Hendon slipped into the bottom two of the Ryman League Premier Divisionafter Wealdstone inflicted a fourth consecutive home defeat on the Greens,scoring four times at Claremont Road. But the outcome of the match may have turned on a controversial refereeing decision ten minutes from time.

Harry Hunt, a new signing from Hemel Hempstead Town started in place of Kayan Kalipha at centre-forward, while James Bent returned at the expense of the injured Sam Byfield and Richard Wilmot went between the posts in place of Berkley Lawrencin.

Hendon opened brightly, passing the ball around as has been their wont all season. However, the usual lack of incisiveness around the 18-yard-box was again clear to see. And if an example of the old adage, you can't score if you don't shoot was rammed home to the Greens in the 14th minute.

A backpass to Wilmot was hit just a little too hard for the keeper to have the confidence of a touch before launching a clearance and the result was that the goalkeeper made poor contact. The ball fell to Mark Boyce, who took acouple of steps forward past one startled opponent and he drilled a 25 yard shot into the net.

Ten minutes later Wilmot atoned for his error with a brilliant save to deny Ryan Ashe who was left unmarked six yards out and had a free shot at goal. The rebound fell to Ashe, but the midfielder somehow spooned the ball wide of the target when only the prone Wilmot blocked his vision of an unguarded goal.

A couple of crosses offered Hendon hopes with headers, but the efforts were both disappointingly off target. Then, in the 38th minute, the Greens really should have drawn level. A deep free-kick found Craig Vargas alone just beyond the far post.

Vargas, unfortunately, needed three touches to bring the ball under full control, by which time he was under pressure from Boyce. The Hendon man did get off a shot which was blocked and the rebound from Bent came off James Gray and bobbled into the arms of a grateful Luke Woods.

The next Hendon chance came in the opening 30 seconds of the second half when Bent was give a clear sight of goal. He fired a shot that beat Woods but narrowly missed the angle of post and crossbar. An the importance of taking chances when they were offered was made painfully obvious as Wealdstone then struck twice in three minutes.

In the 50th minute, Bent was caught just offside ten yards inside the Wealdstone half. The ball was knocked towards the edge of the penalty area, where Stephen Hughes flicked a glancing header to the inside right channel. There, unmarked again, was Ashe, and this time he made no mistake with his finish.

Three minutes later, from a quick counter-attack, a shot from Ben Clarke struck Marc Leach and deflected into the bottom corner. Had the unfortunate defender not made the untimely intervention it appeared that Wilmot would have had a routine save. It was also Leach's second own goal in consecutive matches.

It took Hendon a few minutes to get over this double disappointment, but they rallied well and for the final half-hour were in control. In the 62nd minute, a snap-shot from James Burgess nearly brought him a first Hendon goal, the ball whistling inches wide of the target.

From the resulting goal kick, the difference between the two sides was summed up. A poor kick by Woods fell to the feet of Bent, who ran at goal and shot powerfully. His effort didn't have the same accuracy as that of Boyce inthe first half and Woods made the save.

A minute later, Hendon were awarded a free-kick just outside the penalty area. Charlie Mapes lined it up and the ball was booked for the top corner until Woods made a superb flying save. Almost immediately, Hendon made a double switch, withdrawing Burgess and Leach and introducing Dave Diedhiou and Danny Dyer.

The substitutes certainly offered different things and Hendon looked slightly more dangerous, though Hunt was beginning to become rather invisible. In the 76th minute, Dyer forced Woods into another save from a powerful 18-yard drive.

In the 78th minute, Hendon gave themselves a lifeline. Good play down the right wing from Kevin Maclaren and Dyer was followed by a low cross into the penalty area. The ball was fed out to the left side of the box, where Diedhiou was all alone and he smashed the ball past Woods.

With their tails up, Hendon went chasing for a second goal and they were convinced they got it just three minutes later. Again the play started down the right side and Diedhiou played the ball back to Jamie Busby. The midfielder got a call from Mapes and passed the ball across the pitch, maybe a yard or two forward.

The ball didn't reach Mapes because a covering defender intercepted the pass and knocked it back towards his own goal. Diedhiou found himself in possession and his pass along the six-yard box invited Lubo Guentchev to finish, which he duly did. However, the referee had spotted his assistant's flag raised and blew his whistle an instant before Diedhiou passed the ball.

The goal was, of course, disallowed and, for their protests, both Mapes and Bent were cautioned.Unfortunately, the referee then ordered the free-kick for the offside to be taken where Guentchev had been - even though play had technically been stopped even before the pass to him was made.

In the final few minutes, Kalipha came on for Bent and Wealdstone made a couple of changes, one of which was Nick Salapatas coming on for Clarke. Within a minute, Wealdstone lauched a quick counter-attack, led by Salapatas. His shot squirmed under Wilmot's dive struck a post and sat up nicely for Hughes to ram home the rebound from six yards.

Hendon manager Gary McCann said, "Our lack of confidence and fragile state of mind were clear to see. It is where we are at, at the moment.

"Once again, we have made errors and been made to pay for it. But I don't think we were 4-1 worse than Wealdstone and, if that second goal had been allowed, I think it may well have been a very different finish.

"We are not having any luck at present, but I am not going to use that as an excuse. We make mistakes and are made to pay for them."