Following the fine win against Bedford Town and strong performance at Uxbridge, Tuesday’s 3-0 home defeat at the hands of local rivals Hanwell Town was extremely disappointing.

Having matched Hanwell during a lively and competitive opening period North Greenford lost their way in the second half and were second best in every department as the Geordies went on to comfortably win the contest.

Despite the pace at which the game began, play was often frenetic with few clear-cut chances created at either end. If anything Greenford had the better of these with efforts from Luke Kanjor, Liam Hind and Peter Dean narrowly missing the target.

Tempers flared following a clash between United midfielder Glen Yala and Geordie full-back Tom Kennedy which resulted in an ugly and unnecessary melee, and a yellow card for Yala.

The only goal of the half came from a throw-in near the Hanwell corner flag, wrongly awarded to the visitors after keeper Martin Herdman had clearly got his hand to a Greenford cross.

The ball was quickly played out to Geordies left midfielder Bradley Simmonds who, with the United defence stretched, drove towards goal before unleashing a magnificent strike into the far corner giving Blues keeper Josh Kensit no chance.

Determined to consolidate on their narrow first half lead, Hanwell raised their game after the interval. At the same time the Greenford players, although they tried hard to keep themselves in the game, began to look tired and jaded. Passes went astray and possession was frequently lost with players holding on to the ball too long as they ran out of options and ideas.

Twenty minutes from time the Geordies finally succeeded in extending their lead. On the end of an incisive counter-attack Simmonds was played in behind the Blues defence to score his second with another excellent finish, placing his shot over Kensit into the roof of the United net.

Six minutes later, following another well-worked attacking move, Oliver Duffy wrapped up this well-deserved Hanwell win with an equally fine strike to beat the Blues keeper for a third time.

NGU Team: Josh Kensit, Charlie Mitchell, Alfie Cain, Ruddock Yala, Danny Bennell, Liam Hind, Glen Yala, Luke Kanjor (captain), Aaron McLeish (Ike Nzuruba 42), Peter Dean (Gary James 65), Charlie Conner

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