Hendon's incredible journey continued on Monday night with a 21st consecutive unbeaten match, this time a 4-2 defeat of already-relegated AFC Hornchurch in the Ryman League Premier Division. This victory was achieved with 11 players absent, almost all with injuries.

In fact, there were so many changes that the shorter list is the one with those who started on both Saturday and Monday: Dave Diedhiou, Aaron Morgan (both in different roles), Leon Smith and Kezie Ibe.

Four players also made their first Ryman League Premier Division starts of the campaign for the Greens, Dan McNicholas, Max McCann, Roman Michael-Percil and Michael Murray, while Sam Flegg, Charlie Goode and Andre Da Costa were the others to come into the starting line-up.

The Urchins have endured a horrible season and their lack of confidence, especially in defence, was clear to see. Goode really should have scored - or at least forced a save out of Sam Mott when he had a free header after just four minutes.

Six minutes later, however, set up by Morgan, Goode made no mistake. He controlled the ball, turned and lifted a rising drive into the roof of the net. Hornchurch's marking at the set piece was almost non-existent.

But, going forward, they were a threat. Twice they had the ball in the Hendon net, George Purcell's strike being especially impressive. But, on both occasions, an offside flag, and referee's whistle, meant that McNicholas made no attempt to save the shots.

However, in the 14th minute, there was less excuse. Hendon failed to deal with a Joey May corner, which Billy Roast headed against the bar. The rebound went to Reece Beckles-Richards, who from five yards out, and unchallenged, sent the ball over the crossbar.

Purcell looked consistently dangerous when he ran at the Hendon defence, but he had little support. McNicholas did make a couple of routine saves from efforts hit towards him, but his positioning for both was spot on.

Talking of spots, without Sam Murphy, the mark 12 yards from the goalline does rather represent a spot of bother. In the 35th minute, Ibe squirmed his way into the penalty area and a defender's outstretched leg tripped him.

It was a clear penalty, but with defenders all around him, it was not an obvious goalscoring opportunity. Da Costa raced up to claim the ball for the kick, but Ibe - probably sixth in the pecking order for the captaincy - took the captain's prerogative of responsibility.

His effort was, it must be said, not the best, and Mott was able to block the ball. As 10 Urchins defenders stood watching, Smith, Ibe and Da Costa converged on the loose ball. Ibe was closest and he stroked it into the almost unguarded net.

Murray showed his quality with a dead ball when he struck a free-kick which Mott saved well. When the half-time whistle blew, the Greens appeared to be in the comfort zone, though, in the minutes before the interval, May had shot wide from a good position and Purcell had been crowded out waiting for support to arrive.

Credit to Hornchurch, they came out for the second half with a much better attitude and they took control of the match. McNicholas made two good saves, from Purcell and Billy Coyne before he was beaten by a shot from Tobi Joseph after 64 minutes.

Two minutes later, the scores were level. Purcell got his reward for persistence when he pounced on a loose ball and rammed it into the net from close range.

Hendon had made their only substitution just before the first Urchins goal, Adam Wallace - who only arrived from work at the ground at half-time - replacing Morgan.

Michael-Purcell began to take more of a hand in the game. His pace unsettled the Hornchurch defence and twice desperate blocks conceded corners as low passes aimed for Greens attackers nearly resulted in close-range shooting opportunities.

The third Hendon goal actually came from play down the opposite flank. The ball was played into Wallace, who took a touch before slipping the ball past the advancing Mott.

Once again, the confidence drained out of the Hornchurch defence and Smith, Michael-Percil and Murray could all have extended the Greens' advantage. Smith was particularly unfortunate to see his shot crash off the woodwork, and the rebound favoured the Urchins.

But Smith would not be denied in the final minute of normal time. Given a clear run at goal, he probably should have scored at the first opportunity, but Mott made a brave block. The ball bounced around inside the penalty area and Smith launched himself acrobatically at it, sending a fizzing shot just inside the far post.

His reaction was almost Papal. On his knees, he clasped his hands together, then bent down to kiss the ground. The reaction might have appeared a bit over the top, but it was the striker's first goal in the Ryman League since New Year’s Day and third competitive goal of the year.

There were more than five additional minutes before the final whistle, but Hornchurch had long since accepted their fate and Hendon looked the more likely to add to their tally.