Hendon regained the George Ruffell Memorial Shield, the Middlesex County Football Association's version of UEFA's Super Cup, with an eventually comfortable 4-2 victory over Wealdstone at Claremont Road on Tuesday night.

An experimental Hendon formation, with Usif Bangura replacing the late-arriving Mark Nicholls, was the only personnel change from Saturday's disappointing draw with Leyton, encountered a Wealdstone line-up that included a number of new faces, the result of a dip in form.

Nicholls was not the only late arrival: referee Matthew Downey, and a number of others, were delayed by problems arriving at Claremont Road from the west, so the game kicked off 20 minutes late.

And it seemed that Gordon Bartlett's moves were paying off as they scored twice in the opening quarter of an hour. The first, after five minutes, came from Brian JONES, whose low shot skidded up off the pitch and flew over the diving Dave King. It was hard luck on the goalkeeper, who went down to make a routine save, only to be embarrassed by the bounce.

The Greens hit back immediately and were level within 60 seconds. Danny JULIENNE cut inside from the left flank and fired a low shot beyond the dive of Andy Carter just inside the goalkeeper's right post. In just his second appearance, it was his first goal.

Wealdstone's second goal was well taken by JONES, again. This time he arrived late at the far post to get in front of Danny Butler before sliding the ball home from close range. Although it was well-worked, the Hendon defence was guilty of falling asleep to allow not only the ball to go across the face of the goal, but also the chance to be offered to Jones.

In the 30th minute, John Frendo, whose hard work and perserverance deserved reward, was very unlucky to watch a shot crash off the underside of the crossbar and the bounce favoured Andy Carter, rather than Bangura who was advancing in hope of getting on the end of the rebound.

Five minutes later, Julienne was lucky to stay on the pitch when he retaliated to a dreadful challenge by James Duncan on Richard McDonagh. Mr Downey showed both Julienne and Duncan yellow cards, when both could have seen red. Mark Burgess was cautioned a couple of minutes later for a mistimed tackle.

In first-half stoppage time, Hendon drew level when Martin Vrhovski set up JULIENNE, who ran in on Andy Carter before slipping the ball past him and into the net. It was no less than Hendon deserved because they had been on top for the last 15 minutes of the half.

The first 35 minutes of the second half were also dominated by Hendon, who brought on Will Davies and Nicholls for Rene Street and Bangura. Frendo, in particular was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet, before he finally succeeded in the 64th minute.

Wayne Carter fed the ball to Nicholls, who quickly looked up and spotted Frendo running into a gap. FRENDO held off the challenge of Lyndon Duncan before knocking the ball past the oncoming Andy Carter.

With 13 minutes to go, Hendon scored one of their goals of the season. The move started with King catching a cross and quickly rolling the ball out to McDonagh. From just inside his own half, McDonagh sprayed a 45-yard pass into the path of Dave Sargent, who was making strides down the left wing. His low cross evaded everybody, expect NICHOLLS, who side-footed home from 10 yards.

In the final five minutes, Wealdstone finally enjoyed some concerted pressure, but their finishing failed to match the approach work and a couple of good chances were wasted. A third goal would have been no more than a consolation.

Hendon manager Tony Choules was full of smiles after the game as he said, "I was very pleased with the way the new formation played. It showed me that we do have a 'Plan B' and that it works. Our performance was excellent and I felt we were back to our old selves in the second half."