A weakened Hendon side progressed comfortably through to the third round of the Bryco (Isthmian League) Cup as they overcame Staines Town 4-2 on Tuesday evening.

Hendon made 7 changes to the team that started on Saturday at Bedford, and they included debutant goalkeeper Simon Chang, signed from Yeading at the weekend, and midfielder Noel Staiano, an American midfielder who has impressed for the reserves in recent weeks. Two others made debuts as substitutes in former Arsenal trainees Tafazzul Islam and Arkain Evren, both of whom were recently released by the Premiership leaders.

The game started as well as Hendon could have hoped as in the second minute a through pass out of defence found Rob HAWORTH in space and he ran on, drawing the Matthew Lovett out of his goal and played the ball through the keeper's legs into the net to open the scoring.

Six minutes later Haworth had a good chance to double the lead as his diving header his the post with Lovett beaten after Eugene Ofori headed the ball across the goal from an Adrian Clarke cross. Clarke saw another cross drift just past the far post, while a cross from Ofori was just about cleared for a corner by Lovett and Derek Walters ahead of Haworth.

In the 28th minute Hendon were awarded a free kick just outside the 18 yard box, and Kieran GALLAGHER stepped up and his strike found the bottom corner of the goal to open his goalscoring account for the club. Two minutes later a Gallagher cross was met by the head of Clarke, but the ball fell wide of the goal. Eugene Ofori missed a good chance when he fired over the bar after Howarth had backheaded the ball from a defensive free kick.

The visitors were given a boost on the stroke of half time when they took advantage of some poor clearances from the Hendon defence and Gary CHEESMAN drove a shot from the edge of the 18 yard box beyond the diving Chang.

The second half started in style for Hendon with two quick goals. In the 48th minute a crossfield pass from Gallagher found Clarke in acres of space. CLARKE ran on and drove the ball home just inside the near post.

Two minutes later the ball was played to Ofori as Hendon took advantage of indecision in the visiting defence and OFORI smashed the ball home to kill the game off.

Rob Haworth had a couple of good chances to extend the lead further during the second half, but either found the ball went wide or straight to the keeper. The introduction of Sam Byfield created more problems down the left wing, while Islam and Evren were introduced later in central midfield and on the right respectively. Byfield had a good chance to open his account in the 76th minute when his swerving shot went over the bar by no more than a foot.

Simon Chang had a quiet second half, mainly sweeping up loose balls, or fielding shots that were fired straight at him. However as the game moved into stoppage time, Staines scored a second goal when Nick HOOPER hit a speculative shot from the right hand side which beat Chang all ends up and went in off the far post. The referee, who had an excellent game, blew the whistle to end proceedings soon afterwards.

Speaking after the game manager Dave Anderson said "We scored four good goals this evening, but the goals we conceded were disappointing. However, the important thing is that we have progressed in the competition."