Joe White’s penalty just before the break, followed by Quba Gordon’s goal not long after the restart saw that advantage wiped out at Silver Jubilee Park.

And with around 20 minutes left to play, Solomon Sambou fired home to complete the comeback and send the Bay back to Kent empty handed.

Following a nightmarish journey which saw kick off delayed by half an hour, the Bay started a little cold, with Jordan Perrin pulling off a fine save in the opening sixty seconds to deny Liam Brooks.

However, they quickly warmed into the game and in the sixth minute, they had a top-quality opener courtesy Saunders-Henry, who collected the ball a couple of yards out from the Hendon box before curling his shot into the top corner, leaving Marcin Brzozowski in the home net with no chance.

Hendon responded well to going a goal down, but they found Perrin in top form, with the Bay shot-stopper on hand once to deny the hosts with a fine save.

The Greens were soon made to pay for their missed opportunities when Ben Smith’s side added a deserved second through Rory Smith, who was on the then of a long ball down the middle before firing beyond Brzozowski after 12 minutes.

The home side were rocking and could have easily been three goals down when Kymani Thomas found himself in space within their penalty area in the 14th minute, but the Bay winger could only fire wide from an extremely tight angle.

Smith’s side were clearly in the ascendancy and with 25 minutes played, Thomas was once again at the heart of the action, dribbling into space before unleashing a ferocious shot at goal, only to see the ball crash against the crossbar.

As the half wore on, Hendon started to edge their way back into the game but a fingertip save from Perrin just past the half hour mark continued to leave the hosts frustrated.

The Bay wasn’t content of maintaining a two-goal lead and were in desperate search of a third as time began to run out in the first half. Thomas, who was causing all sorts of trouble for the Hendon defence, was unlucky not to bag himself a goal, with Brzozowski executing a fine save to deny him.

However, the hosts were gifted an opportunity to get back into this game seconds before the break when they were awarded a soft penalty, one which Joe White made no mistake with to reduce the Bay lead to one.

The hosts’ tails were up when the game got back underway, and it wasn’t long before they had erased the visitors’ advantage when Perrin was unable to do anything about Rohdell Gordon’s composed finish.

With two goals in his last three games, Rory Smith set about trying to regain the lead for his side with 62 minutes on the clock but in what was fast becoming a frustrating half for the Bay, Rory’s shot was smothered by Brzozowski.

And with just over 20 minutes left to play, the comeback was complete when Sambou netted from just inside the Bay penalty area.

With Hendon now in full control of the game, Ben Smith’s side struggled to maintain possession of the ball and despite what started out as a positive afternoon, it ended on a negative note as the Bay’s FA Cup adventure was brought to an abrupt end.

Final Score: Hendon 3 Herne Bay 2

Herne Bay Starting XI: Jordan Perrin, Chris Edwards (Kieron Campbell 46’), Jack Parter, Dan Johnson, Keano Robinson, Rory Smith, Hamilton Antonio, Kymani Thomas (Laurence Harvey 60’), Mason Saunders-Henry, Bode Anidugbe, Helge Orome ©

Unused Subs: Zeus McCully, Leo Dodds, Mike West, Monty Saunders