Hendon didn't deserve to lose to high-flying Wealdstone on Saturday afternoon, but in a strangely passionless clash at Grosvenor Vale, they went down 2-1. When you are at the bottom of the table, the breaks don't go your way and the Greens suffered this fate again.

Unavailability, suspensions and an 11-day break meant there were a few changes to the Hendon line-up with Elliott Brathwaite coming in for James Fisher, Jack Mazzone for Darren Currie and Jerome Federico for Dean Cracknell. In additional to the personnel moves, there were a few positional ones too.

In the second minute, Wealdstone created an opening which fell to former Hendon man Peter Dean. His effort was on target, but Berkley Laurencin was equal to it, making a good save.

Kicking down the slope, Hendon were soon into their stride and they put the home defence under increasing pressure. Federico shot wide from a good position after five minutes, then Greens had a penalty shout waved away when a powerful drive struck a defender, who was at such close range he could neither move himself or his arm out of the ball's path.

Some referees might have awarded a spot-kick for handball with the defender's arm a little away from his body, but given he could do nothing about it, the "play on" decision was justified.

Midway through the first half, Hendon carved out two more good chances. The first fell to Federico, whose goalbound shot was turned away by Rikki Banks. Although the goalkeeper had to dive to make the save, the ball arrived at the most comfortable of heights, so Banks was hardly inconvenienced.

Three minutes later, however, the goalkeeper would almost certainly have been beaten by a powerful drive from Mazzone after the ball fell kindly for him. Lee Chappell, threw himself in front of the ball and produced a brilliant block to keep the scores level.

When the teams trooped off at half-time, Hendon would have been the happier team with the overall performance, but probably a little frustrated that their enterprise and domination didn't have a tangible reward. Wealdstone, with the slope in their favour, probably felt they had dodged a proverbial bullet still being level.

It took just three minutes for the deadlock to be broken and it was the Wealdstone fans who were cheering. Chappell received the ball on the left side then fired a shot across Laurencin which ended up just inside the far post. It seemed a soft goal to concede and a kick in the teeth for the Greens in general.

But they responded very well and thought that they had equalised a couple of minutes later. Federico had a shot, which may well have been going just inside the far post with Banks beaten. However, Belal Aite-Ouakrim, whose mazy runs had panicked the Stones on many occasions in the first half, deflected the ball into the net.

Hendon players' and fans' celebrations were quickly stilled by the assistant referee's raised flag, and the resulting offside whistle from the referee. Although it was a very tight decision - and Aite-Ouakrim's intervention may have been needless - the Hendon striker looked suspiciously offside when he touched the ball.

A minute later, good work down the right wing resulted in a great chance for Greg Ngoyi, but against his former team, the striker was unable to find the target.

After this, Wealdstone enjoyed their one spell of domination, but rarely made Laurencin work. Hall and Scott Cousins did well to limit the danger down the flanks, while Ryan Wharton and Brathwaite kept the ever-dangerous Richard Jolly and Dean very quiet, so much so that the former was withdrawn with the result still in the balance.

Having weathered the storm Hendon hit back, and Banks produced a good save to keep out an effort from Aite-Ouakrim. Wealdstone's response was a stunning drive from Chris O'Leary which cannoned off the crossbar, possibly helped there by a fingertip from Laurencin.

A good piece of play from Federico, dispossessing Chappell deep in Wealdstone territory, set up a great chance for the Greens until the Hendon man took the wrong option and his drag-back towards Ngoyi was hacked away by Alex Dyer.

Julian Owusu-Bekde and Isaiah Rankin came on for Mazzone and Federico as Hendon went to a three-man attack, but the debutant Owusu-Bekde – who was with Hayes & Yeading United last season - struggled to make a telling impact.

After Nathan Webb had replaced Tom Pett, the Greens made their last change, sending on Michael Murray for Ngoyi. At the same time Esmond James took over from Kurtney Brooks. The two Stones changes were an indication of the way that the Hendon midfield - with Kevin Maclaren outstanding and Dave Diedhiou close behind - had dominated the middle of the park.

With four minutes of normal time remaining, Aite-Ouakrim fired narrowly over the crossbar. But it all went horribly wrong for the Greens a couple of minutes later.

Hall lost possession on the edge of his penalty area and Webb ran across the edge of the penalty area. Finding himself an angle to shoot, Webb rifled the ball into the roof of the Hendon net to give Wealdstone the breathing room they craved.

And it was needed, too, because as the game moved towards stoppage time, a Hendon corner was only partly cleared towards Aite-Ouakrim, who drilled the ball into the net, despite a desperate attempt to clear by Dyer.

In the four minutes of stoppage time, Hendon tried to find the deserved equaliser, but the Wealdstone defence stood resolute.

"I have said it too often this season, but our play warranted more," said frustrated Hendon manager Gary McCann.

"I thought we defended very well but gave away two poor goals. In attack, we probably created more good chances than Wealdstone, but we made the wrong decision on too many occasions."