David Ballheimer on a season of cup runs and solid league form for Hendon FC

Players and supporters of Hendon FC at their final match of 23/24 season — Caption: – Hendon players and supporters at Didcot Town for the final games of the season – Credit – Derek Beech

Hendon FC enjoyed their best season since the Football Association cruelly switched the Greens to the Southern League, in 2018.

In the overall scheme of things, tenth in the Southern League South Premier Division table and no silverware isn’t really successful, but after two disappointing seasons, this is a distinct step forward.

Manager Lee Allinson used the long-term loan system to great effect, even if the three main loanees, goalkeepers Matt Kerbey and Dylan Berry (both from Sutton United) and centre-back Ethan Light (Leyton Orient), were prematurely recalled. Many of his permanent signings were very successful, with Billy Leonard and Samuel Adenola winning end-of-season club accolades.

The highlight of the season was the FA Trophy run, the longest in 50 attempts to win the trophy. It included superb victories over step two Eastbourne Borough and Weymouth, but they were eclipsed on 13th January, when the Greens travelled up to Boundary Park and beat Oldham Athletic (who gave a number of younger squad members a run-out) 2-1, Niko Muir scoring a dramatic winner deep in added time.

Wealdstone clinically ended the run in the last 16, 4–0. The last 16 equalled Hendon’s best-ever run, but five wins in one season was a new club record.

The FA Cup was a disappointment, a first qualifying round exit at home to Margate, while Hayes & Yeading won a Middlesex Senior Cup semi-final on penalties.

In the London Senior Cup, Hendon beat Glebe, Wingate & Finchley, Sporting Bengal United and Dartford before losing to 2–1 to Charlton Athletic’s Under-21s at Dulwich Hamlet’s ground.

In the Southern League South Premier Division, a 10th-place finish was comfortably the best in a completed season since the 2018 switch.

There was never a fear of relegation, or even anxious looks over the shoulder at the strugglers, and 58 points was not only 20 more than 2022/23, but the points per game was the best for half a dozen years.

Ten more points would have earned a playoff place and if five of the 16 draws in 42 matches had been won, that target would have been achieved.

Defender Adenola was a league ever-present and he missed only three games all season, a figure matched by midfielder Blaise Riley-Snow. Leonard scored eleven goals, behind only skipper Joe White, 14, who scored four in the London Senior Cup semi-final against Dartford, and Muir, 25.

Read end of season reviews from supporters of the borough’s other football clubs: Barnet, Hadley and Wingate & Finchley.

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