Hendon sealed a 2-0 victory over National League South side Hampton & Richmond Borough in a pre-season friendly.

The Greens welcomed back Gary McCann and his Hampton & Richmond Borough coaching staff and team at Silver Jubilee Park.

And it was the Greens who came out on top 2–0 against a Beavers line-up with only a sprinkling of possible National League South Division starters when the real games begin – not that Hendon were near to full strength either.

The first half was played at a frenetic pace, with Hampton especially quick to shut down Hendon when they were in possession.

Both teams could have done with slowing down just a little because the game was littered with fouls, all the result of over-eagerness rather than anything sinister.

It did mean that there was little flow to the game and defences dominated, with Tommy Smith and Quba Gordon keeping former Hendon men Niko Muir and Cole Brown and a triallist No.9 quiet. The few shots they did get off were well off-target.

It took 25 minutes for either team to get a shot on target and then the Beavers’ triallist goalkeeper produced an excellent save to keep out a drive from Jayden Clarke.

Muir did have the ball in the Hendon net twice, but both were called back after a flag was raised for offside.

However, in the 31st minute, Muir missed a gilt-edged chance when he anticipated a back-pass, intercepted it before it reached Fred Burbidge and went around the goalkeeper.

He forced Muir wider than he would have liked and it meant that when Muir did get off a shot, the angle was very acute and his attempt was knocked against the post by the recovering Burbidge who flung himself at the ball.

Just before half-time, Liam Brooks made a good run but his shot rolled inches wide of the far post, but he really should have put the ball on target.

At the other end Burbidge made a comfortable save of a shot from Muir, who looked the most danger Hampton attacker.

Two minutes in the second half, a poor defensive Hampton clearance was picked up in midfield and the ball was quickly passed outside to the right wing where Shaun Lucien was given the chance to cause chaos. He needed no second bidding.

Cutting inside, Lucien beat one defender, ran past another and fired in a low shot which arrowed into the bottom corner, beyond the dive of the Beavers goalkeeper, who may been slightly unsighted as he moved late towards the shot.

Lucien went off soon after, Sam Corcoran becoming the second Hendon replacement – Toby Byron had replaced Smith before the second half kicked off.

Within a minute, Corcoran combined with Hamza Semakula to set up Joe White, but the goalkeeper made another excellent full-length save.

Both teams made a few changes during second half as Hampton searched for an equaliser, Juan Pablo – and his replacement Triallist B – and Lucas Perry were excellent in denying Beavers wide players the chances to cross balls into the danger area while Corcoran and Riccardo Alexander-Greenaway were solid in midfield in front of the back four.

Triallist C, who took over from Burbidge, was also largely untroubled.

With six minutes of normal time remaining, Clarke went on a good run down the left wing, beat two defenders as he cut inside the penalty area, and laid the ball into the path of substitute Triallist A.

The cutback from Clarke could not have been better placed or weighted if it had been hand-delivered and Triallist A confidently side-footed the ball past Myles Bowman, the Beavers’ replacement goalkeeper.

Hendon: 1 Fred Burbidge (17 Triallist C, 65), 2 Juan Pablo (15 Triallist B, 70), 3 Lucas Perry, 4 Riccardo Alexander-Greenaway, 5 Tommy Smith (12 Toby Byron, HT), 6 Quba Gordon, 7 Shaun Lucien (14 Sam Corcoran, 53), 8 Hamza Semakula (Triallist D, 85), 9 Joe White, 10 Liam Brooks (16 Triallist A, 80), 11 Jayden Clarke.