Oxford City's hopes of a lucrative run in the FA Cup were effectively ended when Ray Spence was mistakenly sent off in Saturday's second qualifying round tie at Bishops Cleeve.

The controversial incident came in the 22nd minute when one of the assistant referees flagged that Spence allegedly elbowed an opponent.

The linesman later admitted he was wrong, after the apparent victim, Bishops' Richard Mansell, confirmed that Spence had not touched him.

Having shown Spence the red card, the referee could not rescind the decision and City had to play the rest of the game with ten men.

The score was 1-1 at the time. The home side, who play in Southern League Division 1 Midlands, took the lead after five minutes.

From a long throw into the City penalty area, Luke Corbett scored with an overhead kick.

The visitors equalised after 17 minutes.

A Bishops defence clearance rebounded to Lewis Craker. He in turn fed Spence, who drove the ball past Jon Skeen, son of former Oxford United player, Ken Skeen.

Without Spence, City struggled and they went behind again in the 37th minute when Jon Curtis headed home unchallenged from Corbett's cross.

At the start of the second half, the visitors began brightly, but found it difficult to make any impression Mark Avery fired in a good shot following Mark Jones's corner, but the effort was saved.

City's fate was sealed with seven minutes remaining as Carl Wilkins's clearance went straight to Kevin Slack.

The Bishops player was able to round the keeper and slot in as City were left to rue their misfortune.

Oxford City: Wilkins, Durrant (Burnley 75), Rendell (Stewart 45), Avery, Craker, Takriti, G Williams, Alleyne, Spence, Jones. Subs not used: R Williams, Lane.