Hendon bounced back to 12th in the Ryman League Premier Division with a fine 2-0 victory over the league's form team Heybridge Swifts at LOOT Stadium on Monday night.

Most hearteningly, Paul Whitmarsh scored both goals and, by the end of the match, looked back to something like his predatory best.

John-Simon White and Warren Kelly were both back from suspension, while Dominic Gentle was preferred to Paul Scott, who was named substitute along with Marvyn Watson and Jason McKoy, the other two left out from Saturday.

The first half was very dreary. Swifts, unbeaten in 10 games and looking forward to an FA Umbro Cup 5th round tie at Runcorn on Saturday, enjoyed the bulk of possession, but did not use it well.

Andy Iga mishit a pass out of defence to Matt Howard in the 3rd minute, but Heybridge could not do anything with this half-chance. Apart from that, Iga was barely tested, keeping his second clean sheet in three appearances.

Hendon's best effort was a free-kick from Simon Clarke, which Kingsley Banks caught high above his head just under the crossbar.

The second half was much better. In the 53rd minute, Davis Haule flicked a pass into Whitmarsh's path. The Heybridge defence stood waiting for the referee's assistant to signal for offside, but he didn't.

WHITMARSH ran on, saw Banks coming off his line to narrow the angle, and lifted the ball over him into the net. Swifts limited themselves to a few glowering looks at the assistant, because Whitmarsh looked offside.

Referee, Mr M Cairns (Basingstoke), had an excellent game, playing lots of advantage in the first half, and none after the break, when play became a lot nigglier. He may have upset Hendon fans with cautions of Clarke and Gentle, but he was almost certainly right, especially in the latter case, because he had warned the striker following an incident 10 minutes earlier.

Hendon made the game safe in the 72nd minute. A long ball down the middle offered both Whitmarsh and Gentle the opportunity to chase. Ben Lewis went to cover both the ball and the runners and saw Banks approaching out of his goal.

He dallied after knocking the ball forward and WHITMARSH sprinted in to knock it past Lewis and Banks into the net, the two Swifts players colliding.

From then on, Hendon were comfortable and Heybridge, with bigger battles to fight later in the week, accepted their fate.

"This was a very professional performance," said delighted manager Frank Murphy. "It is our third clean sheet in four matches and our defence is starting to look much more solid."