Our connection with Sutton United dates back as far as 1963 when we defeated the U’s 4-2 in the FA Amateur Cup final thanks to four headed goals from the prolific Eddie Reynolds.
Fast forward several decades and we were once again brought together following the reformation of our club as AFC Wimbledon, with the 2002 game at Gander Green Lane signaling the beginning of a new chapter in our history.
Both sides are now in League Two for the first time, with this weekend’s South London Derby offering a chance for an old rivalry to be renewed.
Here we take you through a list of players that have divided their careers between Wimbledon and Sutton.
Kevin Cooper became a living legend during his time with the Dons, notching an incredible 107 goals in 97 games, helping us to success in the Combined Counties League.
A scorer of nine hat-tricks during his time with us, ‘Coops’ previously turned out for Sutton and actually scored the first goal in the aforementioned fixture against us in 2002. This - along with another effort later in the game - led to a call some 48 hours later which in turn saw him complete a move to Kingsmeadow. The rest, as they say, is history.
Second in our list is someone who made the captain’s armband his own during his time with the Dons. Jason Goodliffe led by example as we achieved successive promotions in 2008 and 2009, with his domineering displays at the heart of defence seeing him become a firm fans’ favourite.
The defender went on to leave us for the U’s, taking in over 50 games with the club before hanging up his boots due to injury. He will now line-up against us on Saturday alongside Matt Gray in the away dugout as assistant manager.
Seb Brown is widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers to have ever worn yellow and blue, with his penalty shootout heroics in 2011 helping us to regain our place in the Football League. After making north of 100 appearances Seb eventually fell out of favour and ended up coaching with our Academy following a spell in non-league.
He would take on a player-goalkeeping coach role with Sutton, adding more experience to his CV with his hometown club before moving to Chelsea Women.
Another member of our Manchester promotion-winning squad, Ricky Wellard is arguably one of the unsung heroes of the Terry Brown side that clinched our remarkable return. He was a key member of the midfield alongside the likes of Steven Gregory and Rashid Yussuff and in all made over 70 league appearances before departing in 2012.
He went on to enjoy a one-season playing spell with the U’s before moving into their academy set-up as head coach.
Matt Tubbs enjoyed a short-lived but solid spell with us during the 2014/15 campaign, notching 15 goals in 30 games as he formed an effective partnership with Adebayo Akinfenwa under Neal Ardley’s management.
Following a hyped moved to Portsmouth the striker then took in a spell with Forest Green Rovers before ending up at Sutton. During his time in SM1 he scored a respectable three goals in eight games and featured against the Dons in the FA Cup during the 2016/17 season.
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