SAINTS 4 - MK DONS 3

The romance of the cup, David v Goliath, giantkilling, the form book goes out the window - just some of the phrases you hear at this time of the year far too often.

But the great thing about the dear old tournament is that when you blow away all the cliches, you are left with the potential for great ties.

Saints fans have fantastic memories of this competition.

Of course, there is the greatest day in the club's history in 1976 ... and then 2003 when the fans won their place in history, even if the team fell at the final hurdle.

Now you can add to the many great FA Cup tie they have enjoyed over the years, Saints v MK Dons in 2006.

On paper, it was a wretched draw. The lowest ever competitive St Mary's attendance, boycott-assisted, certainly bore that out.

There were few in the ground that were expecting to see a good game.

Maybe it would be a comfortable Saints win, possibly the Dons, rock bottom of League One, could have their day in the sun and scrap a result.

What nobody expected was a 4-3 thriller.

But that's what they got.

The game was quite remarkable - and even better, unlike the incredible Leeds comeback earlier this season, it actually had a happy ending for Saints.

After a fairly even opening, where both sides looked quite capable of scoring, David Prutton gave Saints the lead.

Brett Ormerod cleverly dummied for Prutton to run on and finish low past the keeper - his first goal for almost a year and only the fourth of his 86-game Saints career.

At that point you probably expected Saints to settle down and stroll their way past the Dons.

But then, of course, that's not the way for Saints - and that's not the way of the FA Cup either.

On 58 minutes the Dons were level.

Wade Small got away down the right and fired in a low shot which Paul Smith, in his first game as Saints' new number one, got down low to save - but the ball spun up and hit Claus Lundekvam, facing the goal, with Izale McLeod chasing in.

The result was an unfortunate own goal from Lundekvam, who was returning to the first team for the first time since the Leeds debacle in mid-November.

However, at that point, George Burley introduced Ricardo Fuller and Theo Walcott and things changed.

Fuller, who has turned down a loan move to Ipswich to fight for his Saints place, looked like he had a point to prove and contributed well, despite missing a few good chances.

Walcott looked fresh again and was electrifying.

Within a minute he broke down the right and pulled the ball back to Nigel Quashie, who finished side footed.

Walcott himself got in on the act on 65 minutes with a great finish from a tight angle - joining Quashie on five goals at the top of the Saints' scoring charts for 2005/06.

At 3-1 up it seemed finally that Saints had the tie sewn up.

Indeed, they now started playing some of their best football and created chances to extend their advantage still further.

But they weren't taken and it almost came back to haunt them.

With 12 minutes remaining Nicky Rizzo fired in a free-kick which took a wicked deflection off the wall.

With seven minutes left it was suddenly level, as Gareth Edds fired home low.

It was a repeat of last season's home tie against another League One outfit Brentford, who also hit back after falling two goals down.

The turning point of the tie was, oddly, perhaps the equaliser.

Trailing, the Dons obviously felt as if they had nothing to lose and certainly played that way.

As soon as they got level it dawned on them they were on the verge of a great result.

If they had just kept on going for it, as Leeds did against Saints, then the result might have been very different.

But instead they went into their shells and tried to earn a reply.

That handed the initiative to Saints, Burley's men grabbed it, and was no real surprise when they scored the winner.

With two minutes left a cross came into the box and was only half cleared.

It fell to the feet of Darren Kenton and he drove a low shot goalwards.

It took a deflection and left the keeper with no chance.

It was the defender's first-ever Saints goal, and his first in professional football since October 2002.

Well, as they say, that's the magic of the cup. It's romantic, but the form book has been replaced on the shelf and the window shut.

For a few weeks at least.