by Steve Rogers...

Hendon's hopes of reaching the Middlesex Senior Cup final were dashed on Tuesday night when they were beaten 4-1 at Staines Town, who play in the Blue Bet Square South.

There were changes to the starting line-up with Dave Diedhiou, Daniel Sintim and Lubomir Guentchev replacing John Fletcher, Michael Peacock and Kevin Maclaren, the latter moving to the substitutes' bench.

The Greens started very brightly, and put the home side on the back foot from the first whistle, with Brian Haule firing at the keeper within the first couple of minutes.

In the 10th minute, Belal Aite-Ouakrim made a great run to the edge of the penalty box, but found too many defenders in the way, whilst three minutes later Haule forced Louis Wells into a fine save with a headed effort from a Jamie Busby cross.

Hendon continued their raids on the Swans defence, and when Lubomir Guentchev crossed the ball into the box, Aite-Ouakrim's shot was destined for the net, only for Danny Gordon to block the ball and clear it to safety.

The Greens were left to rue not converting their chances as Staines took the lead in the 19th minute when Howard Newton fired a shot across Nick Morgan's goal into the net, with Morgan appearing to be slow to respond to the strike.

The Swans then began to take more control of the game, and Warren Harris became a major threat down their left hand side. Indeed, in the 24th minute he made an excellent run but could only fire wide of the goal.

In the 28th minute, the Greens had a chance to equalise when a Busby corner was flicked on by Sintim, but Aite-Ouakrim's shot was straight at the keeper. A yard either side and it would have been in the back of the net.

Moments later, Staines had doubled the lead as they broke away with the ball being fed into the path of Scott Taylor who struck a lovely shot into the top corner of the goal.

In the 35th minute, Roscoe Dsane had a headed effort fly just wide of the target, whilst Busby saw his fierce drive well saved by Wells.

Staines then went three goals ahead five minutes before half-time. A crossfield pass by a Hendon player was misplaced and intercepted by an opposition player, who played the ball through to Dsane, who looked offside, and he finished clinically.

The second half began in a similar vein to the first, with the Greens back on top. In the 53rd minute the ball was played into the box where Haule's strike was saved by Wells, and Guentchev's attempt to fire the rebound home was intercepted by Rene Steer and put out for a corner.

Scott Cousins swung the ball into the danger area, and Wells was only able to partially clear it, and Diedhiou slammed the ball into the net to give the Greens a lifeline.

From the kick off, Staines broke down field, and Morgan was forced into making a fine save from a Dsane effort, pushing the ball out for a corner.

On the hour mark, Hendon really should have been back in the game when Haule had a great chance to score, but failed to get a decent strike on the ball, and Staines were able to clear the danger.

Less than ten minutes later, the home side scored their fourth goal to secure progression to the final. It was another goal where the Greens were masters of their own downfall, as, from a Hendon corner, the ball was given away and Taylor slid the ball into the path of Dsane who scored easily, with Morgan appearing to dive out of the way of the ball.

The remainder of the game was played out with little goalmouth action, and both sides making their three substitutions each, with the only chances falling to Darti Brown and Dsane.

If the Greens had taken one or two of their early chances, and not made costly individual errors, things could have been very different, but it wasn't to be, and Staines will be playing Hayes & Yeading United in the final on Easter Monday at Harrow Borough.

Team : N.Morgan, Diedhiou (Burgess 78), Cousins, C.Maclaren, Parker, Sintim, Guentchev (Ngoyi 68), Haule (K.Maclaren 78), A.Morgan, Aite-Ouakrim, Busby. Unused subs : Ambrose, J.Reading