A fourth red card of the season set the seal on a disappointing day for Kings Langley as their FA Cup hopes ended for another year with a 1-0 second qualifying round defeat at home to Margate on Saturday.

Orlando Smith scored what proved to be the winner on the hour, but Kings’ fate was effectively confirmed with 10 minutes remaining when Emmanuel Folarin was dismissed for a second yellow card.

With suspensions and injuries having contributed to back-to-back league defeat for the hosts going into the tie, there was some good news for boss Paul Hobbs with the return of Jorell Johnson after injury and Dean Hitchcock from suspension. However, Lee Stobbs remained sidelined and Gareth Price and Gary Connolly were both still banned.

Given the early-season optimism has turned to despondency over the last few weeks, caused largely by three previous red cards, it seems hard to comprehend that Kings picked up yet another with the season only nine games old after what had proved to be a very tight and competitive contest between two evenly-matched teams.

The first chance fell to Margate, when Smith beat the offside trap to steer the ball past Ross Hampton, only to see it strike the foot of the post before being scrambled to safety.

Louis Bircham and Mitchell Weiss produced a chance apiece at the other end, but the powerfully built central pairing of Liam Friend and Thomas Wynter were a rock on which Kings attacks were floundering. And when Weiss did break free to produce a thunderbolt shot, former Chelsea and Watford keeper Lenny Pidgeley produced a superb acrobatic save to tip it away for a corner.

Callum Adebiyi went closer when his goalbound shot deflected past an unsighted Pidgeley and the post, while Hampton did well to collect a low Harry Stannard shot as the opening half closed.

Minutes earlier Smith had caused concern when his impetus took him headfirst over the advertising hoardings, but he returned for the resumption and was to make the biggest impact of the day when he volleyed home David Martin’s cross on the hour for what was to prove the winner.

In a game where both teams had been highly competitive for the ball, the official had given Kings two somewhat puzzling yellows, before issuing a third to Folarin, who seemed to be the recipient, rather than the perpetrator of a clash on a 50/50 ball.

However, there was little doubt about a second in the 80th minute and although Weiss and Johnson went close at the finish, his exit put the writing on the wall for a Kings side that must adjust to what seems a lower level of tolerance from officials for physical challenges this season. The alternative is the continuation of the kind of disruption that has blighted the mood of the last month.

Kings Langley: Hampton; Cox, Johnson, Adebiyi; Folarin, Ward (Karagozlu 89), Coldicott-Stevens (Keating 70), Turner, Hitchcock; Weiss, Bircham (Bateman 74). Subs not used: Waldren, Tring, Gosling and Hasler.