Hendon reached the quarter-final of the London Senior Cup with the narrowest possible victory against London Bari at Clapton's Spotted Dog ground on Tuesday evening. The Greens will be at home to one of Corinthian-Casuals, Bromley, or AFC Wimbledon in the second round.

The team sent out against London Bari was significantly stronger than the one which had seen off Barking in the previous round. Amongst the Hendon regulars, only Chris Seeby, Dave Diedhiou, Kevin Maclaren and Kezie Ibe were not in the starting eleven, though Diedhiou and Ibe were on the bench. Charlie Goode came into the defence, Tony Taggart and Peter Dean into midfield and Aaron Morgan partnered Leon Smith up front.

What seemed to be a poor decision from the assistant referee denied Hendon a goal inside two minutes. A through ball was played behind the London Bari defensive line and Smith was easily the fastest to react.

When the ball was played, he was three yards behind the last defender, but was quick enough to get to the ball before the sweeper could react. That was his problem, because the assistant flagged for offside as he was putting the ball into the bottom corner. Although Smith had started the run on the edge of the centre circle, the assistant ruled he was offside inside the "D" of the penalty area.

Three minutes later, Hendon had loud appeals for a penalty turned down. The ball struck the arm of a London Bari defender, but the referee ruled either there was no intent, or no advantage gained. In the conditions it would be wrong to say it was the wrong decision.

In incredibly difficult conditions, on the pitch and above, Hendon tried manfully to play their passing game, but the Spotted Dog pitch is not ideal for that style and a bitterly cold, biting wind only exacerbated matters. The team's second, midnight blue, kit probably also was detrimental because spotting team-mates in the gloom was more difficult than usual.

London Bari deserve enormous credit for the way they stuck to their task. They are two divisions and 10 places lower in their competition than Hendon and a gung-ho attacking policy would almost certainly have left enormous holes in the defence which would have exploited mercilessly.

The upshot was that Hendon attacks foundered almost every time when the ball got to within 5-10 yards of the London Bari penalty area. Goalkeeper Luca Pecocari was only slightly busier than Ben McNamara for the first 30 minutes as Hendon's patient build-up brought no rewards.

When, however, Goode and Elliott Brathwaite got into a tangle just outside the Hendon penalty area, they nearly paid a heavy price. The shot that flew goalwards, was powerful and accurate, only for McNamara to make a catch with such nonchalance that it demeaned the attempt. It would have been a stunning goal and merited something more spectacular from the man in yellow.

Just before half-time, Brathwaite felled Darryl Morson just outside the penalty area. Goode was just close enough for the referee to consider that it was not a last-man challenge so Brathwaite saw yellow and not red.

The first attempt from Tony Cookey bounced off the wall, the rebound was fumbled away for a corner, but McNamara did the right thing just to get his body behind the ball as it - to use cricketing terms - spat off a length like a Shane Warne flipper on a Sydney turner.

Having failed to make the breakthrough in the first, Hendon changed tactics after the break going for a more pragmatic approach. Although James Fisher and Oliver Sprague regularly supported Tony Taggart and Sam Murphy in front of them, there was a lack of cohesion and by the midway point of the second half, all bar Sprague of that quartet had been replaced, Ibe, Andre da Costa and Diedhiou, respectively, coming on.

Lee O'Leary and Dean were able to break up most things starting from deep by London Bari, but the occasional long ball disturbed Hendon's equilibrium. McNamara, however, was really on his game and made three big interventions, including one acrobatic clearance 10 yards outside his penalty area.

In the final couple of minutes, Hendon took advantage of London Bari's tiredness and two set pieces almost brought a goal. Pecocari, however was happy to see the ball bounce inches wide of the upright on both occasions.

There was also a scare for Hendon in the closing stages when there was a clear sound of boot on boot and the London Bari player went down in the penalty area. The referee was unmoved, despite the loud protestations from the home dugout.

The final whistle meant that the game went to a penalty shoot-out, taken towards the clubhouse end, and the sensible ones watched the denouement from that warm vantage point. London Bari went first and Morson made no mistake.

Dean was Hendon's first taker and he, too, found the net. Full-back Peter Wilcox was then denied by an excellent save by McNamara, who pushed the ball against the outside of the post and away. When Da Costa sent Pecocari the wrong way, Hendon had a 2-1 advantage.

Golbi Isulemongu, O'Leary, Andy Greenslade (cheekily with almost no run-up and a hitch in his stride) and Diedhiou were all successful to make it 4-3 to Hendon, each team having one kick remaining. Tobi Adesina had to score to keep the tie alive, but his attempt struck the top of the crossbar and the ball looped through the trees and out of the ground.