Hendon's Centenary Season will at least have a Cup Final to be celebrated after they overcame Northwood at Chestnut Avenue in the Middlesex Senior Cup semi-final on Tuesday night. It was not the most fluid of performances, but after losing six straight Ryman League fixtures a little bit of confidence can be taken from the result.

The victory means that the club continues its exceptional success rate in the Middlesex Senior Cup. The match against Hampton & Richmond Borough on Easter Monday (24 March) evening, at Uxbridge FC, 7.30 pm kick-off, will be Hendon's 26th Middlesex Senior Cup Final in around 85 entries (the club did not achieve senior status until just before World War I and the official competition was suspended during the two World Wars).

No less than five first-choice players were missing, with Marc Leach and Brian Haule given rests on the subs bench at Northwood. There were starts for James Burgess and Danny Dyer, and the latter took his rare opportunity to start with both hands.

Hendon made a great start. After 90 seconds, Davis Haule, playing effectively as a lone striker almost turned a cross from Lubomir Guentchev into the bottom corner. The ball, however, rolled just the wrong side of the post.

In the ninth minute, a cross from Dyer was beautifully brought down by Lee O'Leary, who turned and rolled the ball into the path of Casey Maclaren. Although the shot from Maclaren was not the most powerful it seemed to bamboozle Mitch Swain because the Northwood goalkeeper made absolutely no attempt to save the effort as it trundled past him into the bottom corner.

Instead of going on from this early lead, Hendon should have been pegged back. A silly foul on Phil Turner in the penalty area after 15 minutes gave Northwood a penalty.

Ryan Tackley stepped up to take the kick and Luke Blackmore dived early. However, Tackley took aim as if at a shooting gallery and would have won a prize for hitting the goalkeeper in the belly with his effort. Credit to Blackmore, however, with the important save and he held onto the shot as well.

Hendon's best efforts all came from Maclaren and he nearly had a hat-trick in the first half. One effort struck a defender and bounced clear while another powerful drive was saved by the goalkeeper going to his right.

Turning around a goal to the good has not been a recipe for success for the Greens in recent weeks and the first 20 minutes of the second half suggested that another difficult evening was on the cards. The team was under order to pass the ball to create openings, but all too often, the ball went backwards and eager Northwood players began to close off passing lanes and make interceptions.

But they really didn't take advantage of huge amounts of cheap possession. Although Blackmore made a few routine saves, Northwood’s finishing was lamentable with a number of efforts thudding into the advertising hoardings behind the goal but wide of the target.

On the rare occasions, Hendon did put together a few passing moves, the home defence looked distinctly jittery. Sam Collins tried his luck with a 40-yard lob-come-shot, but it was not quite high enough to beat the diminutive Swain who was off his goalline.

The game was made safe in the 77th minute with a fine goal, utterly out of keeping with the game. Dyer got the ball and ran at the Northwood defence. He jinked outside, then turned inside to get space past Danny Murphy, looked up and fired a magnificent shot across Swain into the bottom corner. The goalkeeper didn't have a chance and Northwood players' reaction was that this was the end of the road.

From then on, Hendon could have added as many as they wanted. Brian Haule had just come on for O'Leary and he nearly scored with his first touch and a shot from Lubo Guentchev fizzed just wide of the upright.

The two Guentchev boys were involved in Hendon's second substitution, Lubo being replaced by younger brother Iavor after 81 minutes. And, six minutes later, after more good work by Dyer, the ball fell to Iavor Guentchev, who drilled a shot past Swain.

This was far from being Hendon's best performance of the season, and 3-0 may have been a little flattering, but they were more clinical in front of goal. In three Middlesex Senior Cup ties, this season, all away from home and all on very cold nights, Hendon have scored 12 times and conceded just twice. Blue Square South Hampton & Richmond Borough will certainly offer a sterner test and ask more questions than Hendon faced on this evening.

(Report by David Ballheimer - not to be reproduced in any form without the author's agreement)