With Ken Lister and Arthur Maggs back in the fold the Dons were at full strength as they started their London Senior Cup campaign with a potentially tricky tie at home to Corinthian League side Erith & Belvedere. Erith had reached the F.A. Amateur Cup final a couple of seasons before the outbreak of World War II and had won the London Senior Cup in 1945.

With the wind blowing a gale against them and miniature lakes covering random areas of the pitch conditions were not conducive to good football, and Wimbledon struggled to make forward ground. Freddie Gauntlett did manage to get a shot away, but the goalkeeper managed to get across his goal to clear. At the other end Pares was in on goal, but was called back for offside. The Dons were guilty of over-elaborating in the mud and found it heavy going, but the visitor’s young outside-left had worked it out and caused the home defence many anxious moments. Vic Bird put a twenty yard drive towards the corner of the goal but the keeper was again equal to the task. Three consecutive corners were cleared by the home defence before Collins provided some entertainment of a different kind. Leaving his goal to intercept a through pass he slipped and fell head first into a large puddle, producing a resounding splash and a great roar from the crowd. With the break approaching Gauntlett ran onto a through pass and cut through the defence before planting the ball out of the keeper’s reach to give the Dons the lead.

With the wind at their backs in the second-half the home side took control, but not before Erith had made several concerted efforts to pull the game level. McCullough had a shot that Jim Haydock was forced to push out and Harris mis-kicked the rebound when good contact would have scored. A shot that cannoned off a defender proved to be their last effort and Wimbledon moved into another gear. Harry Stannard got the crucial second, taking all the remaining wind out of the visitor’s sails. A great pass from Doug Munday found Stannard’s head for the third and Ron Head slammed home the fourth with the aid of a deflection. Billy Laws set Stannard up his hat-trick and the Dons fifth and final goal.