On This Day – 21st October
It was on this day back in 1996 that midfielder Vinnie Jones played 43 minutes in goal for Wimbledon against Newcastle United at St James’s Park.
The home side were already leading 3-0 before Wimbledon’s goalkeeper Paul Heald was sent off for a second bookable offence. He had already been booked for time wasting and gave the referee little option but to send him off when he came charging out of his goal and scythed Les Ferdinand down near the corner flag. With no substitute goalkeeper on the bench, Jones was forced to take over between the sticks, much to the amusement of the home fans.
Despite conceding three goals, Jones played rather well and made a few saves. He made a decent double save soon after going in goal, diving at full stretch to save from David Ginola before pushing the rebound onto the post with an outstretched leg. He celebrated each save as if he had scored a goal, lapping up the ironic applause from the Newcastle fans.
The Welshman had no chance with Newcastle’s fourth, a rasping effort from 20 yards by Lee Clark. He was unlucky with the fifth goal as he managed to get something on Les Ferdinand’s shot, but couldn’t quite keep the effort out. Newcastle’s sixth a final goal of the afternoon came from Belgian Philippe Albert and like Lee Clark’s piledriver, Jones could only stand back and watch it fly into the top corner of the net.
Jones had made a name for himself as a hard man during his career. He was red carded 12 times and famously got booked only three seconds into a match when playing for Chelsea.
Despite this reputation, Jones was still a god player. He won nine caps for Wales and won the FA Cup in 1988 with Wimbledon and spent the majority of his career in the top division.
Newcastle had a great season and finished runners-up despite holding a 12 point lead at the top of the league with a couple of months left. Wimbledon finished 14th but they did have a good run in the FA Cup, reaching the Quarter Finals before losing to Chelsea.
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