Throughout July, Stephen Crabtree, the editor of The Historical Don, has been selecting a memorable match from each season over the last three decades.
In the thirtieth part of his series he looks back to an already historic FA Cup victory over West Ham 18 months ago and the picture above shows Toby Sibbick heading home the fourth goal.
Saturday 26th January 2019: FAC4
AFC Wimbledon (2) 4 Appiah 34, Wagstaff 41, 46, Sibbick 88
West Ham United (0) 2 Perez 57, Anderson 71
Bottom of League One, the Dons turned the form book on its head by holding off a second-half comeback from Premier League West Ham to take a notable FA Cup scalp. Utterly dominant during a one-sided first period, Wimbledon could easily have had more than just goals from Kwesi Appiah and Scott Wagstaff at the break but then did increase their lead just 37 seconds after the restart when Wagstaff’s superb flick from Appiah's cross beat Adrian.
The Hammers threatened to extinguish hopes of an upset through two players who came on at half time, with Lucas Perez firing in from a corner and Felipe Anderson scoring direct from a free-kick to bring the score back to 3-2 with nearly a quarter of the match left to play. But Wimbledon did not let the increasing pressure tell and wrapped up a famous victory when 19-year-old Toby Sibbick nodded in Anthony Wordsworth's cross with two minutes remaining, sending the crowd into pandemonium.
“We’re making history with every round,” said manager Wally Downes, delighted the club had progressed to the fifth round for the first time since their renaissance in 2002. “It was important that we didn’t let West Ham impose their game on us from the start. We got in amongst them and disrupted them in the first-half and that’s how we got ourselves in front. I was delighted when the fourth goal went in because it meant the crowd could relax a bit. They really got the singing going.”
AFC Wimbledon: Ramsdale; Watson, Nightingale, Thomas, Oshilaja; Connelly (Sibbick 86), Wordsworth, McDonald, Wagstaff, Pinnock (Soares 65); Appiah (Jervis 76).