The spirit of the FA Cup is alive and well!
Non-League Sutton United can leave the team coach in the Kingsmeadow car park and float home on a cloud of dreams after beating AFC Wimbledon 3-1 in tonight’s third-round replay.
Those dreams will prominently feature this stunning equaliser by Roarie Deacon…
?? Pure FA Cup magic from Roarie Deacon to help Sutton United beat AFC Wimbledon. Watch out @LUFC! ?Pictures from @BBCSport. @suttonunited pic.twitter.com/kxutIxN1qB
— CaughtOffside (@caughtoffside) January 17, 2017
Things didn’t get off to the best start for the Surrey side as they fell 1-0 down to a Tom Elliott goal inside 10 minutes.
However, the game changed five minutes later when Paul Robinson was shown a straight red card for denying Matt Tubbs a clear goalscoring opportunity in the eyes of the referee.
It took Sutton an hour to level, but it was well worth the wait as Deacon fired into the top corner after nailing a Cruyff turn on the edge of the box.
Maxime Biamou then completed the turnaround, before Dan Fitchett finished the job deep into stoppage time to make it 3-1.
Sutton will now host Leeds United in round four.
That game will be on TV on Sunday January 29.
Sutton’s victory tonight was worth around £300,000, according to the club’s own estimates.
Earlier in the week, Sutton manager Paul Doswell told the London Evening Standard: “We are up almost £200,000 from the Cup run and that would take us to £500,000 if we beat Wimbledon, which is beyond our wildest dreams.”
FA Cup dreams come true.