Hendon now have the Ryman League Premier Division title in their own hands after beating leaders Maidstone United at Earlsmead in front of season-best 759 crowd on Easter Saturday afternoon. The difference between first and second is five points, but Hendon do have two games in hand.

If the Greens can win their last six matches - admittedly a huge task - then the championship will be theirs. Even if they don't win the title, Hendon are now guaranteed a least one home play-off match as they cannot finish lower than third in the Ryman League Premier Division.

The only change to the 16 who saw duty in the victory over Leatherhead the previous weekend was Peter Dean's return after illness and he took the place of Tony Taggart on the bench.

Cheered on by huge visiting support, Maidstone started very brightly. In the third minute, Matt Bodkin set up George Porter, but he fired over the crossbar from a good position.

For all the Stones' pressure, their two front men, Jay May and Frannie Collin, got little change out of Charlie Goode and Elliott Brathwaite.

Maidstone wasted a free-kick in the 14th minute, after Dave Diedhiou was adjudged to have tripped Porter inches from the penalty area. It may have been clumsy, but there was neither intent nor aggression in the challenge, which made the caution which followed seem harsh.

Bodkin's battle with Oliver Sprague was one of the most intriguing of the afternoon. The winger was a thorn in the Hendon side, especially in the opening half-hour, and he linked up with Craig Stone for the opening goal after 15 minutes.

Given no room to cross, Bodkin laid the ball back to Stone, who sent it low into the penalty area. Collin left the ball and May slammed a low first-time shot just inside the near post.

Ten minutes later, from a corner, Sprague denied May with a huge intervention. May's header certainly looked goalbound but Sprague leapt and deflected the ball away for another corner, which came to nothing.

If Diedhiou had been unlucky to see yellow, he was then very fortunate to be given a "final warning" for a much more reckless lunge. The referee played an advantage, which the Stones failed to use well, before speaking the Hendon full-back.

Maidstone continued to cause problems from set-pieces and, in the 34th minute, May headed over the bar from a free-header.

This proved to be a wake-up call for Hendon, who started to get a foothold in the game. Kezie Ibe and Aaron Morgan started to cause the Maidstone defence problems and skipper Steve Watt became the third name in the referee's notebook (Casey Maclaren was also booked) for pulling back Morgan.

Three minutes before half-time, Hendon drew level. It started when Watt joined Diedhiou in the last warning cafe after tripping Morgan on the edge of the penalty area.

The true punishment was exacted by Andre Da Costa. The midfielder almost replicated his effort against Metropolitan Police a couple of weeks earlier as he struck a beautiful curling free-kick off the far post and into the net.

Before the second half started, Diedhiou was substituted, the management not wanting him to walk the tightrope of a red card for what might prove to be a torrid 45 minutes. James Fisher replaced him, but the red card did come out just eight minutes after the resumption.

The move started with Lee O'Leary who played a short pass to Sam Murphy. He ran forward before sliding a pass to Morgan, who showed a great turn of place to get past Watt.

On a last warning, Watt didn't dare tackle Morgan, who was a half-step in front of him. Morgan's pass to Ibe was perfectly weighted, putting the striker in with a clear run at goal.

The last covering defender was Tom Mills and, as Ibe set himself up to shoot at Lee Worgan from 10 yards out, Mills bundled him over. It was an unarguable penalty, and the denying of an obvious goalscoring opportunity was just as clear, so the red card brandished at Mills was inevitable.

In fact, the only question Maidstone players asked of the red card and penalty decisions was whether Ibe had been offside, and he clearly had not been when Morgan played the decisive pass.

Murphy, perhaps prematurely, leapt into Ibe's arms to celebrate when the spot kick was awarded. But he backed his own confidence when he sent Lee Worgan the wrong way from the penalty spot.

Maidstone's tactics, especially their substitutions, were somewhat strange after the red card. It was understandable that they didn't sacrifice a forward player to shore up the defence, but the three changes they made were, pretty much, like for like, starting with Alex Brown replacing Porter.

In the 69th minute, Hendon almost extended their advantage. A clever through ball from Fisher released Maclaren, but he shot into the side-netting when he might have able to control the ball before shooting.

Ibe was then caught offside as he and Murphy broke clear. Unfortunately, if Ibe had allowed Murphy to get onto the ball, Hendon would have had a two man break on Worgan because the winger had come from behind the last defender and thus was onside.

The Stones' replacement of Collin with Billy Bricknell suggested they had greater fear that Hendon might add to their lead than they would claw back the deficit. Less surprising was the introduction of Ben Greenhalgh, because Bodkin had comprehensively lost his second-half battle against Sprague.

Brathwaite, whose stoppage time goal had earned a point for Hendon at the Gallagher Stadium in December, probably should have done better when presented with an 80th-minute opportunity. He, however, was off target.

Off target was also the description of the last four Maidstone attempts. Three of them were badly wayward from long range, but May really should have done better when losing his marker between the penalty spot and edge of the penalty area.

The ball was rolled to him, but this time he ballooned the ball over Ben McNamara's crossbar. In fact, McNamara made only one save in the 90 minutes, and it wasn't difficult, and he had few crosses to deal with either, proof, if ever it was needed, just how good the Hendon defence had been.