Hendon were distinctly unfortunate that their run without a victory stretched to six games at Vale Farm on Sunday afternoon, but the injury-riddled Greens couldn't recover from conceding two goals in seven minutes to basement-dwellers Leatherhead around the half-hour mark. The victory lifted the Tanners off the bottom of the table, albeit on goal difference, but they rode their luck in achieving the 2-1 victory.

On-loan Mauro Vilhete, from Barnet, made his debut in place of Byron Bubb, while Bradley Fraser replaced Michael Peacock at the heart of the Hendon defence. But with around a dozen players out injured, it was a matter of selecting the least exhausted players in many of the positions.

Little of note happened in the first five minutes, but Hendon took the lead a couple of minutes later. The Greens forced a corner, thanks to good running from Isaiah Rankin and when the ball was played into the penalty area, Elliott Charles reached it first.

He got only a flick to the ball, with his foot, lifting the ball and the deflection was knocked to the ground by a Leatherhead player with his outstretched arm. The referee was perfectly positioned to see the incident and immediately pointed to the penalty spot. One player tried to protest, but he was waved away.

With regular penalty-taker Jamie Busby out, Charles was quick to pick up the ball and place it on the spot. Chico Ramos dived one way and the ball went the other as Charles converted with aplomb.

For the next ten minutes, Hendon were in control, without ever looking like getting a second goal. And, gradually, Leatherhead recovered from the blow of conceding and started to dominate.

Their equaliser, after 28 minutes, was more than a bit special. The build-up was mundane, down the right side, with little threat, and the ball into the penalty area was hardly the best.

The ball, however, appeared to strike a Hendon player, sending it towards Kev Weeks. It sat up perfectly for the striker, whose first-time volley flew past the motionless and helpless Sean Thomas, before dropping just inside the angle of post and crossbar. Any television station showing the match would have shown repeats of it for weeks.

Hendon's fragile confidence was shattered by this goal and every Leatherhead attack which followed suddenly contained enormous menace. Fraser and Ryan Wharton, playing their first game together, looked shaky and James Parker and Scott Cousins had their hands full with wide players on both sides.

The Greens’ midfield, without half a dozen key members, looked what it was - a patchwork collection put together to hold the fort. Vilhete, who had only met the players on the day of the game, tried hard, but his new team-mates didn't know his style or him their's.

And it was no surprise that Leatherhead took the lead after 35 minutes, though there was more than a hint good fortune about the second goal. Once more, an attack down the right caused problems and Vern Francis got around the back of the defence before laying the ball back into the penalty near to the penalty spot.

Mark Simmons drove the ball towards goal and was delighted to see a massive deflection bring him what turned out to be the match-winning goal. Thomas was already committed to dive to his right when the ball flew past him, struck the foot of the opposite post and rolled into the net.

For the third consecutive match, a huge deflection has undone Thomas. On maybe only one of the goals he has conceded in the past three matches has the goalkeeper had anything close to an even chance of making a save.

The front pairing of Charles and Rankin still doesn't seem to have gelled and, on more than one occasion, both players chased the same pass, meaning there was no one available to continue the attack against a defence that was not the most secure.

In the 43rd minute, Ramos produced a brilliant save to keep out a header that seemed certain to bring the scores level. But it had been a rare moment of success in the final third of the pitch.

The second half was a different story. A long half-time dressing down seemed to have done the trick for Hendon, who attacked Leatherhead with purpose. For 20 minutes, the Tanners struggled to get the ball out of their own half, let alone create anything in the way of a chance of their own.

However, thanks to a mixture of poor decision-making, unfortunate bounces and some terrible finishing, Leatherhead held out and, once more, gradually grew in confidence. Unlike in the first half, however, their forays forward remained rare and although Thomas was occasionally put under pressure, often from misplaced passes by teammates, it was only at the Leatherhead end where a goal seemed likely to come.

Hendon sent on Carl McCluskey for the final half-hour replacing Archer as the defensive midfield requirements were less necessary and, 10 minutes later, Belal Aite-Ouakrim took over from the increasingly ineffective Rankin. Chances did come and go, but few were clear-cut and red-shirted defenders and midfielders were more than happy to throw themselves into the path of the ball when the opportunities presented themselves.

The final change, with seven minutes remaining, saw James Fisher get more playing time. Fisher's return to the squad after two spells out injured in the first three months, was a rare glimmer of good luck.

With 90 seconds of normal time, Hendon came very close to grabbing the equaliser they so richly deserved. Ramos, whose punching at corners was far from convincing, failed to get much distance on an attempt to clear a corner.

The ball didn't fall perfectly for the Hendon player on the edge of the penalty area, but his lob back beat the goalkeeper only for Chris Boulter to bail out his goalkeeper with a goalline clearance.

And there was one more chance for the Greens, deep in stoppage. A shot from the edge of the penalty area beat Ramos all ends up, but went inches the wrong side of the right post. When Lady Luck isn’t shining on you, those efforts go wide; when she is they go in.

Hendon manager Gary McCann said, "It is where we are at the moment. Too many of my team do not have the mental strength to come back from adversity. I was very unhappy with the first half performance, but we were much better in the second half, without getting any luck.

"I don't want to use the injury list as an excuse, but there is no doubt that we have been hammered by them, especially in the spine of the team, centre-half, central midfield and centre-forward. Although we have so many players out at the moment, I believe the teams I have put out in the last two matches should have been good enough to get us results.

"A number of players are running on fumes, and I am looking to bring in another player quickly. However, we might also get a couple of key squad members back for this weekend."