Hendon's interest in the Buildbase FA Trophy came to an end at a rain-sodden Silver Jubilee Park on Saturday afternoon, losing 2-1 to Biggleswade Town. The game turned on a red card for Adam Pepara and the dagger to the heart was delivered by a player who was on loan at Hendon last season.

There were three changes to the team which had beaten Hanwell Town in midweek, Howard Hall, Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick and Cole Brown coming into the team and Taishan Griffith, Shaun Lucien and Gianni Crichlow dropping to the bench.

Biggleswade were forced into making a late change when full-back Jack Bradshaw dropped out and Lucas Kirkpatrick came in for him. The Waders decided to not to add a fifth substitute.

In the fourth minute, Hendon almost opened the scoring in spectacular fashion. Ricardo German, out on the left flank, played the ball toward the D of the penalty where Hippolyte-Patrick controlled it, went past a defender and smashed a shot past Sam Donkin.

The ball struck the underside of the crossbar and Donkin got lucky as the rebound bounced down and went straight back to the grateful arms of the goalkeeper.

Hendon knew the biggest dangers were old friends Matt Ball and Joe White and they did a very good job on the latter, but Ball had numerous opportunities from open play and set pieces. The first free-kick, however, came from Ben Walster, but it went straight into the midriff of Danny Boness.

In the 14th minute, a good passage of play from the Waders set up Ball, but he shot wastefully over the crossbar from close to the penalty spot. Four minutes later, Ball curled a free-kick just wide of the far post, just too far in front any oncoming forward to get a touch.

In between those two attempts by Ball, Hendon had a very loud appeal for a penalty. A corner was not properly cleared and when it came back to the edge of box, the ball struck a Waders player.

As Hendon players claimed handball, the referee - who appeared to be poorly positioned - did nothing, clearly having had no angle. His assistant was either screened off from the incident or saw nothing untoward.

Midway through the half, German made a bad challenge on Johnny McNamara, who required significant treatment. A card was obvious and the referee, very close to the incident still spoke to his assistant before showing the striker what appeared to be a lenient yellow.

None of White, Ball or Peter Clark got any change out of Hall, Lee Chappell, Luke Tingey or Pepara. In front of them, Bayley Brown and Sean Bonnett-Johnson were calmness personified in midfield as they tried to release Cole Brown and Hippolyte-Patrick to set up chances for Connor Calcutt and German.

The result was a stalemate and, at half-time, neither team had done remotely enough to have deserved a lead. Indeed, it seemed hard to see how the deadline would be broken.

In fact, it took about two minutes for the opening goal to arrive. Bayley Brown received a highish pass just outside the penalty area and the tall midfielder was able to bring it down easily before turning away from a pair of defenders.

Hippolyte-Patrick was lurking with intent, but the pass from Brown was absolutely perfect, inviting his team-mate to run into the box. The first touch took him into the middle of the penalty and Hippolyte-Patrick's second beat Donkin on its way into the goal.

There was little in the way of an immediate response from Biggleswade. Bradley Bell replaced McNamara after 50 minutes and he did have a good chance ten minutes later, only to fire wide of the target.

Boness had a moment of worry in the 63rd minute when Ball shot at goal from 45 yards out. It was on target, but not quite high enough to beat the goalkeeper, who leapt high to catch the ball.

German, who had been given few chances to show his goalscoring prowess, was replaced by Stephane Ngamvoulou 20 minutes into the second period. Eight minutes later, Crichlow took over from Hippolyte-Patrick, leaving Calcutt to lead the line.

The game's turning point came in the 79th minute. Pepara had broken up another attack and was bringing the ball out of defence, but it got a little away from him.

He stretched to retrieve the situation and clashed with Ball. It was a foul and certainly a yellow card, but most people, particularly a number of neutral observers, were shocked that the referee chose to show a red one instead.

The Greens immediately prepared Romario Jonas to shore up the defence, but the free-kick came first. Ball took it, and the ball struck the defensive wall and bounced out to the left wing.

Clark delivered a deep cross to the back post and Tom Smith, without the height of Pepara to help with the defence, was able to head the ball home. Almost immediately, Jonas took over from Bonnett-Johnson, Hendon's last change.

White - who scored five in a Middlesex Senior Cup tie for Hendon last season - finally had a chance to show off his attacking instincts in the 87th minute. Boness produced a fine save to deny him, and an even better one to keep out the attempt on the rebound from Clark.

Seconds later, Hendon should have won the game. Calcutt knocked the ball forward and Crichlow ran through the middle of the defence. Donkin came off his line and Crichlow lifted the ball over him and the crossbar.

In stoppage time the Waders snatched victory. White got himself clear and his shot squirmed past Boness into the net.