Ten-man Woking lost 2-0 at home to West Ham United under-21s in their opening National League Cup group stage game.

Sam Ashford received two yellow cards, before late goals from Lewis Orford and Mohamadou Kante gave the Hammers the win in front of a crowd of 243 at the Laithwaite Community Stadium.

The Cards created their first chance of the evening in the tenth minute when Inih Effiong cut in from the left and hit his right-foot shot wide of the near post.

Effiong had another chance two minutes later when Josh Osude beat his man for pace on the left and cut the ball back to Effiong, whose shot was well blocked.

The hosts continued to attack and Luke Hall cut in from the right and hit a left-foot shot which was deflected behind for a corner.

Jack Turner took the resulting set piece and picked out Timi Odusina, whose header was well saved.

Osude then intercepted a crossfield ball on 20 minutes and used his pace to drive into the box, but he was unable to get his shot away.

Woking created a good chance a minute later when Jamie Andrews’ cross from the left found Ashford in the box, but his shot into the ground was comfortably saved.

Ashford then received his first yellow card of the evening two minutes later for a late tackle.

The Hammers nearly took the lead on the half-hour mark when Orford’s shot was deflected just wide for a corner.

The resulting set piece led to a goalmouth scramble, but Odusina managed to clear.

The Cards’ next opportunity came after a spot of head tennis in the West Ham box in the 36th minute, with Osude’s header finding Effiong, whose header was well saved.

Woking keeper Tom Norcott was called into action a minute later when he made a spectacular save to keep out Orford’s deflected effort.

Despite the open nature of the game, the score remained goalless at half-time.

The hosts were reduced to ten men five minutes into the second half when Ashford received a second yellow card for kicking the ball away.

West Ham then nearly took the lead in the 55th minute, when a shot was superbly cleared off the line by Tunji Akinola.

Cards boss Neal Ardley made a double change on 58 minutes, with Timmy Akinola and Aaron Drewe replacing Andrews and Odusina.

The Hammers nearly took the lead seven minutes later when Ryan Battrum rattled the crossbar with a powerful shot.

Ardley then made a triple change, with Sonny Parkes, Matt Ward and Jake Hyde replacing Caleb Richards, Tariq Hinds and Osude.

The Hammers piled on the pressure late on, and found the breakthrough in the 90th minute when Orford turned home from close range.

Kante then made it 2-0 on 96 minutes when he fired his right-foot shot into the bottom left-hand corner from close range.

Next up for the Cards is a trip to Scunthorpe United in the National League on Saturday, August 16 (3pm kick-off).