London Colney were beaten 3-1 at home to Potters Bar in the preliminary round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

The Blueboys started brightly with Dan Power seeing his long range shot fly just over the crossbar while a Spencer Clarke-Mardel snap shot flew just wide of the far post.

But the visitors opened the scoring after 16 minutes when Bobby Armstrong was harshly adjudged to have handled the ball on the goalline following a push in the back by a forward.

Referee Stephen Bates instantly pointed to the spot and quickly showed a red card to Armstrong. Garry Jones converted the spot kick despite Charlie May getting a touch to the ball.

Potters Bar extended their lead in the 34th minute when a free-kick was not properly cleared and Ben Bowditch blasted his shot into the net.

The hosts’ hopes of a comeback were scuppered on the hour mark when Danny Fitzgerald brought down Luke Warner-Eley inside the box and Jones again netted another penalty to make it 3-0.

London Colney refused to give up and were deservedly rewarded when James Ewington’s cross was headed into the corner of the net by Tom Smith. But it was not enough to keep the Blueboys in the competition.