AFC Wimbledon were finally knocked out of a cup competition, going down 2-3 to Dulwich Hamlet in an open and entertaining encounter at Kingsmeadow. Despite going behind to first half strikes from Wayne Finnie and Steve Tyson, the Hamlet rallied to go in level at the break. Chris Dickson's 2nd goal of the evening would turn out to be the winner - a thundering 25 yard effort on 47 minutes.

Dave Anderson saw this London Senior Cup match as a great opportunity to give match time to some of the Dons' promising youngsters. The manager changed all eleven players from Saturday's Trophy tie with Dunstable, handing a senior debut to Jake Galbraith at left-back. Steve Butler and Chris Gell returned to the side from respective injuries, while Mark King and Steve Tyson made their first senior appearances of the season.

Dulwich Hamlet arrived on the back of a 5-0 victory over Whyteleafe and had established themselves as the 4th best side in Ryman One South. They were also involved in an epic FA Trophy Replay with Tooting and Mitcham which finished 6-7aet, so the modest crowd of 672 was expecting goals - and they wouldn't be short changed.

It started well for the fledgling Dons. Inside 19 minutes the home side was 2-0 up and running the show. Wayne Finnie opened the scoring, glancing Robin Shroot's swirling free-kick past Chris Lewington (1-0). From the next attack Darren Grieves cleverly chested the ball down for Steve Tyson, but the midfielder's shot was bravely blocked by the Hamlet defence.

The visitors were on the back foot with the Dons pressing high up the park. Tyson won the ball deep in Dulwich territory, linking with Grieves who played Robin Shroot into space. The former Staines Academy star headed for goal, dropped his shoulder and curled a shot past the keeper which thudded back off the cross bar.

Five minutes later, the hosts' pressure paid off. Shroot was again the provider, latching onto a poor back pass, rounding the keeper and teeing up Tyson, who made no mistake from eight yards. (2-0)

Dulwich Hamlet responded immediately. Good work from Phil Williams and Shawn Beveney down the right flank led to the Hamlet's first meaningful chance of the game but there was to be no finishing touch. Chris Dickson then tried out his shooting boots from thirty yards only to see his tame effort bowl wide. Undeterred, Dickson reduced the deficit on 21 minutes. He picked up the ball in Dons territory and ran through the challenges of Finnie and Butler before calmly slotting the ball past Paul Smith from the edge of the area. (2-1)

Although Dulwich were right back in the game, the Wombles didn't allow their tempo to drop. Steve Tyson brought the best out of Lewington with a 30 yard drive that the keeper palmed over the bar. Galbraith found Grieves' head with the resulting corner but the big front-man couldn't direct his effort on target.

Hamlet nearly equalized moments later. Paul Smith misjudged the pace of Williams and, as he tried to clear, the ball smashed into the Dulwich winger, mercifully breaking for a Dons defender to complete the job. Williams, busy and bright, was then clattered on the edge of the box after a fine run which started on the right flank, and the excellent Kenny Beaney stepped to clip the free-kick into the top right hand corner. (2-2)

Virtually from the restart Mark King almost restored the Dons' lead, firing a torpedo from 25 yards that Lewington was at full stretch to turn round the post. Galbraith then provided a tidy cross for Grieves but, once again, the hard-working striker couldn't make his header count. At the other end Eniola Oluwa teed up Beveney but the Dulwich man couldn't get his shot away quickly enough.

Hamlet started the second period with their tails up and took the lead on 47 minutes. Dickson beat Galbraith in the air and had the pace to run onto his own flick-on, smashing the ball past Smith from 25 yards - a genuine wonder-strike that was all his own work. (2-3)

The Dons needed to react quickly but the visitors worked tirelessly, controlling the midfield and counter-attacking at pace. Smith had to be alert to parry Oluwa's close-range effort and shortly afterwards the Dons keeper would be grateful to see Beaney's second set-piece attempt of the night float wide.

Robin Shroot's first-half influence had subsided somewhat, but he was still making the best case for restoring parity, continuing to run hard and chance his luck from distance with a couple of efforts that didn't trouble Lewington. But it raised the Dons, who started to rekindle some of their early rhythm. Steve Butler moved further forward and started to cause problems in the Dulwich penalty area.

Hamlet remained extremely dangerous on the break. Beaney split the Dons defence with a marvellous through-ball but Dickson was denied his hat-trick by some alert keeping. Beaney, intelligent and creative, then played a lofted ball into the path of Nicolas Pluman but the full-back had a rush of blood and blazed his shot high and wide.

Dave Anderson made some substitutions to try and force the game into extra time. Niall Connery nearly fulfilled his manager's wishes on 81 minutes, arriving to meet Grieves' cross, but finding Lewington in exactly the right place to smother his shot.

The visitors nearly put the result beyond doubt with the clock running down. Oluwa drilled the ball right across the face of the Dons' goal without finding the requisite finishing touch before getting it back moments later and forcing a great defensive block out of Jon Boswell. The subsequent corner was worked to Justyn Roberts, lurking at the edge of the area, but his fierce drive fizzed over the bar.

The Wombles made a final push going into stoppage time with Connery's header looping its way into the keeper's arms. Sadly, there was to be no way back for the home side, eliminated from the LSC at the same point as last year, and by the same score.