Hendon dropped a solitary place above the Isthmian Premier League relegation zone after a fourth game without a win saw them downed 3-1 at Silver Jubilee Park by fellow league strugglers Leatherhead.

The hosts fell behind after only five minutes, with Leatherhead in the driving seat from the off, and Athony Mendes was left unchallenged as he strode through before firing beyond Darren Behcet and into the bottom corner.

The poor start continued for the Greens and after a rare attack from Keagan Cole was blocked, they fell two behind three minutes later.

They found themselves caught in possession from a throw-in only 10 yards from their own goal line; and after Mohammed Sagaf had made the tackle, he cast aside his team-mates waiting in the middle, instead firing in a wonderful shot from a tight angle which beat Behcet.

After the break, Hendon were unfortunate not to win a penalty when Kezie Ibe was brought down in the box, but as the half wore on the hosts threw caution to the wind with a 3-4-3, but they conceded a third within minutes when Anthony Mendes scored a blinder to end the game as a contest.

Reis Stanislaus pulled back a consolation with 10 minutes to go from a corner, but it proved a drop in the ocean as Leatherhead ran out easy winners.

After the game, manager Gary McCann said: “We have had far too many really bad first halves of late and not had a real chance to get back into the game. We are not combative enough, especially in the first half.

“I made the change at half-time, taking off Andre Da Costa, not because he was the lesser player, but I had to change our shape.

“We were better in the second half, but apart from the penalty appeal early on, we didn’t ask enough questions of their defence."