Joe Pigott ignited hopes of a major Cabarao Cup upset as 10-man AFC Wimbledon battled to a late defeat to West Ham United at the Kingsmeadow.

The Dons got off to a dream start in 74 seconds when he headed home from a corner to stun their Premier League opposition.

But they went down to 10 men before the visitors replied through Issa Diop, Angelo Ogbonna, and Javier Hernández in the second-half.

Wimbledon have exited the second round of the cup competition following a 2-1 defeat in the league to promotion chasers Sunderland.

Neal Ardley’s men started brightly when Pigott rose highest to beat Adrián after just over a minute elapsed into the match, sparking huge celebrations.

The visitors dominated after conceding but Rod McDonald would be booked after bringing down Lucas Pérez before he would see red shortly afterwards.

That forced Ardley to withdraw his goalscorer after just a quarter of an hour and bring on Will Nightingale to try and help consolidate the slender lead.

Some of the visitors’ best chances came through new signing Andriy Yarmolenko, who skied one attempt while the other was safely claimed by Tom King.

Javier Hernández missed a glancing header which could have found its way in, while Anthony Hartigan provided a crucial block.

At the break, Manuel Pellegrini introduced another fresh face in Felipe Anderson for Pedro Obiang who was booked during the first-half.

The match continued much the same way as the first 45 minutes did – Wimbledon desperate to hang on for what would be a major upset.

Hernández again had a chance to get the Hammers back into it but a tight chance flashed wide of the post.

But the Hammers struck when Issa Diop let rip from outside the box to beat King on the hour mark.

And they could have taken the lead for the first time as Angleo Ogbonna rattled the crossbar with a darting header soon after.

The Dons saw very few chances to attack but Hanson, who played more than an hour as a lone striker, saw a header go wide of Adrián’s goal late on.

While Ardley rung the changes, bringing on Anthony Wordsworth and Kwesi Appiah, hopes of a giant killing in the cup took a major blow.

Sustained pressure paid off when Ogbonna, who went close early on, scored West Ham’s second with seven minutes remaining.

That was followed up with Hernández finally getting himself on the scoresheet when his shot passed through Tony Sibbick’s legs.

Nearly 4,000 people packed into the Kingsmeadow for the Carabao Cup clash, with 713 West Ham supporters making the trip to the south-west.