AFC Wimbledon 5 Ramsgate 0 FA Cup Second Round match report: League 2 side win live television game with Isthmian South East team

Ramsgate bowed out of the FA Cup in front of the television cameras on Monday but their 1,400 travelling fans still made it an evening to remember.

While the Rams were, quite rightly, outclassed on the pitch by League 2 AFC Wimbledon, their fans never stopped singing and cheering the Isthmian South East minnows throughout.

Despite the goals against column it was still a performance to be proud of, a night when they stuck to their football philosophy.

Ramsgate were without the cup-tied Craig Stone and Alfie Paxman, who cruelly missed out through suspension. There were three changes from the line-up that knocked out National League Woking in the First Round.

AFC Wimbledon certainly didn’t take the gap between the two clubs lightly, making just two changes from the side beaten in their last League 2 outing at Gillingham.

That parity lasted only eight minutes didn’t seem to dampen the spirits among the away supporters who had made the trip up from Thanet.

Skipper Michael West’s heavy backpass gave keeper Tom Hadler an early concern but Ramsgate’s insistence on playing the ball out from the back quickly proved to be their undoing. Alfie Young’s pass was intercepted in an instant and skipper Jake Reeves curled in the opener. Such speed in attack merely highlighted the gulf between the teams.

Hadler was always going to be the busiest man in Plough Lane and so it proved. The former Gillingham and Maidstone keeper produced an excellent save to keep out Ryan Johnson’s far-post header, Joe Lewis’ goalbound follow-up was deflected wide.

Ramsgate produced their first attempt at goal midway through the half, West’s driven free-kick was only cleared as far as Lee Martin, whose right-foot shot whistled narrowly past the upright from the