Hendon joined Chelmsford City at the top of the Ryman League Premier Division - albeit behind on goal difference, but five points clear of the field - with a superb 2-1 victory over Staines Town at Claremont Road on Tuesday night. Had the Swans won, they would have leap-frogged over Hendon into second place.

Davis Haule returned to the line-up at the expense of Rakatahr Hudson in the only change from the 11 who started against Hastings and the tall midfielder had a big impact on the game.

Chances were few and far between in the first half, though Hendon looked slightly the stronger and created a few openings. At the other end, the ever-dangerous Mark Nwokeji was, in the main, well handled by Marc Leach and James Parker, though he did shoot just wide after 17 minutes and Gareth Risbridger forced a good save out of Luke Blackmore a minute later.

Belal Aiteouakrim was a thorn in the Staines side, forcing the home defence to double-team him when he got the ball. It allowed Wayne O'Sullivan the chance to cause panic in the Swans defence when he made a couple of forays, including a shot just wide.

Then, in the 38th minute, Hendon were awarded a free-kick for a foul on Dean Green, a couple of yards outside the penalty area, but at a fairly acute angle. Leach lined up a shot and delivered a perfect strike, rifling the ball past Shaun Allaway into the roof of the net.

Before the second half could start, Hendon were forced into a change when Casey Maclaren had to go off, the result of a collision with the already-cautioned Risbridger which resulted in the loss of a tooth for the Hendon man. James Burgess replaced, him forcing Green to play deeper.

Staines took advantage and applied some early pressure, but nearly paid a huge price for over-committing men in attack. After 56 minutes, O'Sullivan picked up a loose ball just inside his own half. He burst through three tacklers, shimmied past two more and suddenly had only Allaway to beat. The goalkeeper made a stop with his legs.

Staines then made a double-change, sending on former Greens reserve Victor Asombang and Howard Newton for Lewis Cook and Dwain Clark, respectively. It had the desired effect as the now three-man attack drew level midway through the half.

A brilliant save by Blackmore denied Marc Charles-Smith at the expense of a corner. The corner was not cleared completely and when the ball came back into the box, Howard NEWTON turned it past Blackmore for the equaliser.

From then on, there looked to be only one winner. But Staines not only failed to score it, they managed to lose the game too.

There were just seven minutes remaining, when Hendon won a corner. O'Sullivan curled it into the box, where two players got a faint touch. Waiting on the penalty spot was the unmarked Brian Haule, who had been on the field for just nine minutes. He picked his spot and bounced a shot beyond Allaway’s dive, the ball bouncing into the net.

As Staines chased a point, Jamie Busby picked up a caution for an ill-timed challenge but, without it, the attacking Swans man would have had an almost clear run at goal.

"This is one of our best results of the season," said happy manager Gary McCann. "We had to dig in really deep in the second half, but we never gave up and got our rewards."

(Report by David Ballheimer - not to be reproduced without permission from the author)