Hendon have, for the second consecutive, won their first trophy of the campaign in a preseason tournament. Last year it was the Bucks Examiner Trophy at Amersham Town; this year it is the Hillingdon Borough Preseason Charity Tournament.

The good cause was the Michael Sobell House near to the Middlesex Stadium.

Played over two days, Hendon's first fixture was against Bracknell Town and a strong Hendon team was far too strong for their rivals, winning 6-0.

Kevin Maclaren gave the Greens the lead in the 10th minute, with Harry Hunt doubling it soon afterwards. Marc Leach made it 3-0 before half time. In the second half further goals from Hunt, James Bent and Glenn Garner completed the scoring.

Hendon team v Bracknell: Lawrencin, Diedhiou, Burgess, Leach, Baptiste, K. Maclaren, Bent, Campbell, Dean, Hunt, O'Sullivan. Subs: Silcott, Guentchev, Pilades, Garner The other match pitted hosts Hillingdon Borough and Slough Town and it was the Buckinghamshire team who triumphed, netting a late winner, courtesy of Dean Harper.

In the third-place playoff, Hillingdon took the lead through Lucas Wiliams after 23 minutes. Bracknell equalised after 45 minutes, but in the first minute of stoppage time, Chris Cox netted Borough's winner.

The Final was a reasonably close affair, but an almost completely changed Hendon team were the stronger.

The only goal of the game came after ten minutes. Danny Dyer took a short pass from Lubomir Guentchev and ran a few strides towards goal.

With no defender coming to shut him down, DYER decided to go for goal. The 20-yard shot was powerful and swerved noticeably, but Slough's 15-year-old goalkeeper Jamel DeRichmond was berating himself long after he had helped the ball into the net.

The youngster soon redeemed himself with a fine save from a Jamie Busby free-kick.

At the other end, Roy Gumbs brought out an acrobatic save from Berkley Lawrencin as the striker drove the ball towards the angle of post and crossbar.

In the second half, Hendon should have extended their lead on a couple of occasions, but substitute Yacine Hamada fired wide with only DeRichmond to beat and Garner was dispossessed by a fine challenge from Rory Smith, though he should probably have struck the ball a stride earlier.

Slough had a great chance to equalise after 50 minutes when Matthew Platt had one effort blocked, but the with goal gaping he fired over the bar.

Thereafter, Slough enjoyed more possession and had a couple of free-kicks in dangerous positions, but they didn't force Lawrencin into any difficult saves and showed a distinct lack of accuracy in front of goal.

Hendon boss Gary McCann said, "I am very pleased with the weekend's workouts and it is nice to pick up a trophy too. It was very good to have two clean sheets.

When the pitch was very wet last night, we were able to play our football, but it was much more difficult on the dry surface this afternoon."

Hendon team v Slough: Lawrencin, Dyer, Baptiste, Kirby, Parker, Berry, Guentchev, Busby, Garner, Hunt, Mukunku. Subs: Hamada, Dean, Haule.

DAVID BALLHEIMER & STEVE ROGERS