Hendon produced one of the most clinically professional 90 minutes of the season in beating Billericay Town 2-0 and severely denting the Blues' own playoff hopes. As for the Greens, seven points from eight games will guarantee fifth place, but - looking upwards, leaders Maidstone United are now just seven points ahead of Hendon, who have a game in hand, and Margate need to win their two games in hand to even draw level with the Greens.

The only change to the starting line-up from Wednesday was the switching of Casey Maclaren and Andre Da Costa. Sam Flegg was back on the bench (Brendan Hazlett dropping out), alongside Max McCann (they were unused), Peter Dean and Leon Smith. Billericay, meanwhile, named only three on the bench.

Kicking with the bitingly cold, strong wind mainly at their backs, Hendon took full advantage of the conditions to tear into Billericay. Lacking two key defenders, Ola Williams and skipper Richard Halle, the Blues were at full stretch trying to deal with the Hendon forwards.

In the sixth minute, Casey Maclaren was put through after good work form Aaron Morgan and Kezie Ibe. He took a touch to control the ball and fired towards goal, only to see Joe Wright produce a breath-taking save.

Nine minutes later, it was the older Maclaren and Morgan who worked together after good approach play by Sam Murphy. Morgan chested the ball into Ibe's path and his shot was blocked by Wright. Unfortunately for the goalkeeper the ball looped off him and the spin and wind did the rest, the ball bouncing into the net.

Hendon could have added to their lead on a couple of occasions, but the bounce favoured Billericay. Morgan had a shot blocked and Blues defenders threw themselves in front of other attempts.

Before half an hour had elapsed, Billericay made a tactical change, sending centre-forward Ricky Sappleton - a relation of former Hendon youngster Pat Sappleton - into the heart of defence, and moving the outclassed Cyrus Mahler into a midfield role. From a defensive point of view, the move worked very well, but it left Afalobi Obafemi and Rowan Liburd the almost impossible take of getting the better of Charlie Goode and Elliott Brathwaite without the battering ram presence of Sappleton to unsettle them.

Thanks to the defensive security behind them, the Blues did get forward a bit more as the first half progressed, but they caused few alarms in and around the Greens penalty area. Restricted to long-range attempts, the accuracy of Billericay's shooting was found wanting.

Hendon's serene progress to half-time was disrupted after 38 minutes when skipper Kevin Maclaren appeared to pick up a muscle injury. As soon as sports therapist Mark Findley got to Maclaren, the captain pulled off his armband and, as he limped disconsolately to the dugout, he passed it to Lee O'Leary.

Home fans grew frustrated with the Hendon bench at the time it took for Andre Da Costa to be ready to come on. However, this was out of their hands because the referee gave the substitute the time to get ready when he could have restarted play with the Green temporarily reduced to 10 men.

For the start of the second half, Billericay replaced Mahler with Shameek Farrell. Surprisingly, with the wind at their backs, the Blues didn't send Sappleton back to his more accustomed forward position and whilst he was easily their best defender, their was a serious lack of cutting edge in attack.

Hendon had been forced to reshuffle their formation after Kevin Maclaren's injury, but they didn't miss a beat. And, six minutes after the resumption, they doubled their advantage.

Billericay failed to clear a dangerous Hendon raid and the ball was played to just outside the Blues penalty area. Da Costa ran onto the ball and smashed it goalwards. It started just outside Wright's left post, but bent in and flew just under the crossbar with the goalkeeper helpless.

Dave Diedhiou and Oliver Sprague were forced to be more defensive as Billericay looked to attack down the wings, but they rarely got the better of the full-backs. The wind made the crosses difficult for everyone and a moment of indecision nearly gifted the Blues a goal, but McNamara was able to recover his position and gather the ball.

The goalkeeper was troubled by one long-range shot, which bounced just in front of him. McNamara got his body behind the ball, let it his chest and then was quickest to react, but it must be said no Billericay player was sniffing for a half-chance.

Goode went close with a header from a corner, before Wright made another excellent save as Hendon showed their danger on the counter-attack.

With 18 minutes remaining Dean replaced Morgan. Five minutes later, Hendon probably should have had a penalty when Stevie Sheehan appeared to manhandle Da Costa as the substitute chased a through ball.

Watching the incident in front of him, Wright took his eye off the ball as he went to clear the loose ball and sliced it. He was fortunate that the ball went out for only a corner.

Billericay withdrew Obafemi for the last few minutes, but Ryan Melaugh could make no impression. Ibe was given the final few minutes off as Hendon saw out time, but Billericay had already accepted their fate.