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 area down the right and squared for Yusuff who prodded hiss hot just wide of the upright.

Yusuff’s header early in the second half had to be cleared off the line as Cray continued to have all the play.

It took Stockport nearly an hour before they started to dominate and force the part-timers of Cray back, the introduction of leading scorer Kyle Wootton demonstrating their sudden urgency.

However, it wasn’t until the 81st minute that Stockport got themselves back into the contest as Wootton headed in Josh Dacres-Cogley’s cross.

Cray had a chance to kill the tie in the last minute when substitute Soul Kader was sent clean through but his shot was blocked.

Within a minute, Stockport were level when former Gills striker Mikael Mandron headed in to make it 2-2 and take the game to extra-time.

Stockport were awarded a spot-kick 10 minutes into extra-time when Cray keeper JJ Briggs failed to punch the ball as Mandron won a header in the box. The referee pointed to the spot and Lewis Fiorini tucked away the spot-kick to give the visitors the lead for the first time in the tie.

Cray substitute Seidou Sanogo fluffed his lines after being set up by Rob Strachan, with his mishit shot blocked behind by a defender. The hosts had a few half-chances in the closing seconds of extra-time but Stockport held on to go through.

Cray: Briggs, Lema, Spencer-Adams (Tinubu 84mins), Strachan, Morgan, Raymond (Sanogo 80mins), McLeod, Hernandez (Payne 103mins), Ogunwamide (Adaja 80mins), Yusuff (Kader 86mins), Ufuah (Hutchinson 103mins). Subs not used: Johnson, Taylor, Wall.

Stockport: Ashby-Hammond, Wilson-Brown (Pye 46mins), O’Connell, Dacres-Cogley (Mingi 91mins), Gardner (Whatmuff 34mins), Fiorini, Wood, Edun, Adigun (Wootton 61mins), Mandron (Ilara 106mins), Andresson (Diamond 46mins). Subs not used: Astles, Bailey, Huddleston.

Referee: Lewis Sandoe.

Attendance: 2,372.