The atmosphere at Goodison Park ON THIS DAY in 1994 was electric…and also a little surreal as Everton survived relegation on the final day of the season with a dramatic comeback against Wimbledon.
The Main Stand was packed, the Gwladys Street was rammed, the Bullens Road was full to the brim, but the Park Stand didn’t exist!
It was a three-sided stadium that greeted Everton and Wimbledon for a contest that the Blues simply could not lose. Just one win from the previous 10 Premier League fixtures had left Everton on the cusp of relegation for only the third time in the Club’s history.
The Blues began the match in the bottom three, a single point behind Southampton, Sheffield United and Ipswich Town, and one ahead of Joe Royle’s Oldham Athletic.
There were too many permutations to contemplate so Mike Walker’s team simply had to win.
Wimbledon, by the way, were flying high in sixth position and were looking for a win to cement their highest ever Premier League finish.
Goodison Park was ready…but the raucous crowd was silenced as early as the fourth minute when Swedish winger Anders Limpar inexplicably handled a Wimbledon corner inside the penalty area. Referee Robbie Hart had no option other than to point to the spot and Dean Holdsworth duly put the Dons into the lead.
Limpar was crestfallen and Goodison was stunned. But there was worse to follow.
In the 20th minute, the referee awarded Wimbledon a dubious free-kick just inside the Everton half and when the ball was delivered into the box, Dave Watson and David Unsworth both went for it, allowing Andy Clarke to hit a first-time shot towards goal. The effort was drifting off-target but Gary Ablett wasn’t aware of that and, in his attempt to clear the ball from danger, he diverted it into his own net.
Silence reigned once more.
The unthinkable, the unimaginable was happening. Everton were staring relegation fully in the face.
They needed the equivalent of a football miracle.
Four minutes after Ablett’s own goal, Everton were awarded a penalty of their own and it was redemption for Limpar, who tumbled rather theatrically under a challenge from the appropriately named Peter Fear.
Goodison held its collective breath and many dared not look as Graham Stuart placed the ball on the spot in front of a building site backdrop with cars and buses shooting past behind the goal and fans swinging from the trees in Stanley Park.
Stuart simply had to score.
And he did, holding his nerve to send Hans Segers the wrong way. Everton were back in it.
Holdsworth then put a header from six yards over the crossbar when it looked easier to score, and Everton were still just one goal behind at the break.
And still in the relegation zone.
Everton pressed forward from the restart and Stuart forced Segers into a smart save with an angled drive at the end of a fine dribble.
The fans were magnificent, roaring every Everton touch, and in the 67th minute the old stadium shook to its rafters when Barry Horne picked the ball up 40 yards out, took a couple of steps to bring it under control and then lashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner.
Everton could sense survival!
Horne tried his luck from distance again but this time he was too high, and Paul Rideout just couldn’t get sufficient purchase on a header from a Limpar cross.
With nine minutes to go, the Blues were still chasing the all-important goal that would be enough to keep them in the Premier League.
Then Limpar played the ball infield to Stuart, who exchanged passes with Tony Cottee before shooting low. The effort lacked power but Segers couldn’t keep it out and, incredibly, Everton were in the lead!
They had done all they could and results elsewhere were going favourably, but the nervous tension inside the ground was as close to unbearable as it gets.
As the final whistle edged nearer, news was filtering through that Southampton and Ipswich were drawing while Sheffield United and Oldham were losing.
A victory would be enough and the outpouring of sheer ecstasy and pure relief in equal measures was incredible when Robbie Hart’s whistle signalled the end of the game.
By the skin of their teeth, Everton had extended their top-flight status into a 41st consecutive season.
But what a way to do it!
7 May has been quite a significant date for Everton over the years…
In 1971 we lost an FA Cup third-place play-off against Stoke City at Selhurst Park; in 2005 goals from David Weir and Tim Cahill secured a Champions League slot and, in 2006, Duncan Ferguson scored his last Everton goal with the last kick of his Blues career against West Brom.
