Terrors suffer semi-final drubbing (From Surrey Comet)

Tooting & Mitcham United 0 Hendon 4

10:02pm Monday 6th April 2009 in Tooting & Mitcham By John Payne

Tooting & Mitcham's domination of the London Senior Cup ended in emphatic style in tonight's semi-final at Imperial Fields.

Glenn Garner was the hero with a superbly-taken hat-trick as Hendon gained revenge for last season's 3-2 final defeat, and the Terrors could have few complaints as they were very much second best on the night.

Tooting's hopes of becoming the first team to complete a hat-trick for more than a century were over inside the opening half an hour.

They had enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges but, from Hendon's first serious attack in the 10th minute, Garner broke clear and coolly placed a low finish past Dave King.

Seven minutes later Garner scored a wonderful individual goal, gathering the ball on the left touchline, making light of Allan McLeod's attempts to stop him, cutting inside and unleashing a superb right-foot shot into the far corner.

Dean McDonald, who had earlier seen a shot deflected wide, went close to pulling one back in the 27th minute, after winning the ball in the Hendon box, but he shot straight at keeper William Viner.

The match was effectively ended as a contest by another superb strike in the 29th minute. A corner was cleared as far as James Bent, who fired a terrific shot into the corner from 25 yards.

King had to make a diving save to prevent a fourth Hendon goal, but Paul Vines was unlucky not to pull one back three minutes before half-time with a great volley from the left-hand side of the box that was narrowly off target.

Two minutes later, McDonald, Tooting's best player on the night, again showed great skill in the box before hitting a right-foot shot that Viner saved with his legs.

Garner put the seal on Hendon's win six minutes after the restart when he latched on to some sloppy defending and rounded King for their fourth.

For a spell after that Tooting's goal was like a shooting gallery with King making a good save and Hendon's attackers peppering the terrace where their own small but noisy band of supporters were celebrating behind the goal.

Vines had a chance to pull one back late on as he broke free but he seemed to stumble at the vital moment and his shot went wide.

* Tooting won the London Senior Cup in 2007, beating Bromley 4-2 in the final, and retained it last year with a 3-2 win over Hendon. They also won the competition in 1943, 1949, 1959 and 1960. First winners of the competition were Upton Park in 1883.