Hendon escaped the embarrassment of a London Senior Cup exit at the hands of a Step 5 team, but only thanks to the confidence and penalty-saving ability of Tyla Dickinson.

The youngster - on work experience from Queen’s Park Rangers - saved three of the four spot-kicks, but the truth is that the Greens' finishing was desperately disappointing.

Harvie Gardiner was the only player to make his debut, as only two players in the starting line-up had been in the 11 for the first four League matches: Charlie Smith and Connor Calcutt, though Chris Grace, Howard Hall, Ryan Hope and Kam English were on the bench.

Teenagers Gardiner, Dickinson and Tahjae Anderson, rather evened out the team’s average age when set against 45-year-old Scott McGleish, Ram Marwa, 38, and Tom Nyama, a “spring chicken” at 35.

In the opening five minutes, Hendon looked to attack, but they found the Fosters' rearguard well organised. They were happy to soak up pressure and then release the speedy Ceykan Karahozlu to run at Hendon’s back four.

In their wildest dreams, however, they could not have envisaged how well the tactic would work after five minutes. The ball out of defence split the green back-line, KARAHOZLU got behind McGleish and, as Dickinson came off his line, he slipped the ball into the net.

For most of the next 40 minutes, Hendon appeared to be trying to find ways not to score. Brad Robinson did exceptionally well on a couple of occasions, but he also enjoyed some good fortune as flicks and deflections went straight at him.

When he was beaten, there were defenders well place to make blocks. Dan Williams probably summed up the Hendon performance, trying too hard and making mistakes.

The Greens lost Charlie Smith to a dead leg after half an hour, but Hall was a ready-made replacement for him, albeit on the less-regular left side. Once McGleish and Romario Jonas had got to the pace of the Fosters they were fairly comfortable.

In midfield, Hendon had control, but they had to be wary of making mistakes. There were, to be fair, very few of them, except in attack - if failing to take good chances are conceded errors.

Robinson was finally beaten in the 44th minute, but a defender was perfectly placed to make a goal-line clearance. The half-time whistle gave Hendon the chance to work out a way of getting back into the game, if only because the equaliser looked so difficult to find.

As the teams came out, Dickinson had complete confidence. As McGleish said after the game, "Tyla shouted out 'Come on boys get just one goal and I’ll win the penalty shoot-out.' He was very confident."

It didn’t take long for the equaliser to come, just five minutes, and the decisive touch came from a player not in green. A pass from the inside-right channel seemed destined to give Calcutt a tap-in, but he wasn't given the chance to get his name on the scoresheet because Josh YOANNE diverted the ball past Robinson.

Funnily enough, having lost their lead Cockfosters began to get stronger and, in the final part of the game, they had as much of the game and as many openings as Hendon. However, when Fosters did break, McGleish, Hall, Jonas and Gardiner were always well-placed to stop the raids.

Kam English and Luca Valentine came on the final quarter-hour, replacing Anderson and Abdollahi. A superb intervention by McGleish stopped Richardson in his tracks in the 81st minute, at which point "next goals wins" seemed a fairly safe bet.

When, with the last touch of the game, Williams blasted the ball over the crossbar, it meant that a penalty shoot-out would decide the game. Kicking towards the car park goal, Cockfosters went first and George Beattie was denied by a brilliant save.

English took Hendon's first kick and he made no mistake, and the advantage was stretched as another substitute Rian Carroll saw his effort saved by Dickinson before Hall nervelessly found the net to make it 2–0.

Ryan Murphy was the third Fosters player who failed to be Dickinson, but Valentine couldn't seal the game at the earliest opportunity because Robinson saved his attempt.

It delayed the inevitable only one kick although because Reece Mosanya put the ball where Dickinson couldn't reach it, he didn’t have to, the attempt striking the foot of the post.

In the next round, Hendon will travel to the winners of the Metropolitan Police v AFC Wimbledon tie sometime in the autumn.