Johnson thwarts landlords as Wimbledon make point

Wimbledon 2 Crystal Palace

In a curious twist to preconceived ideas, Wimbledon were yesterday heartily cheered and praised by those few fans who still bother to support them. A stubborn recovery bringing memories of the old Wimbledon brought a deserved share of the points while Palace were jeered for losing their way and a two goal lead.

Irrespective of the match, this was a curious occasion with Wimbledon probably playing their last "home derby" against their Selhurst Park landlords before, perhaps, moving far away to a new and even more false home at Milton Keynes.

Wimbledon's future gets ever more obscure. Having been told by the Football League that more time is needed before a decision is made on whether even the club's Boxing Day fixture against Watford can be played at the Milton Keynes Bowl, Wimbledon's Norwegian owners are now talking about selling for a "symbolic" sum or declaring bankruptcy.

Just to add to the confusion, yesterday Palace was officially the "away" team but you would never have believed it. In a crowd of 6,538 only 1,313 were Wimbledon supporters. The boycott has barely weakened.

Even so, Wimbledon could have run up a two or three goal lead in the first 15 minutes. Neil Shipperley's inviting through pass after only 30 seconds ended with David Connolly hitting the foot of a post and shortly afterwards the same player screwed a good chance wide.

Palace attacked spasmodically, yet in the 15th minute Julian Gray turned deceptively on a cross from Wayne Routledge and cracked a fine shot past Kelvin Davis.

Both sides made commendable efforts to play the ball around to feet while the feet and inches of Palace's Dele Adebola meant that he won copious control in the air. One of his headers virtually rolled along the crossbar.

Sparked by the neatness and speed of Jermaine Darlington, Wimbledon probably had the more penetrating openings in which Shipperley played a significant part. Indeed, one of his most searching shots demanded an excellent parry from Nikolaos Michopoulos. There was even some moderately skilful wriggling, which in the First Division is something of a rarity. Jobi McAnuff breezed past four Palace tackles early in the second half only to see his efforts lost by others.

If that was a poor reward for McAnuff, his whole team were misrepresented when after 69 minutes they conceded a second goal. Adebola had driven a powerful shot into the body of Davis and from the rebound Andrew Johnson slammed the ball in.

Johnson himself ought to have secured the game but miscued a shot, so leaving Wimbledon to recover with two goals in two minutes. First, in the 76th, Connolly sent Shipperley away and he easily shot in under the goalkeeper, then Hayden Mullins played a hopelessly weak back-pass, allowing the new substitute Patrick Agyemang to comfortably beat Michopoulos to the ball and equalise.

Not that the scoreline could be guaranteed to remain the same as the engrossing game went into the final five, hectic minutes in which Wimbledon attacked with huge and reminiscent determination.

Wimbledon 2
Shipperley 77, Agyemang 79

Crystal Palace 2
Gray 15, Johnson 71

Half-time: 0-1 Attendance: 6,538