Hendon consolidated their third-place position in the Ryman League Premier Division table with a 3-2 victory over Grays Athletic at Earlsmead on Saturday. In terms of territory and possession, the scoreline was probably an accurate reflection of the game, but as the game entered stoppage time, the Greens were in the comfort zone holding a three-goal lead.

There were four changes to the Hendon starting line-up from the team which had beaten Bury Town in the FA Trophy: Belal Aite-Ouakrim, Lee O'Leary, Elliott Brathwaite and Ollie Sprague were replaced by Kevin Maclaren, James Fisher, new signing Charlie Goode and Tony Taggart, with only Aite-Ouakrim actually available for selection, and he - along with Max McCann - was an unsused substitute.

The Greens made another excellent start and were ahead inside five minutes. Grays were, at the same time, maybe a little fortunate to still have 11 men on the field as Sam Murphy drilled home a spot-kick which Conor Gough could get only a slight hand upon.

The penalty had come when Leon Smith showed great strength and determination to get the better of Jay Leader as they ran into the penalty area, close to the goal line. Leader tugged hard on Smith, who, with only Gough to beat, went down. There was no question about it being a foul and a penalty, but the discussion centred upon the punishment for Leader.

Hendon players and fans bayed for a red card, but the referee felt that there was just sufficient doubt to show yellow. It certainly blurred the line between obvious and good in terms of goalscoring opportunities - the former being a red-card offence, the latter not - but Leader and Grays could have had few complaints if the referee had gone for the harsher sanction.

If Leader had been dismissed then the game would, almost certainly, have gone differently. For certain, the defender would not have been there to make a brilliant goalline clearance to deny Kezie Ibe, but the likelihood is that Athletic would have sacrificed either Freddie Lapado or Dumebi Dumaka to allow either Ruddock Yala or Manny Parry to come on in the centre of defence.

Grays' options later in the game would also have been more severely limited as they lost Aaron Best with a recurrence of an injury ten minutes before half-time. Joao Carlos replaced him, forcing Joseph Zerafa into left-back and Jay Siva to right back - positions in which neither player looked comfortable.

Gough produced two superb saves in the opening half, denying Dave Diedhiou and Ibe, but it was not all one-way traffic. Dumaka was thwarted by an excellent save from Ben McNamara before the Greens had a lucky escape late in the half.

A powerful drive from Jordan Wilson beat McNamara, but not the far post. The rebound, however, fell straight to Carlos, who really should have at least hit the target with plenty of time to pick his spot. He didn't and, having gone for power ahead of placement, blasted the ball over the crossbar.

It proved a costly miss as Hendon doubled their advantage in 43rd minute. Once more a Hendon attacker was too strong and quick for his marker, only this time it was Ibe. He kept his feet despite being pulled back and still had the balance to poke the ball past the advancing Gough. Had Ibe gone down, it would almost certainly have been a penalty and - and given his position - a red card for the defender.

This was undoubtedly a game of two halves. Early in the second half, the heavens opened and from a dry, clear, breezy afternoon, it became a wet, murky, windy day, conditions in which Grays reigned.

Admittedly the Grays dominance was partly planned by half-time tactical changes by Hendon, but the Greens couldn't get out of their own half. For all of Grays' possession, Taggart, Chris Seeby and especially the centre-back pairing of Fisher and Goode held the upper hand in and around the Greens' penalty area, and McNamara was also very good.

A quarter of an hour into the half, veteran Glen Little was introduced, at the expense of Wilson and the former Premier League star created many more problems. Hendon's response was replace Taggart with Sam Flegg and although the central defender didn't do badly, Little was still a much tougher proposition for Hendon to deal with.

The first time Gough touched the ball in the second half was in the 65th minute, but that was to deal with a simple back-pass. He had much more to do 12 minutes later, when he produced an excellent save as Peter Dean, Ibe, Smith and Murphy combined.

By this time, Jamie Guy had taken over from Grays skipper Kenny Beaney, while Hendon then made a double change, withdrawing Smith and Dean and sending on Adam Wallace - his first Hendon action of the season - and Andre Da Costa. A minute later the game was, apparently, made safe.

Hendon's second attack of note in the half saw the ball moved down the left side, before being transferred to the opposite wing. The Grays defence was dragged out of position and no one was guarding the middle of the pitch just outside the penalty area.

Had another player tracked back, they might have been able to put off or stop Kevin Maclaren getting off a shot. He had time and space to take aim and it was true. Lewis Dark rushed towards Maclaren, probably leaving Gough unsighted, because the goalkeeper was flat-footed as the ball sped past him on its way into the bottom corner.

At 3-0 Hendon fans started to breathe a little more easily. Two-goal leads had been spurned earlier in the season, but not one of three. That was a statistic that should have changed.

As the game moved into stoppage time, a cross from Little was met by Lapado and he made no mistake with his close-range finish. Suddenly Grays had hope, but surely only the tiniest of rays thereof.

Well, actually, not. In the third minute of stoppage time, Little again teased and tormented with a ball into the middle and there was Lapado to make it 3-2. Almost 45 minutes of futility had suddenly borne fruit in time added on by the referee.

And there should have been an equaliser, too, in the last minute of stoppage time. The ball came to Carlos, who had a clear sight of goal with a free header. He failed to keep the ball down and it landed on top of the net to the sound of sighs of relief from Hendon and groans of frustration from Grays.