Justin Miller, but he fell over attempting to reach the ball. Ibe, sniffing a quarter-chance, latched onto the loose ball and, as Archer raced out of his goal to narrow the angle, he slipped the ball past him into the net.