In a game that was almost a carbon copy of the Wealdstone home game at the beginning of January, Hendon slipped to a disappointing defeat at East Thurrock United on Saturday afternoon, going down 3-0.

The similarity was that the Greens were unfortunate to be a goal down at half time, but ultimately they thoroughly deserved the defeat for their second half performance.

There were two changes to the starting line-up with new signing Charlie Mapes, signed on a months loan from Yeading, replacing Jeff Campbell in midfield, and Iain Duncan replacing Danny Murphy on the left hand side. Both Campbell and Murphy dropped to the bench.

The opening ten minutes belonged to the home side who had two good chances to open the scoring during that time. In the 6th minute, Shaun Batt failed to take advantage of a defensive error when he fired over the bar, and just a minute later Danny Hayzelden repeated the feat.

Hendon came into the game after that and in the 12th minute were awarded a free kick 20 yards from goal. Marc Leach stepped up and delivered a curling free kick that hit the post with Danny Knowles in the East Thurrock goal well beaten. Unfortunately the ball hit the outside of the post and bounced away to safety.

Eight minutes later Darren Watson was about to pull the trigger when a defender pulled off a superb challenge to send the ball out for a corner. From the resultant corner, Mark Cooper narrowly missed out on diverting the ball into the net.

The Greens had the bulk of possession for the next twenty minutes or so, but as has so often been the case they failed to convert it into goals. Mapes, Watson, Leach and Duncan all had efforts at goal but failed to test the keeper, whilst Blaise O'Brien had a shot on the turn that went straight to the keeper.

They were made to pay in the 43rd minute when East Thurrock broke away and the ball was received by Jon Turnbull in space just inside the penalty area. He looked up, picked his spot and fired a fine shot across the goal into the far corner of the net.

The goal knocked the confidence out of Hendon which enabled the home side to take advantage in the second half, the first goalbound chance coming in the opening minute when Turnbull hit a speculative shot from distance although Dave King was able to deal with it comfortably.

Ten minutes into the second period there was a lengthy stoppage after Batt went in for an aerial challenge with Dave King and came off far worse. He was replaced by Stuart Williams. It should be said that there was no foul by either player in the challenge.

In the 70th minute the lead was doubled when Hayzelden scored a goal that was almost identical to the first, another shot being driven across the goal into the far corner.

During the second half Hendon did have periods of possession but did very little with it, not even testing the East Thurrock keeper. Once again the final ball into the penalty area was lacking in quality far too many times.

The final goal came in the 85th minute when Steve Harrison broke clear of the Hendon defensive line and shot at goal. Dave King managed to get to the initial shot but was unable to stop the ball rebounding into the net.

In the eight minutes of stoppage time correctly added on by the excellent referee, the Greens were still unable to find a consolation goal, but East Thurrock had a chance to extend the lead further when Martin Tuohy fired wide with the goal at his mercy.