Hendon slipped to a third consecutive Southern League defeat on Saturday afternoon at Farnborough and once again completed the match a man-down after Christian Smith's dismissal just past the half-hour mark.

The first opportunity of the afternoon fell to the Greens as Hamza Semakula continued to buzz around with purpose. He broke the offside trap and cut the ball back for Shaun Lucien. The winger, pressed into service up-front, stretched for the ball and steered it narrowly wide of the far post. He would have been disappointed not to have hit the target.

Farnborough's side included Ricky Holmes, who was a regular in League 2 for Southend United and a midfield duo of Paul Hodges and Sam Deering, who were regulars in the National League and it was the class of the latter two that really prompted the home side. Fred Burbidge produced a fine double stop to deny Nic Ciardini and then Deering before Hodges cracked the crossbar with an effort from the edge of the penalty area.

Hendon's task was made much harder in the 32nd minute when Christian Smith was adjudged to have brought down Reggie Young as the winger broke through on goal. The referee had no hesitation in dismissing the makeshift Hendon centre-half.

Burbidge made another fine save at full stretch before the deadlock was finally broken. Hodges, who was by some distance the game's standout player, broke through two or three tackles before tucking the ball beyond Burbidge.

Shortly after the break Simeon Olalerin, who had signed forms the day before the game, looked to have cleaned out a Farnborough forward inside the penalty area, however strong and seemingly valid appeals for a spot kick were waved away. Lucien then wriggled himself some room at the other end but curled his effort narrowly wide of the far stick.

Wilson Carvalho then went down with a hip injury that saw him replaced by new signing from Clapton, Troy Tizard-Cleghorn, before Deering made it 2-0 with a fine finish inside the area that kissed the underside of the crossbar on its way into the top corner.

Although the 10-men of Hendon worked tirelessly - Tizard-Cleghorn forced a decent parry from Kingsley Latham in the Farnborough goal - Elijah Simpson provided the coup-de-grace late on as he tapped in from a couple of yards out to secure the three points for the unbeaten hosts.