Hendon have a long history of embarrassing exits from the Bryco (Isthmian League) Cup, but they set a new low with their craven capitulation against Leatherhead at Claremont Road on Tuesday night. The 6-3 defeat, albeit after extra time, means that the club has set a new record with 13 goals conceded in consecutive games.

After the debacle against Eastleigh at the weekend, manager Gary Farrell promised heads would roll, but he gave some of the players one more chance and they responded in the worst possible way. Eugene Ofori and Dave Nolan were rested, while Dave King was suspended and Jason O'Connor and Sean Hillier dropped to the bench in favour of the returning René Street and Shayne Demetrious, respectively. Ashlee Jones, a QPR trainee, went between sticks, while Mark Burgess and Ross Pickett also started.

It took less than 10 seconds for Leatherhead to miss the first chance of the game. An awful backpass fell well short of Jones and Marc Charles-Smith was just wide with a shot from a narrow angle.

Hendon took the lead after seven minutes when PICKETT ran onto a pass from Demetrious and held off the challenge of Iain Hendry before firing past Tommy Dunn. It was the boost the Greens needed and Pickett and Danny Julienne both came close to extending the lead in the next ten minutes.

In the 26th minute, the second goal arrived. Once again the Leatherhead defence was taken apart and this time Mark NICHOLLS blasted the ball into the net after Dunn had blocked an effort from Julienne.

Defensive frailty was evident at the other end and it was no surprise when CHARLES-SMITH reduced the arrears after 34 minutes. With the wind in their favour and a newcomer in the Hendon goal, Leatherhead looked dangerous whenever they attacked.

But they conceded what should have been the clinching goal in the last minute of the first half. Nicholls sprung the offside trap and had only Dunn to beat. The goalkeeper came off his line and knocked Nicholls to the ground.

Although Jamie Beer was racing back towards the goalline, it was a very clear goalscoring opportunity. The referee, however, produced only a yellow card. NICHOLLS took the penalty and gave Dunn no chance with the spot-kick.

Demetrious was taken off after 55 minutes and it proved to be a bad decision, because Hillier came on and within three minutes had lost possession leading directly to Leatherheads second goal. Dave STEVENS was the scorer, but when the ball first came towards him he was in an active offside position and never retreated.

Nicholls and Pickett both had chances to make the game safe in the next 15 minutes, but Dunn produced a couple of fine save. Two poor shots from good positions and bad options from other attacks meant that Hendon were still hanging on as the game moved into the final few minutes.

And, once again, the defence collapsed. The game was entering the penultimate minute when nobody covered another run by STEVENS. He was allowed too much time and space and the former Dulwich striker sent the game into extra time.

Street was replaced by Gary Meakin for the extra 30 minutes, but it was the another centre-back, Danny Butler who will long rue the first quarter of the spell. In the second minute, he stood watching a cross from the right wing and made no attempt to go for the ball. Wes HARRISON had time to run around him and jump a few inches to nod the ball into the net.

Three minutes later, Butler was again stationary as HARRISON ran into penalty area and he made it 5-3. Then, in the 98th minute, Butler failed to stop a STEVENS run and he completed an unlikely hat-trick.

A shell-shocked Mr Farrell said, "This has highlighted what we saw on Saturday. I thought some of the players would go out and get that game out of their system, but they didn't. The defending again was absolutely appalling and some players threw in the towel tonight. Certain experienced players showed their true colours, and that was bright yellow."