Chris Seeby knows a thing or two about Ryman League promotion scraps – and he insists Hendon are genuine contenders.

The experienced defender escaped step three of football’s pyramid with boyhood club St Albans back in 2005-06 and came close on two other occasions in a spell with Slough.

Reflecting back on those heady days, Seeby – now 30 – believes the Greens’ class of 2014-15 scrubs up well compared to his former team-mates, and he feels the squad depth and firepower of Leon Smith and Kezie Ibe could be the key to success.

“Based on my previous experience of coming through the play-offs I would say we have a great opportunity this year,” he said.

“It is a real squad effort this year, with those who have not started in games or who have come back after injury coming on and making a difference. Everyone is really pulling for each other.

“The manager has added a bit more quality with Kezie coming in. His hold-up play and firepower alongside Leon has been important, but then we have Andre Da Costa and Aaron Morgan as well so we can mix things up and play three up front when we need to.”

As if to underline Seeby’s point, Da Costa stepped into the starting XI for Saturday’s FA Trophy tie at home against Worthing in the second qualifying round, and he promptly scored the first goal of a 4-0 win.

An Ibe double and a late penalty from Sam Murphy completed the rout to set up a money-spinning trip to Conference South side Ebbsfleet in the next round on November 29.

However, the league remains the main focus for the tenants of Earlsmead, with Saturday’s trip to struggling Bury next on the agenda.

Having already claimed the scalp of Margate in their impressive recent run of results, Seeby insists the Greens have no reason to be intimidated by the challenge ahead.

“We showed by our comeback against Margate that we are quite capable of matching them, so we are not afraid of anyone really,” he said.

“It is important now to stay in the top five and claw the points to get us as far ahead of sixth place as we can – or even catch Margate and Maidstone.”