Hendon fans experienced deja-vu at Billericay, once again seeing the Greens put in a very creditable shift on the pitch but leave the match empty-handed. The play-off chasing home side achieved a handsome 4-1 victory, but the score line belied what was a determined effort from Hendon, who are increasingly looking to put together a near-miraculous run of results to avoid the drop this season.

As they did against Havant & Waterlooville, Hendon started brightly and were unlucky not to be rewarded with an early lead. Billericay keeper Alan Julian thwarted both Ellliot Charles and Marcel Barrington with a couple of smart saves in the opening ten minutes. This early supremacy was short-lived, however, and the home side soon proved to be more clinical in their finishing as they built what became an unassailable lead.

Billericay skipper Rob Swaine was the scorer of the first goal. The skipper, just back from injury, was in the right place at the right time to power a shot home from inside the box as the hesitant Hendon defence were unable to clear their lines from an in-swinging free kick. The lead was doubled within ten minutes, Billy Bricknell heading home – almost unmarked – from a cross supplied by the impressive Lewis Taafe.

It was not all one-way traffic though: Julian in the Billericay goal was called upon a number of times, doing particularly well to repel a great effort from Justin McLeod-Urquhart. Arthur Lee managed to get the ball in the net for Hendon, the goal unfortunately being chalked off for a foul on the home team’s goalkeeper. Billericay practically secured the three points within the first half an hour of the match when Bricknell netted his second, again benefiting from Hendon’s inability to clear from set pieces.

The second half, watched on by a small ban of the Hendon faithful who must have been fearful of a deluge of goals, was an altogether more evenly matched affair. Billericay were the first off the mark with Adam Cunnington tapping in from close range before Marcel Barrington threw Hendon a lifeline with a smart finish after the keeper could only parry a long-range effort from Reis Stanislaus. Kezie Ibe, on for Charles had an opportunity to pull another back as full time loomed, but his shot was well saved.

Hendon manager Gary McCann was seemingly in agreement with the Hendon supporters who felt that the score line was somewhat flattering to the well-resourced home side. He noted after the game that: "This was not a game we deserved to lose at all, let alone by 4-1. But how many times have I said recently that the performance merited one or three points but we ended up with none? It has been the story of our season. The defence did well in dealing with most of what Billericay did from open play, but we have not defended set plays well enough, especially the second phases. For the first 10 or so minutes, I thought we were excellent and could have been in front. But then, from their first real attack, they scored and it knocked us back. It seems that when we start well and concede in this way, we don't recover from the blow quickly and it showed again at Billericay as they then went 3-0 up. We had some very good passages of play and some excellent chances in the early stages, but we did not do enough to turn the pressure into goals.”