Wimbledon’s League One season gets underway on Saturday at Northampton Town and today we continue our countdown by featuring a memorable victory from 2013.
18. Portsmouth
The Dons have played Portsmouth more times than any other League One club. There have been past meetings in each of the top four tiers of the English game and today we celebrate a League Two encounter from 2013.
Saturday 16th November 2013: League Two
AFC Wimbledon (1) 4 Frampton 33, 73, S Moore 82, Smith 90+1
Portsmouth (0) 0
It was measure of how fast fortunes can change in football. Still a Premier League side in 2010 when the Dons were playing National League football, poor financial mismanagement meant that by the time of Portsmouth’s first visit to Kingsmeadow in 2013 the club was in freefall. Helped by an Andy Frampton brace, AFC Wimbledon put four goals past a sorry looking Pompey outfit and could have had more had Trevor Carson not saved Harry Pell’s penalty when the game was still goalless.
Centre-back Frampton poked home his first shortly before half time and doubled his tally with a header in the 74th minute. Sammy Moore's sweetly struck half-volley sealed the win before Michael Smith added a fourth in injury time. It turned out to be the mid-table Dons’ biggest win of the season and almost the end for Portsmouth boss Guy Whittingham, who was sacked after a home defeat by Southend United the following week.
Afterwards there was some suggestion that the hosts had gloated after victory was secured. “The players are a lively bunch, they enjoy winning, which is always good,” coach Simon Bassey commented. “We are respectful of the opposition but we have to celebrate our victories, as they are always hard fought.” By the time of the February return, Portsmouth were scraping to avoid relegation to the National League, while the Dons sat comfortably in mid table.
Wimbledon: Worner, Fuller, Bennett, Frampton, Kennedy, Sweeney (L Moore 74), S Moore, Pell, Porter, Smith, Mohammed (Francomb 85).
Take a look below at the highlights from the 4-0 win.
Dons v Pompey (1978 to 2020)
|
Season |
Comp |
H |
A |
|
1978-79 |
D4 |
2-4 |
0-0 |
|
1979-80 |
FAC2 |
0-0 |
3-3 |
|
1979-80 |
FAC2R |
0-1 |
|
|
1981-82 |
D3 |
3-2 |
0-1 |
|
1984-85 |
D2 |
3-2 |
0-1 |
|
1984-85 |
FLC1 |
1-0 |
0-3 |
|
1985-86 |
D2 |
1-3 |
1-1 |
|
1986-87 |
FAC4 |
4-0 |
|
|
1987-88 |
D1 |
2-2 |
1-2 |
|
1989-90 |
ZDSC |
|
1-0 |
|
1996-97 |
FLC2 |
1-0 |
1-1 |
|
1998-99 |
FLC2 |
4-1 |
1-2 |
|
2000-01 |
Champ |
1-1 |
1-2 |
|
2001-02 |
Champ |
3-3 |
2-1 |
|
2013-14 |
L2 |
4-0 |
0-1 |
|
2014-15 |
L2 |
1-0 |
2-0 |
|
2015-16 |
L2 |
0-1 |
0-0 |
|
2017-18 |
L1 |
0-2 |
1-2 |
|
2018-19 |
L1 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
|
2018-19 |
FLC1 |
|
2-1 |
|
2019-20 |
L1 |
1-0 |
1-2 |
|
Total W13 D9 L16 |
|||
This series is written by Stephen Crabtree, the editor of the Historical Don. To sample a copy contact him at stephecrab@aol.com .