Hendon ensured that the 2002-03 season will not be entirely barren by collecting the George Ruffell Memorial Trophy with a 1-0 victory over Enfield Town. The match pitted the winners of the Middlesex Senior Cup and Middlesex Charity Cup against each other.

The scoreline really did not reflect Hendon's domination of this match, best summed up by Enfield Town defender Martin St Hilaire, who said after the game, "They were just too fast for us; they ran us off our feet." Nevertheless, the Greens failed to make their possession count in terms of goals.

Little of note happened in the opening 10 minutes. After that, Hendon enjoyed plenty of possession and they created a few openings. However, Martin Randall, Eugene Ofori and Steve Forbes all failed with chances from good positions.

Dale Binns, down the left wing, and Keiran Gallagher, on the right flank, gave the Enfield Town defence a torrid time, frequently getting around the back, but their delivery was, at least in the early part of the game, not really good enough.

That all changed after the half-hour stage was passed. In the 34th minute, a pass from Iain Duncan to Forbes sucked in a couple of Enfield Town players. Forbes then floated a ball out to Binns on the wing.

He nipped by St Hilaire and Daniel Alleyne before delivering a pin-point cross into the path of Randall. Losing his marker with a deft turn, he found himself clear in on goal and as soon as Andy Hall committed himself, RANDALL lifted the ball over the goalkeeper and into the roof of the net.

Three more excellent chances were spurned thanks in part to injudicious options taken by various attacking players and the rest because Hall was in magnificent form. The goalkeeper produced 4 good saves in the first halfalone.

In the second half, the goalkeeper did even better. In the 49th minute, a near-post cross from Binns was deftly flicked on by Randall, and his goal celebrations were stilled as Hall used his face to block the effort.

Hall did ride his luck on occasion, but he deserved every bit of it. He pushed aside a powerful shot from Binns and the ball rolled just beyond Ofori and Randall before being cleared by Danny Snowsill.

In the 58th minute, a neat turn from Ofori took him past Nicky Morgan and he tried a snapshot. The ball beat Hall all ends up, but it struck the underside of the crossbar and went back to Ofori. With Gallagher screaming for a short pass, Ofori took the selfish option and Hall made a comfortable save.

Randall, Forbes and Ofori were then withdrawn, giving run-outs to Paul Towler, Ricci Crace and Rob Haworth and, as Hendon reorganised, Enfield got a toe-hold on the game.

They did not do much with their possession, however. Steve Butler and Mark Cooper looked as solid as they did for most of last season, while Paul Yates just in front of them and Micky Woolner and Duncan on the flanks, limited the amount of attacks that looked even remotely dangerous.

Even then, there was the imposing David Hook to get past, and he did not look like being beaten. In fact, he did not have to make a save until the final 10 minutes of the game. Although Daniel Clarke and John Ridout looked sporadically dangerous, they did not see enough of the ball near the penalty area to do much.

In the 82nd minute, Ridout produced an excellent turn in the penalty area and he had a clear view of goal as he shot. Although the effort beat Hook it also beat the post and Hendon escaped.

In the final minutes, Crace was a little unlucky not to earn a penalty as Hall and Snowsill took him down as he tried to control a loose ball. Then a backpass by the defender was ruled a tackle, so Hendon were denied an indirect free-kick from 6 yards.

Happy manager Dave Anderson said, "It was a comfotable 1-0 win if there is such a thing."