Hendon, having survived with up to 5 players absent injured, found that 7 was just too many. They went down 1-0 to bottom-of-the-table Harrow Borough at The LOOT Stadium on Monday night.

It should be pointed out that Harrow were excellent value for their victory, which would have been considerably greater but for some superb saves by stand-in goalkeeper Andy Iga.

In addition to the absent Jason McKoy, Gary McCann, Paul Towler, John-Simon White and Simon Clarke, Freddie Hyatt was suspended and Davis Haule was injured. In came Bontcho Guentchev and Curtis Warmington, which forced a reshuffle to further unbalance the squad.

An uneventful opening dozen minutes was followed by loud Hendon claims for a penalty when Mark Cooper appeared to use his hands to control a cross. Referee Mr M Bishop (Kent), however, saw an infringement by a Hendon player and gave Harrow the free-kick.

Hendon conceded a large number of free-kicks and conceded the initiative to Harrow, but Warren Kelly, Matt Bartholomew and Warmington coped well with the Borough forwards.

The last 5 minutes of the half were a different matter. A deflected cross fell to Pat Gavin, but he shot wide. Then Otis Roberts was denied by Iga's legs in a one-on-one.

In the last minute of the half, Iga did even better to deny Marvin Walker somehow deflecting his low toe-poke over the crossbar. It was Harrow's turn to be angered as the referee and his assistant gave a goal kick.

Things went from bad to worse for Hendon as Paul Whitmarsh limped out of the game after 55 minutes. He was replaced by Paul Scott, who is struggling with effects of an ankly injury and to come to terms with the pace of the Ryman League Premier Division following his January transfer from Whyteleafe.

Five minutes later, Harrow deservedly took the lead although the goal had more than a touch of fortune about it. A deep cross from the right wing eluded everybody, except Mike BIGNALL, lurking 5 yards beyond far post.

Bartholomew tried to make Bignall's header difficult but the striker gained leverage by climbing on the Hendon man and looped a header back over the defence and just inside the far post.

Borough looked comfortable in the lead and Hendon made two more changes. Dale Binns came on for Guentchev - who had one fine run and curling shot which went just over the bar and a one-on-one chance that was smothered by David Hook even before the Bulgarian could get off a shot - and 18-year-old Gary Johnson for Warmington, but they could not turn things around.

Hendon's best chance came in the 86th minute when Marvyn Watson got around the back of the Harrow defence and sent a cross which Dominic Gentle tried to squeeze home inside the near post. Andy Rose was able to bundle the ball clear.

In stoppage time, Bartholomew had a goalbound header blocked by Paul Scott and half-a-dozen red-shirted players hurled themselves in front of Bartholomew's attempted shot on goal.

"We had just too many players out tonight," said manager Frank Murphy. "But we didn't show enough passion."