Today I'm going back 31 years to 1991 and Tottenham's visit to Selhurst Park in South London to meet Wimbledon in a First Division fixture, played out in front of an official attendance of just 11,927. Wimbledon played their home games at the home ground of Crystal Palace because their traditional Plough Lane home was deemed to be no longer suitable following the Taylor Report into the Hillsborough disaster and Wimbledon just didn't have the kind of money needed to pay for the necessary improvements. Wimbledon's "temporary" groundshare with Crystal Palace ended up lasting for 12 years and that ended when Wimbledon moved to Milton Keynes to eventually become the MK Dons.
The programme cover star is, of course, karate black belt John "Fash the Bash" Fashanu, a player not beloved of Tottenham supporters following the treatment that he meted out to our own Gary Mabbutt which resulted in a broken skull and a fractured eye socket amid concerns that Mabbutt might even have to retire from the game altogether (he didn't). In all, Fashanu made 383 Football League appearances scoring 134 League goals and, following retirement, Fashanu has gone on to forge a career as a television presenter on shows such as Gladiators, I'm a Celebrity and, in Nigeria, Deal or no Deal. Surely unreasonably, in 2007 The Times newspaper ranked Fashanu as 22nd in the list of the 50 worst players to have appeared in the Premier League.
In the featured game, first blood went to Wimbledon from the penalty spot and was slotted past Spurs keeper Ian Walker by that man Fashanu. Tottenham's equaliser came straight out of Wimbledon's "Book of Route 1 Football": a long throw into the penalty area was volleyed on the full into the back of the net by Gary Lineker for his first of the day. It would not be his last, not even of the first half. Spurs took the lead with Lineker's second goal which came from the penalty spot after Nayim had been upended in the box. It was still not yet halftime when Spurs got their third, taken by number 9 Vinny Samways (yes, really!) and was another example of Route 1 at it's finest. Early in the second half goal poacher Lineker had his hattrick with a header from almost under the crossbar after Hans Segers could only palm away Gordon Durie's initial header.
Lineker still hadn't finished his work for the day and made it 1-5 to Spurs with his fourth of the afternoon. Four goals in a single game by a single player is a remarkable feat and, in over 2,500 matches that I have attended, I have never seen anybody get more than four. In the professional ranks Lineker's four-timer ranks alongside those that I've witnessed by Luther Blissett (Watford 1982), Kevin Keegan (Newcastle United 1982), Paul Gascoigne (Spurs 1990), David Platt (England 1993), Saido Berahino (West Bromwich Albion 2015) and Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich 2019). With the game already won, Spurs slackened off a little and Wimbledon grabbed two late consolations through Alan Cork and Mickey Bennett to give the final score line a slightly more respectable look. You don't see many 3-5's but this was one of the few: my first and one of only four 3-5's that I've ever witnessed.
It wasn't a good season for Peter Shreeves' Tottenham side and they finished the season in 15th position (of 22), behind Wimbledon who ended up in 13th place a point clear of Spurs. It was a somewhat disappointing season for Wimbledon too however. The Dons had finished 7th the previous season and manager Ray Harford resigned just one month after the featured game to be replaced by Peter Withe who enjoyed just 17 games and three months in charge before Joe Kinnear moved into the hot seat. Leeds United were champions that season, the last before the arrival of the new-fangled Premier League. Relegated from the top flight and therefore missing out on the start of Premier League gravy train were Luton Town, Notts County and West Ham United.
CRB Match No. 734
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