Hendon will face Met Police in their delayed Ryman League Premier Division play-off semi-final on Thursday after the Football Association refused to overturn a decision to deduct three points from Enfield Town.

Brent & Kilburn Times: Hendon stars Kezie Ibe, Leon Smith & Aaron Morgan show off the London Senior Cup. Pic: Andrew AleksiejczukHendon stars Kezie Ibe, Leon Smith & Aaron Morgan show off the London Senior Cup. Pic: Andrew Aleksiejczuk (Image: Archant)

The dispute concerned midfielder Aryan Tajbakhsh, who joined Enfield from VCD Athletic in January. With 10 bookings to his name he was due to serve a two-game suspension but played on, with Enfield claiming their checks – including those via the FA’s own disciplinary database – revealed no bans needed to be served.

Having later realised the error, Enfield contacted the FA and were advised to not play him in the next two matches, which they followed. They were also told that no further action would be taken – but they now find themselves out of the play-off places after the FA belatedly dished out a three-point deduction.

The issue has delayed the play-off semi-finals by two weeks, but Greens manager Gary McCann is relieved the situation has been resolved and is now focused on the task of beating Enfield’s replacements, Met Police, and securing a place in the final.

“There is a sense of relief I suppose,” he said. “The frustration turned to bemusement after a while because this has dragged on for a few weeks and became a farcical situation.

“With the match on Thursday, at least we don’t have any more waiting around. James Fisher is suspended but apart from my son Max and Chris Seeby, who are both out long-term with injuries, we have a clean bill of health.

“We are also in a strong position having played in and won the London Senior Cup against Tooting and Mitcham last week.

“We were not at our best that night and I think the players were distracted by what was going on with this play-off situation.”

Hendon went 1-0 down before half-time in last Thursday’s cup final and Oliver Sprague was then sent off after 70 minutes – but that seemed to ignite the Greens.

Aaron Morgan came off the bench to grab an 87th-minute equaliser – and he then scored another in extra-time before Kezie Ibe struck to give the Dons a two-goal cushion.

Tooting pulled one back as a dramatic final took another twist, but Hendon triumphed 3-2 to lift their second trophy, having also won the Ryman League Cup this term.

“Winning two cups without doubt makes it the most successful season I’ve had as a manager, but we want promotion now,” said McCann.

“We’ve worked hard putting this squad together over the last three years and the 46 league games were the pinnacle of that.

“Now we go again, and we are unbeaten in 24 matches. We beat Met Police and they beat us when we played each other in the league – now we want to make it two wins.”