Hendon ended a long barren home Ryman League Premier Division run against Purfleet to record a 1-0 victory over the men from Essex at LOOT Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The only other time Hendon defeated Purfleet in a home league game had been in October 1994.

With Christmas 10 days away, a bitter wind lowering near-freezing temperatures further, to say nothing of Hendon's futile record against Purfleet, this fixture was surely a game only for the truly committed Dons fans. They would have been surprised at the line-up, with 2 debutants starting and a 3rd on the bench.

Steve Butler, an unused substitute last week, came in for Paul Towler, who was missing for personal reasons, Leon Woodruffe took Dale Binns' place wide on the left in an attacking role, and striker Martin Randall, from Woking, joined Binns and Mark Burgess on the bench.

In the opening moments Purfleet had the ball in the Hendon net but it came after the referee, Mr Evamy (Surrey), had already seen his assistant's flag and blown for offside. It was a crucial break, because, 2 years ago, Purfleet had scored after 11 seconds on their way to a surprising 3-1 victory.

The game quickly settled down into an attritional battle, with no quarter asked and none given. In the 23rd minute, Paul Yates tried a header that was directed strainght at Alex O'Reilly. Five minutes, later, Ross Pickett fired narrowly wide from a Byron Bubb cross. In the 30th minute, Steve Forbes made a burst but his shot did not have the power to trouble O'Reilly.

In defence, Hendon were content to concede a succession of corners, but Purfleet could do nothing with them. Credit for this must go to goalkeeper David Hook and his new central defensive pairing in front of him, Butler - normally a central midfielder - and Mark Cooper, with Micky Woolner and Simon Clarke adding their support from full-back. Former Hendon striker Colin Simpson didn't get a look-in and striking partner Martin Buglione was kept very quiet too.

In midfield, Hendon's quartet of Yates, Jon-Barrie Bates, Forbes and Bubb cancelled out Dean Chandler, Paul Linger, Steve Brouwn and Danny Jones. It seemed hard to see where a goal was going to come from, unless there was a mistake. And, in the 40th minute, Hendon profited in that very way.

Jimmy McFarlane, linchpin of the Purfleet defence, was pressurised by Woodruffe and his back-pass was short. Woodruffe got to the ball before O'Reilly, took it around him and side-footed it towards the unguarded net. The newcomer, unused to the pitch at LOOT Stadium did not realise he needed more power.

The ball rolled slowly towards the goal, the camber, if anything, taking it slightly away from the target. However, the ball struck a divot bounced into the air and regained its original path. Striking the inside of the far post, it fell into the goal, stopping a couple of feet behind the line. WOODRUFFE became the second Hendon player this season to score on his debut - the other, Joe Nartey, was released last week.

On the stroke of half-time, Purfleet wasted a great chance to equalised when a made scramble in the Hendon penalty area resulted in 3 bites at the cherry for Purfleet, but none were successful.

The second half saw fewer chances than the first, although Woolner did make a goal-line clearance from a shot by Buglione. The ball had beaten Hook, but Woolner had time to settle himself and turn to face downfield before clearing.

Hendon's best chance of the half came in the 7 minutes of stoppage time. A ball out of defence found Binns in acres of space. He sprinted past the last defender and ran in on goal. Randall was unmarked, screaming for the ball, but Binns elected to go himself and fired into the side-netting at the near post. It was just as well it didn't matter.

"You know what you are going to get against Purfleet, a hard battle," said delighted Hendon manager Dave Anderson. "And I think that is what we got. I told the players we had to be totally committed and we were. Our attitude since losing to Croydon last month has been much better."