On This Day – 9th September
27 minutes into their league match against Wimbledon on this day back in 1998, West Ham United fans could be forgiven for thinking that their side were going to come away with all three points.
United had raced into a three-goal lead but somehow Harry Redknapp’s men somehow managed to lose the match 4-3!
United had won both the league matches between the two London clubs in the previous season. Both sides were unbeaten in going in to the game.
John Hartson opened the scoring for the hosts after only seven minutes thanks to an assist from his new strike partner Ian Wright, who had been signed from Arsenal.
Wright then added two goals, one after 14 minutes and a second with only 27 minutes on the clock.
Marcus Gayle then scored for Wimbledon just three minutes later to get those in the commentary box scrabbling for the book of footballing cliches!
Gayle’s goal on the half-hour mark would probably have been described as “consolation effort” with “Surely there’s no way back for Wimbledon now?” and “There’s still an hour left to play” thrown in for good measure!
Wimbledon scored a second after Jason Euell snuck in at the far post on 64 minutes. Cue the inevitable shouts of “The Wimbledon comeback is very much on now!”.
Marcus Gayle scrambled in an equaliser from an uncleared corner with 13 minutes to go. “From three goals down, Wimbledon have come back and levelled the match!”
Efan Ekoku then nodded in Wimbledon’s winner four minutes later to complete a remarkable comeback to give the visitors all three points.
“From three goals down, The Dons have completed a remarkable turnaround! The away end is ecstatic and they have every right to be happy!”
Despite this poor performance, West Ham had their best Premier League season and finished in fifth place. Wimbledon finished in sixteenth position and survived relegation by six points.
About Author
