Hendon continue to lose Ryman League Premier Division fixtures against Enfield Town, Saturday's 1-0 reverse at the Queen Elizabeth II Stadium being the sixth (out of six) in three seasons. There is no doubt that the Towners were the better team on this day and Hendon underperformed, but it was, nonetheless, head-scratching that the Greens simply cannot get close to dominating their Middlesex rivals, let along picking up League points.

The Greens were hampered by the continued absence of James Fisher, Kevin Maclaren and Dave Diedhiou, any one of whom manager Gary McCann felt would have turned around the team's fortunes, but Ollie Sprague returned from injury at the expense of Tony Taggart, while Peter Dean came in for Andre Da Costa. New signing, Roman Michael-Percil, who joined from Billericay Town in midweek, was named on the bench.

A strong wind blew at Hendon's backs in the first half, but the Greens didn't utilise it as well as Enfield Town would after the interval. The pitch, however, looked superb, one patch excepted, but the feared overnight rain had not fallen so the inspection which had been called proved to be routine and positive.

Tyler Campbell and Corey Whiteley, as they have done on a few occasions, proved to be difficult for Hendon to deal with and they helped to set up Liam Hope for an early shot. It lacked the power or accuracy to trouble Ben McNamara unduly.

Hendon then broke to the other end and Sam Murphy followed good work by Dean with a return pass. It was probably little more than a half-chance, but Dean acrobatically struck a volley which was well saved, at full stretch, by Nathan McDonald.

The Towners responded with a chance of their own, but Hope’s shot was caught high above his head by the leaping McNamara, who later got down well to deal with a shot from the same player from the edge of the penalty area. Whitely also had an effort, but he was just off target.

After an entertaining end-to-end 25 minutes, the match became must more stilted and chances at both ends were at premium. Leon Smith and Kezie Ibe were superbly marshalled by the giant Claudiu Vilcu and Mark Kirby, while Stanley Muguo swept up all in front of him. The match was played in excellent spirit, with the referee able to let the game flow almost without stoppage - until the last couple of minutes of the first half, when Elliott Brathwaite was cautioned for a foul on the half-way line.

For the first five or so minutes of the second half, Hendon began to look like their old selves, Lee O'Leary and Casey Maclaren got forward with purpose and Chris Seeby put in a couple of dangerous crosses, but the Towners' defence was more than equal to them, and neither Smith nor Ibe had a glimpse of a goal-scoring opportunity.

From then on, however, it was Enfield Town who set the pace. Charlie Goode, apart from one bad foul for which he was rightly cautioned, barely put a foot wrong in dealing with the lively Enfield attackers.

But it was Hendon who were authors of their own problems as players lost the ball in dangerous positions inside their own half. Two mistakes led to break-aways, but the Towners' final ball let them down on both occasions and scrambling defenders were able to deal with the danger.

With 20 minutes remaining, Hendon send on Andre Da Costa and former Towner Adam Wallace, for Dean and Ibe, respectively, but neither was able to make an impression against the sturdy Enfield Town rearguard.

Almost immediately, Hendon came close to the opening goal when Goode won a header from a corner. McDonald was probably beaten, but the ball went just the wrong side of the post.

Then, with eight minutes remaining, the Towners finally made the breakthrough. A hopeful ball downfield saw Whitely and Brathwaite duelling for possession.

Both players slipped over as they tried to turn and the relatively diminutive Whitely unsurprisingly was quicker back on his feet than the tall centre-back. His ball into the penalty area was not the best, but Joe Stevens was able to roll the ball to Hope, who did what he has done on so many occasions against the Greens - roll the ball into the net.

Michael-Percil replaced Sprague for the final five minutes, but he was given little or no chance to shine. Enfield Town had a chance to double their advantage, but Darnell Wynter, who had just replaced Hope, fired wide.