A bizarre red card to Canice Carroll on his Oxford City debut left a sour taste in the mouth, as a valiant Hoops side were edged out by promotion-chasing King's Lynn Town in Vanarama National League North.

The Hoops were reduced to ten players just seconds into the game when Canice Carroll was dismissed for a foul on Johnny Margetts. 

Carroll was deemed to have denied a goal scoring opportunity in the very early stages, but replays showed the centre-half had covering defenders on hand. 

Despite that, the Hoops had to play with ten men for what was basically the whole match. The host’s went into the break 2-0 up with two Ross Crane goals. 

However, a valiant performance restricted the Linnets from there on in. Jayden Carbon pulled a goal back after the interval, but City couldn’t quite find a way back into a tough evening. 

Ross Jenkins handed second debuts to both Goalkeeper Laurie Walker and defender Carroll, and it was Carroll’s red card which will steal the headlines. 

From kick-off, a long ball over the top of the City back line wasn’t dealt with and Margetts broke through. 

Carroll was adjudged to have brought the King’s Lynn striker down, but with Aaron Drewe covering his teammate to stop a potential attack going beyond Carroll, the ground descended into shock when referee Dan England brandished a straight red card after 10 (or so) seconds.

In the stands, both sets of supporters and officials were bemused by such a rash decision. A weak refereeing decision, but as we've seen so many times this season (mainly recently) the league kicks you when you're down.

Nevertheless, the Hoops prepared to dig their heels in for a 90+ minute showing of grit and determination. 

The resulting free-kick was well saved by debutant Walker who despite the scoreline was rarely called into action on the evening after that. 

The first goal came just after the ten minute mark. A cross to the back post evaded the defence and Ross Crane headed in the opener. 

From there on in, you’d probably expect the floodgates to open, but the Hoops showed their stubborn side to stick at it. 

Crane added a second just before the interval. Again, a ball through to the back post made it to the attacker and he stroked a shot home. 

Half-Time: King’s Lynn 2-0 Oxford City 

A full 45 minutes without the ball was bound to have taken it out of the side, but once again City put in a dogged display to keep the Linnets at bay. 

Walker made a solid stop to deny Lynn a third, but City got their just rewards when Carbon pulled a goal back with just over twenty minutes to go. 

City broke forward on the counter and a sumptuous pass from McEachran slid the night’s makeshift striker through on goal. He made no mistake either, finding the corner of the net when bearing down on goal. 

In fact, despite the man advantage, King’s Lynn were rocked. 

Again the Hoops bode their time and picked their chances on the break. Despite that, the magic finishing touch evaded them. 

A free-kick from Coyle was inches away from landing at the feet of a City player, and a quick free-kick from Josh Ashby caught the Linnets rear guard asleep before McEachran’s cut-back squirmed just past a number of green shirts. 

City chucked everything forward in search of an equaliser. Cole Kpekawa entered the fray as a striker and the tables turned to the host’s madly defending their box. 

But the leveller, like so many other things on the evening, just didn’t fall City’s way. 

Despite the result, the performance was a far cry from Saturday’s drubbing at Needham Market. There’s plenty of positives to take into Saturday’s clash at home to Scunthorpe United. 

We’ll see you there, when hopefully luck will be on our side. 

Attendance: 1,606

Oxford City XI: Walker, Burley (Jones 65'), Ashby, Coyle (Ezennolim 76'), Fleet, McEachran, Carroll, Scott, Willcox, Carbon (Kpekawa 90+1'), Drewe

Subs not used: Croker, Potter