DAVE Webb reckons a red card for Ryan Morgan early in the second half was the catalyst for their elimination from the Southern League Challenge Cup at the hands of Kidlington on Wednesday night.

The two teams were level at 1-1 at the time, with Marine’s George Reid cancelling out Lewis Coyle’s opener, but Kristian Thomas netted a quickfire double after Morgan’s dismissal to fire the hosts to a 3-1 win.

Webb made a string of changes to the side that were dumped out of the FA Cup on Saturday in a 7-1 drubbing at National League side Welling and the Marine boss reckons his team were responding well to that defeat – until they were forced to play a man short.

“There were only three players that started the Welling game, so we made a lot of changes and gave some guys a chance to play,” said Webb.

“Some people look at this competition and say it’s not important but it was important for us to give people an opportunity to play and stake their claim.

“It is disappointing and we probably should have put the game to bed but we didn’t do that.

“We had our chances but decisions change games and we had a sending off, and when we’re down to 10 men, we’re chasing the game.”