Wimbledon - Away
Season 4 (A) 24/8/02 - 0-1
Brighton & Hove Albion moved that summer. Well, not to a new fully inclusive stadium but to alternative admin offices, in a city-centre tower block. It was from this vantage point that the club added to its piles of Falmer information by preparing evidence for a public inquiry. Martin Perry said, 'we want to develop a reputation as a club that gets things right on and off the pitch. It now gives us a chance to demonstrate the strengths of our case in public and allow the fullest debate on all the issues. It is unlikely that we will have a decision until 2003 or early in 2004. The club and council will have to form an important partnership to run the stadium. The business plan will deliver a range of benefits to the community that will surpass other clubs of similar status.'
In contrast, plans for Wimbledon to return to their roots from lengthy ground share at Selhurst Park had hit the skids. The old Plough Lane site was still available for re-development and now had backing from Merton Borough Council. Unfortunately the FA had approved a move to Milton Keynes and the club's owners were intent on a 65 mile trip north up the M1. Already only a minority of truly devoted were turning up every other week in Croydon. The rest had gone to support AFC Wimbledon, formed to represent their namesake area but play in lowly Combined-Counties league albeit at Kingstonian.
In a gate of 2500 at that rented Palace place, 1800 were visiting Albion and probably would have had more but for supporting the stay away, MK - no way boycott. Brighton played in an all scarlet strip so not to clash with dark blue of temporary without one, home outfit. An ex-Prem pro of over 300 apps, Paul Kitson turned out for us and didn't look up to speed. Hinshelwood necessarily had to throw kids in during early fixtures, to plug gaps due to injuries and in having such a small squad. Ironically Cullip tripped Gray, who had helped in Albion's promotion from div2 and thus Dons won through converting the resultant penalty.
Kuipers, Watson, Pethick, Cullip, Mayo (Hinshelwood), Hart (Marney), Oatway, Carpenter (Melton), Brooker, Wilkinson, Kitson.
Div 1 (Champ's) P 4 . W 1 D 1 L 2 . F 3 A 4 . Pt 4 Po 16

Wimbledon - Home
Season 4 (H) 4/2/03 - 2-3 ~ Brooker, Zamora
This fixture would have been played on New Years Day but Albion also had a following FA cup-tie at Norwich abandoned on 4 Jan and didn't actually resume at home until 18 Jan at Withdean. So it was rearranged for a Tuesday night in early February, rather than a dark midwinter Wednesday Bank Holiday afternoon. It wasn't Wimbledon's first visit to our suburban athletics track, they had arrived one light, warm evening in August '01 for a League Cup contest and brought 600 supporters from greater London. To cut a long story short, not many turned up to cheer for the Dons because most now supported AFC Wimbledon. This fan-backed outfit had split from the club and set up as true representatives of their generic. Incidentally they were in the Combined Counties League with Withdean 2000, banished themselves by B&H city council from the same local pitch as Albion. Anyway, Wimbledon were due to end up at Milton Keynes but unlike Brighton at Gillingham they would not have a homecoming. They would though eventually assume a separate identity.
Scoring times recorded for Wimbledon's goals were at 39, 48 and 79 minutes. Brighton went ahead on 3 min from Brooker at a corner, then in a late rally Zamora struck on 86 min. In between times Wimbledon won the match and took all three points. Dave Beasant making a home debut, saved a penalty to prevent total embarrassment. A red card for Hart just before going in all square for tea and recriminations, made it a tactical salvage operation for part two. Brighton fans got a bit upset, having seen more than enough petty incidents, horror stories and giveaway goals already this term. At the end of the day, we'd lost 18 out of 30 fixtures and were still bottom with two thirds of the season complete. Coppell said, 'all I hear about at the moment is our bad luck and I genuinely think that we should stop bemoaning our apparent lack of good fortune and just get on with things. I never want bad luck to be used consistently as an excuse.'
Beasant, Watson (Blackwell), Pethick, Cullip, Mayo, Brooker (Barrett), Oatway, Rodger, Jones (Piercy), Hart, Zamora.
Div 1 (Champ's) P 30 . W 4 D 8 L 18 . F 28 A 50 . Pt 20 Po 24

Season 3 (H) 21/8/01 LC 1 - 2-1 ~ Zamora 2
Micky Adams said, 'the format for this year's competition has changed, with clubs competing on a new one leg basis. There is possibility of extra time and penalties if needed. I feel this format will bring much more excitement to the League Cup than we have seen in recent years under the old two-legged system. First and Prem opposition tend to defeat lower division clubs over two legs but with a one match scenario there is more chance of a cup shock.' Brighton were now members of div2 and on a surge of champions confidence, so no doubt fancied their chances to k-o Wimbledon. As a mere div3 outfit without a proven track record in knockout competitions, Albion struggled to get past Millwall in year 2000 and Gillingham in 1999 both home and away. In a sense we were relying on cup contenders having an off day or two before and with our luck... Adams added to a title winning squad by signing Simon Morgan, an experienced central defender from Fulham where he had connections. Robbie Pethick, Dirk Lehman and Geoff Pitcher from non-league also came on board. Of our original squad, Freeman retired due to injury and goalie Cartwright moved on. Adams went with his best sixteen which in this barely begun season was most of a small squad. On a nice evening over 6000 turned up which was er, also quite nice.
The Football League had just voted against a planned move for Wimbledon to reside at Milton Keynes in future. At least we didn't have to go up that M23 to Selhurst Park for a possible replay at this moment in time either. For forty-five minutes you couldn't really tell who was the team from div1 against a strange to div2 'where the hell are we now' outfit. Dons took a lead from a corner that a div3 side should have cleared. Then Zamora showed why he was valued at three million quid, by bagging a quick-fire brace versus a higher tier defence and on a super Prem quality pitch too. Steele made vital contributions as Brighton displayed a version of football that made fans think it was like being at a drive-in movie watching Argentina v Brazil, rather than a night out in the open at a venue nowhere near you. Result or what?
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Morgan, Jones, Hart (Pethick), Rogers, Carpenter, Brooker (Melton), Lehman (Steele), Zamora.