Hendon slipped back into the bottom three, albeit on goals scored, after dropping three points at Tonbridge Angels on Saturday. In truth, the difference between the two teams was the finishing, with Hendon having no one who was close to matching the lethal performance of hat-trick hero Jon Main.

The return of Davis Haule, from Yeading, saw him take a spot on the sub's bench, the starting eleven from the game against Leyton two weeks earlier having earned another deserved chance.

And the Greens could hardly have made a better start. After 75 seconds, Belal Aiteouakrim controlled the ball on the angle of the six-yard box and tried to turn. He stumbled, regained his feet and as he was about to turn and shoot, so Mark Green took away his standing leg. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot, a decision that brought dark looks but no real complaints from the home team.

Dean Green put the ball on the spot, but looked very gingerly at the area around it, as if distrustful of the safety of his footing. Clearly unsettled, his penalty displayed the hallmarks of a lack of confidence and the ball flew high and wide of the target with goalkeeper Aaron Kerr flying the opposite direction.

Seven minutes later, Tonbridge nearly took the lead when Ray Powell let fly from 20 yards. He beat Richard Wilmot's dive all ends up, but James Parker made an outstanding acrobatic goalline clearance to keep the scores level.

That parity didn't last long as, in the 25th minute, a lost ball in midfield soon resulted in the first of Main's goals. The ball was fed out to the right flank and when Main latched onto a through ball, he drove a superb shot past Wilmot for the opener.

But Hendon were level within 90 seconds. A Marc Leach free kick glanced off the head of a Tonbridge defender and fell to Aiteouakrim, whose instant shot was blocked straight back to him. This time Aiteouakrim took the ball across the face of goal till he a shooting angle, then he fly and Kerr was a spectator as the ball flew past him inside the near post.

Almost immediately after the restart, careless Hendon defending gave Tonbridge a free-kick just outside the Hendon box. However, rather than putting on a set play, the Angels tried a quick free-kick and the danger was well dealt with.

In the 35th minute, Hendon fell behind again. The Tonbridge style of rapid counter-attack had too many opportunities to display itself and when possession was lost again, Main made another fine run and his finish was once again faultless.

Although Hendon had not been without chances, when the half-time whistle blew, it would have been the Greens who were the happier to hear it. A squally shower at half-time did nothing to improve the pitch and the wind remained a cruel foe to passing football, blowing the ball towards the clubhouse side of the pitch.

Nonetheless, Hendon improved in the second half, without making inroads where it really counted. Another free-kick from Leach almost deceived Kerr who gathered the ball inches from the line as it blew just too far from Brian Haule to nod goalwards. Then a deflected Jamie Busby shot bounced just wide of the far post with Kerr grateful to see no late swing towards the goal.

The inability to get an equaliser proved costly. In the 79th minute, Main sprinted clear and was pulled down by Wilmot yards wide of the six yard box. There was no question about the penalty nor with the yellow card Wilmot was shown. MAIN stepped up and made no mistake with his spot-kick.

A minute later, Davis Haule almost marked his return with a goal, but his header bounced off the crossbar. The ball then fell to Aiteouakrim, whose delicate lob was superbly palmed over the bar by Kerr.

Main could, and possibly should have scored numbers four and five in the ten minutes that followed before his stoppage-time substitution. He fired over from an easier angle than either of his first two goals, then smashed a shot against the inside of a post and watched the rebound go straight to a prone Wilmot.

Hendon continued to plug on and, in stoppage time, Brian Haule did well down the left and set up Wayne O'Sullivan, who fired wide from three yards out, his embarrassment saved by the assistant referee flagging for offside.

"We couldn't cope with their centre-forward," admitted manager Gary McCann. "He was so sharp and made all the difference. But we had our chances, especially the early penalty, and didn't take them."