"It was Twenty Years ago today!"
article published April, 2018, but first written in 1998 by Declan Mulcahy

Brian Judson was unfortunately ill at this time, so Declan Mulcahy stepped in with this preview.

Full League Record of Spurs v Wimbledon

Premier       Pl   W   D   L   For-Ag  Pts
Home           6   2   3   1     6-5    9
Away           5   2   1   2     5-5    7
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Total (Prem)  11   4   4   3    11-10  16
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Football Lge   
Home (Div 1)   6   3   0   3    11-12   9
Away (Div 1)   6   2   1   3    10-15   7
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Total (Div 1) 12   5   1   6    21-27  16
==========================================
Total (Prem)  11   4   4   3    11-10  16 
Total (Div 1) 12   5   1   6    21-27  16
==========================================
Grand Total   23   9   5   9    32-37  32
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These games only started in 1986-87 when Wimbledon were promoted to the old first division 1 in 1986-87. As the above statistics show the honours have been shared fairly evenly.

Notwithstanding the fairly short history, these games have been extremely full-blooded affairs. In the very first home game in November 1986 Graham Roberts was sent off on a stretcher! In October 1988 a tackle by Vinny Jones broke Gary Stevens leg which effectively ended his career. In the early 1990s a nasty elbow by John Fashanu did severe damage to Gary Mabbutt's eye socket and it was initially thought that the injury might end his career. In the last away game at Selhurst Park in September 1996, Vinny Jones created mayhem in a two minute period. First he clattered into Campbell and went unpunished. Seconds later he was booked for fighting with Calderwood. When play restarted he grabbed Edinburgh and threw him to the ground. He then proceeded to kick Anderton off the ball. At this point the referee had had enough and sent him off. Vinny has now departed to become player coach of QPR so maybe this weekend's game will be tamer!

Three seasons ago in October 1994, when Ardiles was still manager, we beat them 2-1 at Selhurst Park with the goals coming from Sheringham and Popescu.

In December 1995 we again visited Selhurst Park - a game I was privileged to see. In terms of possession Wimbledon had the better of the game. With five minutes to go it was 0-0. Then after good work by Armstrong and Sheringham the ball was crossed into the Wimbledon penalty area and Ruel Fox headed the only goal of the game virtually unopposed. That victory took us to third place in the league a position we were unable to hold. (The next week we drew at home to Bolton!). I had hoped to see Vinny Jones sent off that day but it was not to be! Steve Slade came on as a substitute in this game to make his debut.

Our last visit to Selhurst Park was in September 1996. Wimbledon had lost their first three games. Both Sheringham and Armstrong were injured and this was the notorious game when GF fielded a Spurs team without a recognized striker, probably the only game in our history. The supposed striker was Jason Dozzell! However the comments on the Spurs List were that we fielded a 4-6-0 formation!

We fell behind to a Robbie Earle goal in the third minute thanks to some appalling defending. By the 55th minute Wimbledon were down to 10 men. However due to our total lack of fire power up front, we were unable to put the ball in the net and the 1-0 scoreline stood up for Wimbledon's first victory of the season.

Here's to a victory on Saturday!

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