Hendon's second trip to the Bourne Ground, temporary home of Maidstone United, ended exactly the same as the first, in a 3-2 defeat and, once again, there can be few complaints about the result.

Brian Haule, James Bent and Jamie Busby were recalled to the starting line-up, but Casey Maclaren had to drop out with an injury so Mark Kirby took over as captain. Also on the bench from Monday's starting line-up were Dave Diedhiou and Lubo Guentchev.

It took around 35 seconds for Maidstone to create their first chance. A free-kick was curled into the penalty area and was headed goalwards by Nathan Paul and although Joe Welch slowed down the ball, it was Kirby who completed the clearance with the ball at least half-way over the goalline.

Three minutes later, Welch got behind a drive from James Pinnock as Hendon were being overrun, both in midfield and defence. In addition to Hendon's discomfiture from the opposition, the elements didn't help, which a strong wind blowing diagonally into their right defensive corner.

The inevitable opening goal arrived in the tenth minute. Hendon lost possession around half-way and when the ball was passed to James Pinnock, the striker had the time and space to steady himself before shooting across Welch into the bottom corner.

Two minutes later, poor defending at a set piece allowed Kevin Watson the chance to head home and he made no mistake from six yards out. And things should have got even worse for the Greens, but Meshach Nugent failed to hit the target from ten yards out.

Suddenly, from pretty much Hendon's first attack, they gave themselves a lifeline into the game. Sam Byfield did the creative work and when a shot was fired in at Andy Walker, the goalkeeper could only parry it. The ball bounced in front of Chris Bangura, who smacked it into the net before a defender or Walker could react.

Nugent and Pinnock both wasted great opportunities to restore the Stones' two-goal lead before the half-hour mark as Hendon players abused possession all over the pitch.

However, the Maidstone storm abated and, in the final 15 minutes of the half, it was Hendon who had the bulk of possession. The nearest they came to an equalising goal was from a Byfield corner after 44 minutes which Bangura headed solidly against the crossbar, having outjumped Ben Lewis.

Two minutes into the second half, Lewis easily won a header five yards outside his penalty area, but lazily left his elbow out and caught Bangura smack in the face. The striker sank to the ground and required treatment while Lewis received a caution. The free kick came to nothing.

Maidstone were comfortable with their lead and seemed content to let Hendon attack and raid on the counter. With Ian Cox giving Haule absolutely no space and dominating the Stones back-line, Hendon didn't really look like getting a second goal.

The introduction of Guentchev and Diedhiou for Charlie Mapes and Bangura saw Hendon have attacking options down both flanks and a cross from Guentchev saw Walker punch the ball clear, but injure himself in the process. He needed lengthy treatment before continuing. Interestingly the injury was the same as one that forced him to retire from the London Senior Cup tie quarter-final in March between Bromley and Hendon at half-time. Walker admitted to the Hendon fans behind the goal that the injury hasn't properly cleared up since then.

Two minutes after James Burgess had come on for Kevin Maclaren, Hendon gifted Maidstone a third goal. It started with a Maidstone clearance which went out for a throw-in some 25 metres from their goalline.

For some reason, Hendon decided to take the throw about 15 metres closer to their goal and two sloppy passes on the half-way line resulted in the ball going to Jay Saunders. He looked up and saw substitute Lloyd Blackman breaking free.

The pass was inch-perfect, Blackman raced in on goal and, as Welch came out to narrow the angle, he shot past the goalkeeper into the net.

That killed off the game as a contest, but Hendon showed that whilst they may not be winning the battles, they weren’t giving up. Three minutes into stoppage time, Busby burst past two defenders into the penalty area.

Space in front of him suddenly opened up, but he was denied the chance to shoot by Haule, who took the chance himself and beat Walker easily. All Busby could do was collect the ball from the back of the net before a Maidstone defender could delay the game.

It didn't matter because the final whistle blew barely a minute later without Hendon having got close to the Stones' box.

"We defended atrociously," admitted angry manager Gary McCann. "And we weren't positive enough going forward. When you defend like that, it is not a platform to build on.

"Half-time came at the wrong time for us, because we were just building up some pressure. We showed some great character coming back from that start. But I thought 3-2 really flattered us."

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