Hendon 4

Walton & Hersham 0

Junior Lewis was the hat-trick hero on Saturday as the Dons heeded boss Frank Murphy's words by carrying their FA Cup form into the league.

There was no inkling of what would happen in the opening half hour, but

suddenly Hendon found a way through the Walton defence and the game changed dramatically.

In the 30th minute, Lewis was fed by Steve Heard and although

surrounded by Swans defenders he danced past two men, rode a challenge from keeper Delroy Preddie and slid the ball into the net from an acute angle.

Had the striker gone down, it would almost certainly have been a penalty, and big trouble for Preddie.

Three minutes later, referee Mr Roland Dodge (Bedford), infuriated the

Walton contingent when he awarded a them free kick on the edge of the

Hendon penalty area for a foul by Gary McCann on Curtis Johnson.

Spectators in line with the incident were convinced the Hendon goalkeeper had committed the foul in the penalty area. The free-kick was blocked by a member of the nine-man wall. McCann took advantage of his good fortune by setting up the second goal in the 38th minute.

He alertly came off his line to clear a dangerous raid near the goal-line and showing a nice touch, knocked a 20-yard pass to Paul Kelly who sent Heard clear.

Heard ran into the Walton box and drilled a hard cross into the danger area. The ball just eluded Paul Whitmarsh, but Lewis, beyond the far post, controlled it and lashed it in off Preddie's body.

Walton enjoyed a good spell of pressure in the opening 10 minutes of the second half but McCann had only one noteworthy save to make, and it was a dramatic one to deny Barry Rake.

Between the 55th and 81st minutes, both Simon Clarke and Paul Whitmarsh should have claimed hat-tricks, but wasted gilt-edged chances.

But one Whitmarsh miss led to goal number three when Lewis - who had done all the hard work to create the chance -- was on hand to complete his first Dons hat-trick after Preddie parried from his co-striker in a one-on-one duel.

Hendon made three late substitutions and in the first minute of injury

time, Preddie failed to hold a shot from Naseem Bashir and Michael Banton netted the rebound.

Banton's celebrations were more in keeping with the winning goal of a cup final, but it was his first of an injury-blighted season.

Manager Murphy was delighted after the game. This was a thoroughly

professional performance," he said.

HENDON: McCann, White, Clarke, P Kelly, Nugent, Bateman, Heard (Bashir 85), Hyatt, Whitmarsh (Tello 87), Howard, Lewis (Banton 85).

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