Hendon ended their run of three games without a win by defeating newly-promoted Aveley in the warm Bank Holiday Monday sunshine of Vale Farm. The Greens' task was made much easier by the red card shown to the Millers' Martin Tuohy after he kicked out at Mark Kirby as the pair chased a loose ball.

There were a few changes to the Hendon starting line-up, with newcomer Marc Cumberbatch, from Staines Town, partnering Kirby at the heart of the defence and Glenn Garner and Brian Haule returned to the starting line-up at the expense of Sam Berry and Harry Hunt, who came on as second-half substitutes.

The match had a spectacular start as a first-minute free-kick from Wayne O'Sullivan crashed against the outside of a post with Jamie Lunan struggling to get across to the ball.

A minute later, Hendon were behind. The Greens lost possession needlessly just inside their own half and Mitch Hahn's square pass found an unmarked Matt Johnson in acres of space. He took the ball forward a few stride and drilled a shot past James Reading.

In the 14th minute, the Millers nearly doubled their advantage when Sherwin Stanley found in himself in space inside the Hendon box. His effort was well saved by Reading.

Three minutes later, a low cross from Peter Dean was nearly turned into the net by Haule, but the covering Richard Ketchell did just enough to put him off and the ball went inches wide of the vacant near post.

The match turned in the 27th minute. A through ball was chased by Kirby and Tuohy. The pair tussled as they ran for it and, for some reason, Tuohy kicked out at Kirby as the ball was about to cross the goalline ten yards in front of them. The referee had no hesitation in producing a red card.

Five minutes later, Hendon were level. Sam Holloway seemed to have little trouble as he controlled a ball facing his own goal. Dave Diedhiou, however, harassed the full-back into losing possession and he stroked the ball under the dive of Lunan to make it 1-1.

Just before half-time, Haule went down with what seemed an ankle injury, but with so little time before the break he continued. The magic hands of Mark Findlay did the trick because the tall striker was able to start the second half he had a huge bearing on the direction of the match.

Seven minutes into the second half, Haule hit the underside of the crossbar after getting in front of Michael Alaile, but the ball was hacked clear by a grateful defender.

In the 57th minute, Haule was again denied a goal by the frame. This time he had worked himself an opening and as Lunan came off his line, Haule chipped the ball over him. Aveley, however, had no defenders on hand to deal with the rebound and James Bent smashed the ball into the net as Lunan tried to recover his position.

The heat certainly sapped the energy of both teams, but it was 10-man Aveley who upped their pace more. They enjoyed a spell of pressure, but Stanley and substitutes Piers Wixon and Sam Letchmere all failed to hit the target with drives across goal from good openings.

Danny Dyer had replaced Haule after 80 minutes and it took him just five minutes to extend Hendon's lead. Instead of passing the ball out of defence, Kirby took a more route-one approach and Dyer nipped around the back of Ketchell before driving the ball into the net.

In the four minutes of stoppage time, Hendon looked likely to add to their lead almost every time they attacked down the middle. And, in the final minute of the four added on for goals, substitutions and cautions, Dean found himself in acres of space.

Taking time to bring the ball under control, he waited for Lunan to commit himself before smacking the ball into the roof of the net. The goal may have given the scoreline a flattering look - although the result was undoubtedly correct - but the same could have been said of Saturday's loss to Kingstonian.

"After the last three matches, we looked a little bit tentative," admitted manager Gary McCann, "but once they were down to 10 men, I was confident we would win. We didn't pass the ball as well as I would have liked, but it was much better than in recent games."