Aaron Wilbraham's habit of being in the right place at the right time helped extricate Bristol City from a spot of bother in this Johnstone's Paint Trophy Southern Area quarter-final.
Frustrated by gutsy League Two minnows AFC Wimbledon, the Robins were staring down the barrel of trial by penalty shoot-out after failing to find a way through an obdurate defence in 74 minutes.
Just when the stalemate appeared to be set in, the veteran striker did what he does best, finding the back of the net twice in four minutes to deliver a large dose of relief to those inside Ashton Gate.
Few City fans would have predicted Wilbraham's impact when he joined on a free transfer from Crystal Palace in the summer, but the 35-year-old forward has been outstanding in every respect.
His opening goal owed every to his sense of position and timing. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas crossed to the back post, Joe Bryan pulled the ball back across the face of goal and there was Wilbraham to stab home his tenth goal of an increasingly fruitful season.
His eleventh followed four minutes later and was the product of a deft through ball from Korey Smith, which invited Wilbraham to pick his spot from 18 yards out.
Yet things are seldom as simple as they should be when it comes to this City side and they allowed the Dons a way back into the game, substitute George Francomb lashing in an unstoppable shot from the edge of the penalty area to at least render the final seven minutes interesting.
City were indebted to keeper Frankie Fielding, who made a fine diving save to turn away another Francomb thunderbolt in time added on to ensure the home side safe passage.
In the final analysis, the League One leaders had too much quality and they will surely take some stopping now they are in the Southern Area semi-finals. But Wimbledon deserve immense credit for running them so close.
Just as he did at Gillingham in the FA Cup on Saturday, Robins boss Steve Cotterill made five changes to his starting line-up as he again utilised his squad, no doubt with the upcoming M4 derby at Swindon in the back of his mind.
If a Wimbledon side showing just two changes rom that which did battle at York three days earlier was supposed to be tired, they showed no signs of it, holding their own against the League One leaders during the opening exchanges.
Indeed, the visitors could so easily have been ahead on 17 minutes, Adebayo Azeez demonstrating youthful exuberance to break clear and beat a full-stretch Frank Fielding with a fierce shot that clipped the outside of the post.
Fresh legs appeared to offer City their best chance of a safe passage and Joe Bryan, rested at the weekend, squandered the home side's first real opportunity of note when bursting into the penalty area, cutting inside onto his right foot and shooting wide when hitting the target represented the minimum requirement.
The scorer of two goals in the previous round at Cheltenham, Korey Smith tried his luck from range, only for his venomous drive to be deflected behind via a yellow-shirted defender.
Although City's usual fluency eluded them for much of the first half, they nevertheless managed to carve out the better chances and Wes Burns met Bryan's pin-point cross from the left with a flying header that flashed over James Shea's cross bar.
Jake Nicholson mustered an even better cross at the other end of the pitch, but Azeez stood off and admired it rather than bust a gut to apply a finishing touch at the far post.
Finally discovering a cutting edge in the final third, City almost broke the deadlock in time added on at the end of the first half, Aden Flint meeting substitute Luke Freeman's free kick with a diving header that forced James Shea into a magnificent finger-tip save.
Shea had to be on his mettle yet again early in the second half, rushing from his line to make a brave save at the feet of Bryan, who appeared an odds-on favourite to score when he received the ball inside the 18 yard box.
Certainly, the left wing-back looked to be City's most likely source of a goal but, when he met Smith's lofted cross with a header that flew over, City fans began to wonder whether it was going to be one of those nights.
Just as the possibility of a penalty shoot-out began to loom large, Wilbraham took charge of proceedings to extend City's unbeaten run to 18 games in all competitions.
Bristol City (3-5-2): Fielding; El-Abd (Ayling 63), Flint, Williams; Wagstaff, Emmanuel-Thomas, Pack, Smith, Bryan (Cunningham 84); Burns (Freeman 33), Wilbraham.
AFC Wimbledon (4-4-2): Shea; Fuller, Barrett, Bennett, Smith; Azeez, Bulman (Sutherland 60), Moore, Nicholson; Rigg (Francomb 54), Tubbs (Akinfenwa 69).
Referee: Stuart Atwell (Nuneaton)
Attendance: 4,647
Centre Court at Wimbledon (credit: Wikipedia)
