Apacked Kingsmeadow saw the Dons line up in a traditional 4-4-2, with Shane Smeltz rested to the bench and Tony Battersby returning in his place having recovered from flu. Club captain also returned, in place of Wayne Finnie, to partner Antony Howard in the centre of defence, while Dean Brennan replaced Dwayne Plummer on the right wing.

With a noisy crowd urging them on, the Dons looked to test the Hampton backline in the first ten minutes, with some neat flicks from Battersby and Brennan narrowly failing to set Barnes free. At the other end, Yaku was using his pace to pressure the Dons backline, but Andy Little remained untroubled.

On fiteen the Dons registered their first shot, with Ursell picking up a deflected cross on the edge of the area and driving towards goal, only for his goalbound effort to be deflected for a corner.

Then, out of nothing, things took a turn for the worse for the Dons on 23 minutes. An innocuous looking challenge by Steve Butler was penalised by the halfway line and a floated free-kick caused mayhem in the defence - with Sargent and Curley caught ballwatching. As Curley challenged, he failed to connect cleanly and Yaku was able to pounce, steering the ball inside Andy Little's left post to put the visitors one up.

The next attack of note came on the half hour and again it was Hampton taking the initiative, with Lake playing it through the middlewhere Wells laid it out to Fernandes who ran at Sargent at pace. Luckily for the Dons, Sargent was able to put him off enough to see the shot fly wide of the post.

But it was merely a sign of things to come, and four minutes later Quarm made his shot count, driving low and hard from the edge of the area to leave the home side shellshocked.

And another four minutes later, it could have been even worse. A chip over the top found the pacey Yaku, who put Howard under pressure. With Howard able only to nudge the ball on, Yaku laid the ball off to Fernandes who hit his shot wide when well placed.

The dons response was to create a half chance of their own on the stroke of half-time. Curley sprayed the ball nicely, finding Sargent who, in turn found Ursell. Using a trademark feint to gain himself a yard, Ursell picked out Barnes on the right who beat his marker but was unfortunate to see his shot deflected by a late challenge from visiting keeper Lovett.

But in injury time it was Hampton once again who nearly caught the Dons on the hop. Young left-winger Lake picked up the ball 30 yards out and fired in a fierce drive the Dons were happy to see fly wide of the target by half a yard. And there was still time for Little to come to Wimbledon's rescue - saving from Yaku at point blank range from the very next move of the match.

Dave's half-time rollocking must have been fresh in the ears when fate dealt the Dons a harsh hand once more. This time, Yaku chased a through ball onto the edge of the Dons box, shadowed by sergeant. Little rushed out of his box to clear but caught Yaku, who tumbled dramatically. Little was booked and Godfrey tucked away the resultant penalty.

A minute later, just for what he presumably considered comedic effect, the ref decided to send Little off. Again, it was Yaku who ran through and, while Little dived to his right and seemed to touch the ball, a penalty and second yellow were dished out. Dave Anderson immediately threw debutant Danny Wheeler into the fray, in place of Luke Garrard, to face the spot-kick, but Lake sent him the wrong way to make it 4-0 up, with the Dons a man down.

And just as one thought things couldn't possibly get worse, they did - with Wes Daly having to leave the field with a head injury. To add insult to injury, Hampton captain Wells then rolled over as if poleaxed following a challenge by Rob Ursell. It wasn't the fact that he was claiming to be upended by Ursell - a man hardly renowned for his hard tackling - that insulted the fans. Instead, it was the fact that he smiled at the crowd and stuck his tongue out (while mid-writhe) that indicated he was making a meal of the challenge and rightly upset the 3,313 crowd.

With eight minutes to go the Dons finally beat the Hampton keeper - if not the officials. Battersby collected the ball on the edge of the box and, not having the angle for a shot played an intelligent ball through to Ursell at the far post. With his shot blocked, Shane Smeltz pounced - having replaced Barnes only minutes earlier - only for the linesman to signal him offside.

60 seconds later, shane went close again. Battersby won a corner near the right hand corner flag and Ursell collected. Dinking the ball one way and then the other, he found a yard and sent a deep cross in, with Shane beating his man only to nod wide.

In the last minute, it was the Kiwi international who completed a hat-trick of near misses, latching onto a Steve Butler chip forward to outpace the defence and blast a shot into the side netting.