Cray Wanderers 2 Stockport County 3 aet match report: FA Cup first round heartache for Cray despite first-half goals from Sammie McLeod and Alex Hernandez

Cray Wanderers suffered a heartbreaking FA Cup exit at the hands of League 1 Stockport on Sunday.

The Isthmian Premier hosts, managed by former Gillingham defender Tim O’Shea, looked on course for a major upset as they led 2-0 in the first round with just nine minutes to go.

But Stockport scored twice to force the game to extra-time before finally progressing.

Stockport boss Jim McNulty revealed in his pre-match television interview that he left eight first-team players at home because his medical team advised against playing them on Cray’s artificial 3G surface.

It was a decision that appeared to have backfired as Cray made a nonsense of their respective league standings in the first half.

Cray took the lead on 21 minutes when Ola Ogunwamide did well down the right wing and crossed for the arriving Sammie McLeod to fire home.

Then Cray had strong claims for a penalty turned down when Ade Yusuff was fouled in the box but referee Lewis Sandoe was unmoved.

Wanderers were handed a boost on 31 minutes when keeper Luca Ashby-Hammond – who was on loan at Gillingham two years ago from Fulham – was sent off.

Former Welling United man John Ufuah got to a through ball first and lifted it goalwards before being clattered by the keeper. Stockport got back to clear the effort off the line but the referee went back for the foul and showed Ashby-Hammond a straight red card after he had no interest in playing the ball.

There was a five-minute delay as substitute keeper Oliver Whatmuff came on between the sticks but his first job was to pick the ball out of his net as Alex Hernandez sent the 20-yard free-kick over the wall and into the top corner.

It was nearly 3-0 just before the break when Ogunwamide again progressed into the penalty