Hendon enjoyed a stroll in the Sussex sunshine as they finished off a job started five days earlier as they won their Emirates FA Cup second round qualifying replay at Culver Road, Lancing on Sunday.
The four-goal winning margin would have been significantly wider but for another excellent display from home goalkeeper Tyler D’Cruz, with Cole Brown victimised by the man in red on numerous occasions.
The Greens (in their sky blue away kit) showed three changes from the starting line-up in the first game, as Howard Hall, Stephane Ngamvoulou and Marvin Morgan all came back, with Reece Mitchell, Taishan Griffith and Prince Mbengui the ones to drop out.
All three were on the bench, which saw Gianni Crichlow come in at Cheyce Grant’s expense.
Despite having home advantage, Lancing didn’t change their defensive formation – unsurprisingly, maybe, as they had the same 11 starters – but it meant that Hendon again had a surfeit of possession, but this time they used it better.
In the second minute, Ricardo German brought a sprawling save out of D’Cruz, but it was little more than a routine stop.
After a succession of corners, Hendon finally made one count in the 13th minute as Lee Chappell’s low delivery was deflected from inside the six-yard-box to Ngamvoulou, a yard outside it and his left-foot first-strike flew into the roof of the net. His celebration of a first Hendon goal was rather muted.
Jack Langford again worked tirelessly up front in a fairly solitary position and he struggled to get the better of Luke Tingey and Romario Jonas, but he did have one low, scuffed shot that Danny Boness got everything behind in saving.
Brown had his first shooting chance stopped with a spectacular push aside by D’Cruz and from the resulting corner, Morgan forced a save from the goalkeeper at the far post, though he did have Adam Willard all over him as he climbed.
Willard would be at the centre of Hendon’s second goal, on the half hour.
Hall brought the ball forward without being challenged and he crossed low towards the near post, with Willard the only player close to the ball. It appeared from most angles that the full-back chested down the ball, but those facing the player saw him move his arm forward and the assistant referee was in that number.
He instantly flagged and the referee awarded the penalty, which was disputed by a couple of players, notably not Willard, and Mark Pulling earned himself a caution. German took the penalty and D’Cruz’s dive was away from the ball’s path as it went into the goal.
Hendon had a couple more chances to add to their advantage, with German twice shooting when team-mates were better placed.
The boot was on the other foot, however, when Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick eschewed a pass to German in favour of a stinging drive, which became another of D’Cruz’s excellent saves.
The second half had a fast start as within 30 seconds, Pulling released Langford, but his drive flew into the side-netting, by the stanchion and the rebound fell straight into Boness’s arms.
Fans on the stand side thought it was a goal, but the lack of celebration and resulting goal-kick told them otherwise.
A minute later, Morgan went off to be replaced by Crichlow and it took the substitute less than a minute to make a big mark on the game.
Laste Dombaxe, playing deeper than usual, played the ball forward and Crichlow was fastest to react as he raced into the penalty area, going past Alex Bygraves with ease, and struck a shot which, for once, D’Cruz did not handle well.
The ball span off the goalkeeper’s hands, kissed the inside of the far post and spun into the goal. Like every good goalpoacher, German was on hand to deliver a superfluous coup de grace.
With the game now comfortably in hand, both Ngamvoulou and German were taken off and replaced by Mbengui and Tyriq Hunte, respectively.
For Lancing, Daniel Momah, Jack Webber and Liam Hendy came on for Lucas Tredrea, Willard and Alex Saunders, the latter suffering a calf injury as he collided with Brown when simultaneously reaching a loose ball.
Boness was called back into action when a pass found Langford in a good position. The striker’s shot was low and through a crowd of players, but Boness stuck out a leg to block the ball and he was then able to grab it.
Most of the play, however, was at the other end where Hendon stretched their advantage with a lovely goal after 70 minutes. Hippolyte-Patrick ran from the centre circle beating a couple of players as he approached the penalty area.
He shaped to shoot, but instead passed to Brown, who returned the ball to Hippolyte-Patrick. Having controlled the ball with one touch, the striker needed no second bidding to fire past D’Cruz.
Brown must have started to feel persecuted by D’Cruz as the goalkeeper produced three more top-class saves to deny him. The goalkeeper, for all his heroics, was a trifle fortunate in that his multiple parries – he rarely caught any of the shots or pushed them out for corners – fell to an approaching Hendon player.
The game had moved into stoppage time when Lancing went closest to scoring. Webber had the first chance, but a low, sprawling, full-stretch save from Boness conceded a corner.
From this set-piece, as Hendy went for the ball, Matt Daniel nipped in and his glacing header was kept out by an even better piece of goalkeeping from Boness. Lancing were going forward once again when the final whistle blew.
Hendon head to Chippenham on Wednesday, with the winners hosting Maidenhead in the fourth qualifying round on October 20.
Greens manager James Gray said: “We did what we had to and I am pleased with the win. But we really should have got the job done on Tuesday night.”
He later tweeted, “Potential banana skin averted, very professional performance, some good team play and good goals.. Another away trip on Weds now, it’s a testing time but the boys are standing strong.”
Hendon: Boness, Hall, Chappell, Tingey, Jonas, Dombaxe, Ngamvoulou (Mbengui 54), Hippolyte-Patrick, German (Hunte 60), Morgan (Crichlow 47), Brown. Unused subs: Mitchell, Griffith, Alexander-Greenaway, Murphy.
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