OXFORD City had two players sent off as they fell to a 3-2 defeat away to early pacesetters Woking.

Ben Jefford and Luke Ruddick were shown red cards in the second half of an action-packed Vanarama National League South game, in which there were eight yellow cards and two penalties.

City went ahead after 17 minutes, when Josh Ashby threaded a pass through to Matt Paterson, whose shot had too much pace for home keeper Berti Schotterl.

Joe Oastler headed just over as City continued to have the upper hand.

They were, however, to be dealt a huge blow right on the stroke of the break.

A powerfully cross struck Oastler’s arm, and Max Kretzchmar smashed home the resultant penalty to level the scores.

Woking took the lead on the hour, when Reggie Young and Paul Hodges combined to leave Jack Hyde with the easiest of tap-ins.

But their advantage lasted only three minutes.

City were awarded a penalty after Udoka Godwin-Malife was upended in the box.

Paterson confidently sending Schotterl the wrong way to make it 2-2.

Five minutes later, City were down to ten men when Jefford received a second yellow card for a foul.

To rub salt into the wounds, Woking scored the winner in the 79th minute, when Paul Hodges scrambled home.

Despite a numerical disadvantage, City boss Mark Jones still looked to attack, Abraham Eze coming on for Rob Sinclair.

The task was made even harder as Ruddick was sent off for two bookable offences in the space of a minute.

With their two-man advantage, Woking were able easily to maintain their 100 per cent record.

Oxford City: King, Godwin-Malife, Jefford, Ashby, Ruddick, Oastler, McEachran, Fleet, Paterson, Sinclair (Eze 83), Tshimanga (Wiltshire 71). Subs not used. Jones, Fasanmade, Krasniqi.

Attendance: 1,503.