There was just one change to the side that battered the Beavers for no reward in midweek, as new signing Dwayne Plummer came into midfield in place of the injured Barry Moore. He quickly took up an advanced role just behind the front two of Matt Fowler and Richard Butler.
An early Dons corner was rather surprisingly flapped at by John Higgs, but his defence came to his aid. King's Lynn stormed up to the other end of the pitch almost immediately and created some havoc of their own, but Wimbledon rode their luck and ended the penalty area pinball with the cleanliness of their sheet unblemished thus far.
Smith sent a freekick over the bar for the Linnets and they went even closer from the next. For what feels like the 950th time this season, the defence went to sleep for a quickly taken freekick. This time the beneficiary was O'Halloran, who found himself free in plenty of space. Little raced out to block the ball, which ricocheted back goalwards off a defender before being ultimately cleared.
Freekicks continued to dominate the action as the next chance fell to the home side. Wes Daly's swerving cross-cum-shot was tipped over the bar by a rattled Higgs, who appeared uncomfortable under the high ball again.
Having traded freekicks, the sides then exchanged headed chances. First Woolner headed over Higgs' bar when given the freedom of the Linnets' area. Then King's Lynn actually got the ball in the back of the net, only to see the effort ruled out for offside. In fact, the Dons actually got the ball in their own net, but Steve Butler was a relieved man when he realised his header past Little, albeit under pressure from Bloomfield, wouldn't count.
Richard Butler then embarked on a trademark rampaging run, laying waste to all around him, evading three challenges and teeing the ball up for Matt Fowler. Sadly Fowler fluffed it, electing to shoot with his left and screwing a powerless shot wide.
The Linnets went close again, as the Dons eventually cleared despite Steve Butler being jumped on (no, really) as he did so. The lack of a freekick didn't entirely excuse his namesake's challenge out wide, as Richard Butler managed to get booked for kicking someone off the pitch. Play was restarted with a throw-on after the striker's name was taken.
Wes Daly set up another home attack with a crunching, but fair, challenge. The attack petered out, but Linnets' left-back Smith required a lengthy spell of treatment before returning to the fray with his ankle seemingly less firmly attached to his leg than had hitherto been the case.
Fowler saw a promising run halted by an offside flag, while Little had to be alert to hold on to a rasping drive from outside the area as both sides continued to create chances as an entertaining first half drew to a close. Higgs flapped at another cross, this time from Sargent, in injury time, but Steve Butler headed Finnie's long throw wide for a 0-0 half-time deadlock.
The second half started in similar vein to the first, as Wes Daly fired a shot over from distance and an abysmal decision from the linesman brought a Richard Butler run to a halt with an inexplicable offside flag. I know sometimes it's all too easy to criticise officials when they may well have a better view than myopic club reporters, but this time the 'offence' occurred directly in line with the pressbox and the decision to raise the flag to the heavens was wrong by a matter of yards. The assistant referee was also in front of Dave Anderson on the other side of the pitch, who seemed to be of a similar mind to this reporter, although his mind found external expression rather more volubly.
A lull in proceedings followed, but in case anyone had managed to slip into slumber, they would have been rudely awakened by Micky Woolner's Wes Daly impersonation. The full-back cut inside and unleashed a shot Higgs neither saw, smelt nor perceived via any other sense, but fortune favoured the static sticksman as the ball cannoned off the crossbar and Sargent sent the rebound wide.
Dominating without scoring - so far, so much déjà vu from Tuesday. And then we had déjà vu all over again, if you see what I mean. Plummer's excellent cross only needed the faintest of touches to be converted as Higgs missed it completely, but Sargent couldn't get enough contact on the ball under strong defensive pressure. The Dons appealed for a foul, but the referee was unmoved by the half-hearted appeals.
A great cross from Wes Daly resulted in a header from Sargent being blocked. Plummer won the ball back and was kicked over on the edge of the area, but the referee elected to give a freekick King's Lynn's way and book the Dons debutant for simulation. In what way he simulated the defender's kick into his shins wasn't specified.
The Dons were utterly dominant by this stage and the referee further endeared himself to the home crowd by waving play on despite a linesman's flag when Richard Butler was pushed over. Butler dusted himself down and stung Higgs' hand with a fierce shot from the next attack, winning his side a corner as the ball was palmed behind. The ball was swung into the box and Frankie Howard leapt to head into the top left corner of the net over the man on the line for a well-deserved lead. 1-0 with 13 minutes remaining.
Plummer drew a diving low save from Higgs with a shot from the edge of the box. Howard got to another corner, but this time his header went wide. Michael Woolner limped off clutching his back to be replaced by Simon Sobihy.
As King's Lynn threw men up front to chase the game, Plummer chipped over the defence to send Richard Butler clear. He lifted the ball over the onrushing Higgs, but the angle made a shot impossible and he could only cut the ball back to Daly on the edge of the area, whose shot was blocked. Higgs then raced out of his area again as Plummer broke clear and blocked excellently with his chest, when any contact of the ball with his arms would have resulted in a red card. The goalkeeper was impressive again in injury time, denying Richard Butler in a one-on-one confrontation to keep his side in the hunt for an equaliser late on.
Dons' nerves jangled as a Linnets' freekick was lofted into the box, but it was headed away and the subsequent long throw was cleared. Substitute Shane Smeltz managed to spend a minute toing-and-froing on the edge of the visitors' box on the break without getting a shot away. The same player then spent half a minute tormenting the home defence on his own to run the clock down.
After six minutes of injury time, the referee's whistle finally brought proceedings to a satisfactory conclusion. The Dons march deservedly into the next round of the Trophy but, perhaps more importantly in a wider context for the season, they finally managed to turn dominance of a home fixture into a win.
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