Hendon go into the Christmas holiday outside of the automatic relegation zone for the first time since September after Jamie Busby scored the winner against fellow strugglers Worthing at Claremont Road on Saturday afternoon. As well as being a fourth Ryman League victory in eight matches, it was the first time this season that the Greens had gone behind and collected as much as a point.

Marc Leach was suspended and Jon Munday had returned to QPR, so newcomer Kieran Murphy, on loan from the MK Dons, came in for him, and Busby replaced Munday. Up front Dean Green relegated Ross Pickett to the subs' bench, where he was joined by Takumi Ake, Esayas Yhdego, Bontcho Guentchev and Boris Bogdanov.

And Green nearly gave Hendon the perfect start. Set up by Brian Haule, he had a clear sight of goal in the second minute. His shot was on target, but Rikki Banks, Hendon's goalkeeper at the end of last season, pulled off a fine save.

Four minutes later, he was a spectator as the Greens conspired to make one of the misses of the season. A cross from Wayne O'Sullivan teased Banks off his line, but Mark Knee got to the ball first and he flicked the ball over his goalkeeper, straight to the unmarked Haule on the penalty spot. No power was needed on Haule's shot, just a gentle side-foot - and he had time to control the ball first too - but Haule hit the ball first time and lofted it over the crossbar.

Suddenly this was almost the nightmare start that Hendon fans dreaded. But the Greens were deterred. Belal Aiteouakrim shot straight at Banks, as did Haule, neither causing the goalkeeper undue trouble and it seemed only a matter of time before the breakthrough was achieved.

However, it did not come and, in the 24th minute, Worthing fired a warning shot across the Hendon bows. It came from Danny Davis attacking off the left wing and Richard Wilmot had to get down smartly to stop the ball creeping in by the near post. It, however, was the only meaningful attack from the Rebels in the half.

Worthing began the second half somewhat better than the first - though that was not difficult to achieve. However, it was not long before the almost personal battle between Banks and the Hendon attack was resumed, with the goalkeeper winning every encounter with increasing moments of inspiration.

A brilliant block denied Haule, then an instinctive arm came up to deflect a Green shot over the bar as the striker ran onto a header from a corner. Surely, it was a matter of time before Worthing - or, more accurately - Banks cracked.

Instead the Rebels had their best spell of the game. James Fraser forced Wilmot into a save at his near post. Although the ball may have been going just wide of the upright, Wilmot could not take a chance.

Then, in the 67th minute, calamity struck. James Parker pulled down Andy Alexander just outside the penalty area. Knee took the free-kick and Ben Andrews had an almost free header to beat Wilmot from close range. Whether the goalkeeper should have come to claim the free-kick or not, the defence's inability to cover the run was equally culpable.

Worthing immediately went into a "what we have, we hold" mentality and this played into Hendon's hands. O'Sullivan went on a mazy run and elected to pass to Green who was covered by two defenders instead of shooting and the chance went begging.

Two minutes later, in a similar scenario, O'Sullivan shot and beat Banks all ends up. The ball, indicative of what was becoming an afternoon of utter frustration and misery, crashed off the underside of the crossbar, hit Banks on the back of the head and rolled away for a corner. If Hendon had been a couple of goals up, that sort of rebound would invariably have ended up in the net.

With 14 minutes remaining, the charm on Worthing's goal was lifted. Green again led the defence a merry dance and he got the goalline, just outside the six-yard box. He rolled the ball into space eight yards out and O'Leary arriving at the pefect time, sidefooted the ball home before his Worthing marker could get in a challenge. This typified both his and Hendon's determination to do the right thing and his late runs into the box, which had proved successful earlier in the season, once again bore fruit.

It would be wrong to say there was only ever going to be one winner after that. Not only was time against the Greens, but also they had shown enough defensive frailty all season for that not to be a given and Banks' previously flawless 75 minutes had made a second goal far from a certainty.

In the 83rd minute, Hendon made their first change, introducing Guentchev for Aiteouakrim. Worthing countered by withdrawing Fraser and bringing on Jamie Brotherton, who had been dropped for the match. The midfielder was a step slow in getting to the pace of the game and it cost his team dearly.

Within 60 seconds of this change, another Hendon attack caused panic in the Rebels defence. The ball was cleared to the edge of the penalty area, where Fraser had frequently helped the ball further downfield. This time, however, he wasn't there.

Busby was, and he drilled a perfect low shot into the bottom corner. Banks was completely unsighted as the ball flew past a ruck of players in front of him and, by the time he saw the ball, it was too late for his dive to get near it.

There was still plenty of time for Worthing to get back into the game, but they showed little appetite for it. They did have one concerted attack, but the Hendon defence was resolute first Rakatahr Hudson, then James Burgess got the ball away from the danger area.

Guentchev then had a chance to make the game safe but a desperation blow from Dominic Douglas denied him a goal at the expense of a corner, which was just where Hendon wanted to defend.

"We showed such great character in coming back," said manager Gary McCann. "But we should have been well ahead by then. If it hadn't been for Rikki Banks we could have won the game by any number of goals.

"I said to the players at half time, we had to be ugly for a few minutes because our approach in the first half hadn't worked."