Hendon slipped to 21st in the Ryman League Premier Division with a desperately disappointing home defeat against Hampton & Richmond Borough, who recorded not only their third victory in three goes, but also kept a third clean sheet. This was a desperately poor afternoon's fare for the spectators to stomach, especially the home fans, who now seen Hendon score once in their three games, all defeats.

Danny Murphy and Andy Judge, the two youngsters signed from QPR in the summer were given their first starts, at the expense of Rob Courtnage and Eugene Ofori, the latter of whom had a slight knock and could not be risked for the full 90 minutes.

For all the poverty that followed, there was a bounty of riches in terms of chances in the opening two minutes.

After 40 seconds, the Beavers' Andy Morley almost got on the end of a speculative shot from Elliott Godfrey but just failed to make contact as he arrived late and unchallenged at the far post.

A minute later, Hendon should have taken the lead when they had a golden opportunity. John Frendo reached a loose ball just in front of Matt Lovett but the Hampton goalkeeper did enough to block the ball to the side.

Mark Burgess - on his 100th appearance - was alone by the penalty spot when the ball arrived, but he somehow sliced it wide yards wide of the target with little more than fresh air between him and the goal.

Morley tested Dave King in the ninth minute, but the goalkeeper was easily equal to the shot.

In the 12th minute, a Hendon were awarded a free-kick in a dangerous position, but managed only to gift Hampton the opening goal. Kieran Gallagher found Steve McGrath, who knocked it into the middle of the penalty area, but Matt Elverson was alert to the danger and he hacked the ball clear.

The ball fell to Lawrence Yaku, who ran at the Hendon defence and when he crossed low across the six-yard box, the back-tracking McGrath, under pressure from Francis Quarm, knocked the ball into his own net.

Graham Harper tried his luck with shots from the 30-odd yard range, but he was way off target with two attempts. That apart, the only other danger came when Hampton launched counter-attacks from Hendon corners. Then Iain Duncan had to be at his best to hold off the dangerous Yaku.

After 30 minutes, Hampton doubled their advantage from another free kick - this time their own - taken by Quarm. Elverson escaped his marker and scored from close range.

This second strike knocked the stuffing out of Hendon, who created almost nothing for the next 50 minutes. It was not only very poor defending, but also symptomatic of the malaise running through the team. The passing was off-key, there was a lack of energy, imagination and penetration and when the slightest of openings presented themselves the man in possession almost invariably took the wrong option.

It was not until the arrival of Ofori, in the 55th minute - replacing Judge - that even a slight improvement could be noticed. Frendo was taken off a dozen minutes later, with Marvyn Watson replacing him and Ross Pickett dropping back.

Later on, the Greens switched to a three-man defence with McGrath going into attack. However, none of the changes looked remotely like working until the final few minutes, by which time the Hampton defence had almost been lulled into sleep.

In the 84th minute, Ofori lost his marker at the far post and planted a header from a Gallagher cross against the inside of the upright. The ball was hacked clear before a Hendon player could reach it.

Another Ofori effort, in stoppage time, this one from a Danny Murphy cross, should have given the Greens a consolation goal, but this time the ball hit Lovett on the legs as he dived the other way.

"The game would have been totally different if we had taken that simple chance in the first couple of minutes," said manager Gary McCann.

"But our basics were appalling today. None of the things that we (Andy Pape and I) have stressed since we arrived at the club were followed. It was very disappointing and there will be changes."