Hendon had no answer to the clinical efficiency of Vanarama National League championship chasing Sutton United at Gander Green Lane. It has to be said that the 3-0 scoreline in the Buildbase FA Trophy second round tie was not an unfair reflection of the Us' domination, especially in the second half.

Loan signing Corey Addai - from Coventry City - was selected to start in goal and Luke Tingey was preferred at left-back ahead of Sam Murphy and Liam Gordon, who were among the substitutes. With Ashley Nathaniel-George and Zak Joseph out wide, the Greens hope they would get enough balls into the danger area to give Niko Muir and Joe White chances to score.

The first clear chance actually fell to Muir in the eighth minute, set up by a superb run from Nathaniel George, who got around two defenders before firing in a low cross. Muir was under pressure when he reached the ball and it bobbled into the arms of the grateful Owen Evans.

Three minutes later, Sutton showed what they were capable of when they played the ball forward and Harry Beautyman fired a shot which beat Addai but went inches wide of the target. Beautyman had been a big part of Sutton's rise up the non-league pyramid and his recent return to Gander Green Lane was welcomed by all Us fans.

Evans made another save in the 15th minute when Muir curled a 20-yard shot towards the right post. It was too close to the upright for Evans to leave, but he made the full-length save look easy.

Tommy Wright came close to opening the scoring on 24 minutes, but he was just wide with a powerful header.

A minute later, Hendon had their best chance of the match. Again the creator was Nathaniel-George down the left flank and his low ball through the six-yard box invited a decisive Hendon touch.

Joseph lost his marker and had most of the goal to aim at, but he snatched at the opportunity and missed the target. Maybe a call to him advising him that he a little more time might have made the difference.

In the 27th minute Muir chased a short pass back to Evans and he blocked the goalkeeper's clearance. The rebound was kind to Sutton and they were able to clear the danger as the ball bounced in the middle of the six-yard box.

The breakthrough came in the 35th minute, and Hendon were authors of their own misfortune. Dave Diedhiou had the chance to clear the ball on the wide edge of the penalty area, but he was dispossessed by Keiron Cadogan, who took a couple of strides forward and shot low across Addai into the bottom corner of the net.

Just before the break, Beautyman nearly made it 2-0, but he was denied by a good save from Addai. During the break, Sutton worked on ways to stifle Hendon and their target was to deny them possession out wide.

Their plans worked a treat because Hendon did not muster a single on-target effort in the second half. Indeed the only two attempts, from Harly Wise and Rian Bray, did not come close to the goal. For all their domination, a statistical anomaly in the second half was that Sutton won the corner-count by only one.

Craig Eastmond and Beautyman forced Addai into making good saves, after 57 and 58 minutes respectively, as the Us ramped up the pressure. They were happy to wait for blue-shirted players to make mistakes before attempting shots at goal, or to counter-attack at speed.

The Greens might have got back into the game after 70 minutes, however, because both Wise and Joseph had shooting options in the same Hendon attack, but neither player would take responsibility and Sutton were able to deal with the danger.

With 16 minutes to go, Sutton made the game safe when Hendon failed to clear a ball into their penalty area. When the ball came out to Adam Coombes, he fired a shot beyond Addai's dive to make it 2-0.

Josh Walker had already replaced Jospeh, and Uchechi came on Wise before the game restarted. Sutton responded by making their first change, Simon Walton coming on Beautyman.

Ross Lafayette came on for the final seven minutes, replacing Eastmond and Hendon made their last change a minute later, Sam Murphy coming on for Joe White, who had struggled to contribute much in the second half as Hendon saw so little of the ball in attacking positions.

The goal of the game came in the 85th minute. A clearance from a corner fell to Wright, who took a touch to control the ball and improve his angle, before firing a superb curling effort off the far post into the net.

Addai barely moved a muscle as the ball sped into the goal, suggesting the crowd of bodies inside the penalty area had left him unsighted. However, the chances are that he would have been able to reach the ball anyway.

From a Sutton perspective, it was a fitting end to a successful afternoon. For Hendon, it was a disappointing conclusion to what had been a very successful and lucrative FA Trophy run.