AFC WIMBLEDON 1 SUTTON UNITED 3
Paul Doswell hailed his Sutton United players as their stunning win at Wimbledon set up a money-spinning FA Cup fourth round tie with Leeds United.
The Dons led through Tom Elliott’s tenth-minute header but they had to play the remaining 75 minutes with ten men after Paul Robinson saw red for a last-ditch tackle on Matt Tubbs.
It took until the 75th minute for Sutton to make their numerical advantage count with Roarie Deacon continuing his scoring form in the competition as he fired high into the net.
Extra-time looked to be on the cards until Maxime Biamou completed the turnaround with an easy finish in the final minute, before Dan Fitchett’s lob sealed the famous win.
Doswell said: “My emotion is one of unadulterated joy. I am so pleased for my chairman and the board of directors as well as the 1000 supporters we had at the game.
“But the biggest thing is my players. We’ve had them together here now for two and a bit years. They’re a tight group and they needed to show that tonight.
“When Betsy (Bedsente Gomis) missed from three yards and then Easty (Craig Eastmond) missed from five yards, we thought we might as well get in the car and go home.
“Thankfully I didn’t take Bairdy’s (Ian Baird) advice!
“The magic man Roarie Deacon has done it again for me with a brilliant goal and the second goal is equally as good with a good team move and a tap in for Max.
“I was waiting for the offside flag to go up for the second but I then started a 60-yard run to where my family was sitting to celebrate.
“Fitch then gets a third in stoppage time and I think that over does the result.”
AFC Wimbledon manager Neal Ardley was left to rue what might have been after Robinson’s sending off saw his side miss out on securing their first ever fourth round tie.
The Dons manager said it was a big call from the referee to make so early on but he praised Doswell’s team for causing a cup upset.
Ardley said: “It is really hard to know what to say because we had a plan to play the game with 11 men, but we spent the majority of it with ten.
“We came up with a way of playing with ten men and I thought we did that brilliantly for 75 mins, but credit to Sutton as they kept going and they’ve got their just rewards late in the game.
“We started well enough and they had a few chances early on but we’ll never know what might have happened if it was 11 v 11.
“I’m quite far away from where the foul took place but it looked like Tubbsy had overrun the ball through to our goalkeeper.
“It’s a big judgement call and a big one for the referee to decide there and then that early in the game.”
Featured image courtesy of SUFCtv via YouTube, with thanks
