Wimbledon's never-say-die spirit won them the remaining place in the last 16 of the FA Cup last night and finally burst the bubble that Terry Venables blew at Middlesbrough in mid-December.
Five minutes into extra-time Jason Euell rounded off a double exchange with Peter Hawkins by blasting in his 16th goal of the season. Ugo Ehiogu, who had flung himself to stop Euell's first attempt, was sent off moments later for laying out Mark Williams in the jostling at a Boro free-kick.
By the time Jonathan Hunt scored another the game was up for Middlesbrough and Wycombe's manager Lawrie Sanchez will have the pleasure on Saturday of entertaining the side for whom he scored the Cup final winner in 1988. Venables was without Christian Karembeu while Alen Boksic was on the bench, but he still had a solid-looking back three and it is the defensive discipline he has drilled into the side that has turned morale and results round. They needed it from the outset as Wimbledon came at them strongly. Gianluca Festa was forced into a sequence of diving headers to clear crosses.
Middlesbrough had a couple of bright moments at the start, first when Hamilton Ricard turned near the penalty spot only to meet a firm tackle by Williams as he was poised to shoot. Then Brian Deane dummied past Darren Holloway on the left, making room for a run and cross.
The pitch quickly became poached and neither side found it conducive to constructive play. In fact, both resigned themselves to the hopelessness of playing decently on it. One-touch football ruled - one touch by Wimbledon, one by Boro. Just past the half-hour there was a flurry of excitement after a stunning block by Ehiogu that saw Damien Francis carried off. Before he was replaced Curtis Fleming centred for Phil Stamp to head firmly at Kelvin Davis, and in the next minute Gareth Ainsworth provided Mark Schwarzer with his first taste of action.
The breakthrough owed most to Paul Ince's determination to win a bouncing ball 25 yards out. He slipped it to Ricard, who found the top corner of the net from 20 yards. The goal not only brought a storming response from Wimbledon, who mustered three corners in succession straight after the interval and saw Festa again at the heart of the resistance, it also persuaded Boro that the air was not the only way to progress.
It was looking as if their new policy might pay off but with 16 minutes to go and Wimbledon throwing men forward, Ehiogu pulled back Euell, Neil Ardley converted the penalty and the game was level again.
WIMBLEDON: Davis, Cunningham, Holloway, Williams, Andersen, Euell, Ainsworth, Francis (Ardley 33), Hawkins, Agyemang (Gray 64), Karlsson (Hunt 90). Subs Not Used: Feuer, Gier. Booked: Ainsworth, Williams. Goals: Ardley 76 pen, Euell 95, Hunt 112.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Schwarzer, Fleming, Gordon, Festa, Mustoe, Ince, Deane (Boksic 82), Ehiogu, Ricard (Hudson 74), Stamp (Campbell 45), Cooper. Subs Not Used: Crossley, Gavin. Sent Off: Ehiogu (97). Booked: Mustoe, Festa. Goals: Ricard 45. Attendance: 5,991.
Referee: M Dean (The Wirral).
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)