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Got to the first meeting point, The Shakespeare outside Victoria Station, at about mid-day. It was about as welcoming as Bridlington. Every window had a poster saying if you had colours on, if you were with a group of males, or if you were male and on your own, no entry. So, feeling slightly self-conscious and put-out I slunk off to the station bar and had a quickie there.

No sign of anyone at all, so I made me way over to the meet in Thornton Heath. There is nothing quite like walking into a pub at an away game and finding it full of friendlies. Everton here, Everton there, Everton every where. Not even got me coat off and Paul Tollet buys me a drink. The day just got better and better. Pretty good turn out from the Netley; nice to meet some new people: Darryl from Singapore, Martin Lindland, Neil Williams and a fair few others.

Steve Allinson and Co turn up late. Liz is in a serious fluster, she got her new finger-nail ring caught in her tights. Now Liz, forgive me for being crude but isn't it more normal to have your tights stuck in your ring? Not to be deterred, she is introduced to Paul Tollet and says 'Oh hello, you're supposed to be important aren't you?'. Such a way with words, our Liz. The beers are flowing fairly rapidly now (a sign of the day to come) and Gizza is obviously making the most of a rare day of freedom!

We decide to head for the match, stopping for the ubiquitous Jamaican Pattie and chips on the way. Loads of blues in evidence, not so many Dons though. I feel sorry for them, they have a decent team and no-one goes to watch.

Gizza goes off to get the tickets, I meet some friends and we take our seats. The support was enormous. I only realised after Wimbledon's goal that we have a whole side AND an end as well. A copper said he estimated 9,000 Evertonians in the ground. This I can easily believe.

The mood from the Everton fans is quite muted at first. Wimbledon is not a happy hunting ground for us, and it was pretty clear that it was business as usual when Dons took the lead. Watson gave the ball away, and no-one closed Roberts down. He took a speculative shot at goal, and it moved in the air like it was one of Wasim Akram's! Tommy was rooted to his spot, and thus looked rather silly picking the ball out of the net.

Wimbledon dominated for a period, giving the lie to the stories about ugly football. It was difficult to see where the goal was going to come from, Danny Cad always looked the likely suspect, and he picked the ball up inside the Wimbledon half, ran hell for leather at a defender, beat him, then beat Perry (making him look silly) and whacked a shot inside Sullivan's near post. Everton fans go mental, Danny looks quite pleased with himself.

This seems to take the wind out of Wimbledon's sails, and we go to half-time level, if slightly fortunate to be so. One thing that amused me, was my dad complaining about the ref wanting to play 8 minutes of first-half injury time, but Wimbledon were holding up the number eight to make a substitution!

In the second half Wimbledon create a couple of good chances, bad finishing (and some good, if fortuitous) goalkeeping from Tommy keeps us level. Here is where we started to take control. The players seemed to start believing in themselves, and Duncan has a near-post header just wide.

Collins is playing out of his skin, and Marco is a ROCK in defence. Unsworth does some great work wide left, crosses superbly for Duncan, who just stoops to flash a header past Sullivan. Cue more mania from the fans, Gizza and I hug each other, and then look embarassed, and the singing starts.

The fans were once again tremendous. The away support never ceases to amaze me, so loyal. However, we seem to take our foot off the pedal a little now, and Wimbledon start creating a bit. Perry heads against the bar from a corner, which was where Dons looked so dangerous. They whip their corners in to the far post at quite a pace, and we struggle to deal with them.

Wimbledon commit men forward, so we are having a few breaks, one of which culminates in Hutchison blazing over from 4 yards. That would have been the icing on the cake.

And the, DISASTER STRIKES: Another swift counter attack sees Dacourt called offside, but he lobs the ball over Sullivan and into an empty net anyway. Paul Alcock decides it was time-wasting (it probably was to be honest) and books Dacourt. Dacourt misses the derby match, and realising this he sinks to the floor distraught. Collins also puts his head in his hands.

The one thing that struck me about this sequence of events, is the team spirit shown. Dacourt looks as if he loves playing for us. And I find that a bit special. The whole team were geeing him up, but I think he was in tears. If he was, he goes up in my estimation even further. I have cried for Everton many a time, and if a player does so, then I can identify with that. We survive the rest of the game, and a great cheer greets the final whistle.

Straight back to the Prince of Wales. Here is where it starts to become a little hazy. It's kinda busy, so Gizza decides two at a time will be the call. Great in theory...........

The part-timers start sloping off leaving a hard-core of drinkers having a rare old time. Andy Richardson, Adrian, Danni (who is already loopy, what she'll be like when she starts drinking I dread to think).

Paul, Andy Richardson, and I think a few others decide to have a little sing-song. Cue Duncan is our hero, To Hell with Liverpool etc. You know the scene! Very loud we were too, of course I was the only one singing in key, but well, so what? Some mad Geordie bloke joins us, I have no recollection of how, when or why, but he somehow got us singing Bladon Races!

My memory really does fade now I am afraid. One of those experiences when you remember things only when told the next day! I have no idea at all how or when I got home. but I know I got thrown out of my local back in Guildford for being, er, "boisterous." Me mate telephoned me this morning to say 'what were you like last night?'.

Things could not get any worse!! BUT this is Everton so you never know, as it happened it actually got better.

First Half

Got seats right on the corner post behind Tommy's goal and settled down for kick off. Everton started quite brightly and all was well, when all of a sudden the ball broke to Andy Roberts about 25 yards out and he seemed to have all the time in the world to tee up a shot which went to Tommy's left and it was 1-0. There seemed to be no closing down by the defence but even stranger our keeper seemed rooted to the spot and never even made an effort to stop it.

We were dumbstruck, but instead of having a negative effect on the away fans it actually made us louder and more animated. The support was unbelievable; I would estimate about half the crowd were Evertonians.

Wimbledon then resorted to what they do best, hoofing the ball down the channels and letting Gayle and Euell chase and rough up the opposition defence. It worked for a short while. Craig Short was caught of position a few times and they were having some joy down their left. Short is not a right back by any stretch of the Imagination and he tended to get sucked back into the middle a few times.

Apart from that, things were not too bad and we were creating a few problems up their end. Danny was running his heart out and Dunc was winning everything the air.

32 minutes gone and there a bit of a ricochet in midfield and the ball broke to Danny, he cut inside into their box, dropped his shoulder which fooled Perry and cut the other way and then tucked a nice shot in at the near post from about 12 yards beating Sullivan.

Lots more singing and merriment commenced.

Wimbledon went back to the long ball and we gave away lots of free kicks. But in all fairness half of them should have gone to us. Alcock never gave us anything all day .

Second Half

Second half saw us start much brighter. We had most of the play for the first 20 minutes which culminated in a goal for Duncan. If you look at it on telly it justs looks like another header but – take my word for it – it was better than that.

Unsworth floated a very ordinary cross in and it looked like Perry and another defender had it covered, but as the ball got closer Dunc started to run and must of made up six yards on the defenders and then with a mighty leap 1-2, come on you blues.

As expected Wimbledon then threw everything at us and some desperate defending kept us in it. On the other hand, Danny was still making some good runs and winning us our fair share of corners. Unfortunately the quality of the corner kicks (mostly by Hutch) was pretty poor which is a shame when you think who we have to nod them in.

Wimbledon's corners, on the other hand, were vicious in-swingers (ala Hinchcliffe) and one of them resulted in Perry hitting the bar.

With not long on the clock, Olly broke only to be flagged for offside, he then chipped the ball over Sullivan's head into the goal and was booked for it (he now misses the derby).

That was followed by a nice Everton move involving Duncan crossing the ball to Hutchison, when it seemed easier to score than miss; he missed.

Never mind, the game was over and we had the three points.

Joe Kinnear seems to think Wimbledon deserved to win it. I don't. We scored two good goals and defended brilliantly. We got what we deserved in my opinion!

Players

• Myhre : 7  Very doubtful on the goal but made some good blocks in one-on-one situations.
• Unsworth : 7  Not bad but still hoofing that ball when there is no need too.
• Short : 7  Started a bit wobbly but was there to be counted when the going got tough.
• Materazzi : 8  Gets better every time I see him. Has got some lovely little touches and Unsy should watch him pass the ball.
• Watson : 8  What can you say? Tru Pro.
• Ball : 7  Not sure if he is left midfielder, but still a quality player.
• Dacourt : 6  He was a bit dissapointing today, gave the ball away a bit too much, but got better in the second half.
• Collins : 7  He is very neat and tidy but I still think he should be giving more.
• Hutchison : 6  He runs his heart out for the cause but he lacks a bit of class.
• Cadamateri : 9  MOM and very effective today, he wasn't a headless chicken today and his pace and skill gave them lots of problems.
• Ferguson : 8  Played well today, didn't give the ball away cheaply and stayed with the pace for the whole 90 minutes.

Team : Good battling performance, Defencively very solid, Dangerous up front, a bit lightweight in midfield. I felt but the signs are good and I'm optimistic.

A draw would probably have been a fairer result than Everton's second win of the season, but few sides will play with as much determination as Walter Smith's this season and they were well rewarded for their effort with goals from Danny Cadamarteri and Duncan Ferguson.

The referee in question was Paul Alcock. Last week's shocking though hilarious slapstick attack on him by Di Canio had prompted the referees' union to appoint a so-called minder for the Sevenoaks official at Selhurst Park yesterday.

The Dennis Waterman role went to Mike Reed, who was really nothing more than the customary fourth official. But he took his job seriously, making a dramatic entrance at Alcock's side and escorting him to the centre circle as if he was shadowing a boxer into the ring before a fight.

Reed's assistance was not needed. Players appeared to have sympathy for a referee used to verbal abuse for his often misguided decisions. It was not until the 37th minute that anyone showed dissent but even then Unsworth's mini-rant was tame.

The only player to touch Alcock was Everton defender Watson, who put his arm around the referee during a half-time chat.

In the game itself, there was a show of passion from both teams but a bit more quality from Wimbledon. They dominated the first half with possession and should have been ahead at the break. They took the lead through midfielder Roberts in the eighth minute, after he was allowed to gain ground and scored with a low shot from 25 yards.

The otherwise outstanding Everton goalkeeper Myhre barely moved. Further good chances followed. Leaburn, returning from a ban, shot inches wide and 'the new Ian Wright' Euell was a regular threat.

Everton came prepared to survive a shelling and played with a back four of giant central defenders. Their patience and perseverance was rewarded in the 32nd minute when their agile and younger team-mates equalised. The move started with a Ball pass to Cadamarteri on the left and the teenage forward took off. He blitzed into the Wimbledon penalty area, made a rare fool of Perry and beat Sullivan at his near post with a stinging shot.

Everton are in the process of signing Ivory Coast forward Ibrahim Babayako in a £4.5 million transfer from Montpellier. But Cadamarteri, at only 18, will be irreplaceable if he scores more goals like that.

It was, however, his first of the season and only Everton's fifth – so imagine their delight when Ferguson put them ahead 14 minutes into the second half.

Myhre had made two excellent close-range saves from Euell to prevent Wimbledon from regaining the lead, but Everton had clearly gained confidence from their first goal and were the more dominant team when Ferguson headed in an Unsworth cross.

Wimbledon worked hard to get back into the game and had chances to score through Earle, Euell and Leaburn before too long. But there was an increasing sense that they had left their best chances behind in the first half when Myhre made point-blank stops from Euell and Earle.

Such is Wimbledon's current form, they were still expected to come up with something and strike another blow for the poor against one of the game's fat cats. They so nearly did with 14 minutes to go when Perry struck the cross bar with a header from Kimble's free-kick.

A few seconds before the game, he was greeted and had his hand shaken by Everton's massive Italian defender, Marco Materazzi, the ambling Alp. Whether he delivered a message of apology from his compatriot, Paolo Di Canio, who was back home at Terni in Umbria, was not clear.

In any case, Alcock blew his whistle with commendable firmness to start the game and thereafter had all the problems of a village policeman at the vicarage tea party. He booked two miscreants, but they and their colleagues kept away from him as if offended by his body.

As for the players and teams, Everton impressed and contributed most while Wimbledon, for all their endeavour and belief when they chased the game late on, were too dependent on the basic approach.

Fears that further sterility would follow the two goalless draws played out between the sides last term soon proved unwarranted, and in the most curious way.

Andy Roberts, the Wimbledon midfielder, picked up the ball outside the Everton penalty area and looked around for options. Seeing none, and being left to his own devices by Don Hutchison and John Collins, he had a pop at goal. His 25-yard shot was well directed, but not especially hard, and seemed to pose no threat until one realised that Thomas Myhre, in the Everton goal, was standing still, apparently unsighted and unaware of the danger. Indeed, his first movement was to turn around in a rather detached way and observe that the ball was resting in the corner of his net.

For the most part, both sides limited their attacking ploys to long balls towards their tall strikers. Since these gentlemen were well marshalled, such tactics were futile. Everton's equaliser, however, came from a rare burst of creativity. Michael Ball, patrolling down the left for Everton, found Danny Cadamarteri in a forward and most promising position. Cadamarteri had only Chris Perry to beat, but Perry has been touted, both by his manager and by the Selhurst Park announcer yesterday, as a future England international.

Alas for Perry's hopes, he was first embarrassed by Cadamarteri's pace, and then by his skill as the winger turned inside him and shot unstoppably inside the far post. Everton are now a cosmopolitan outfit – none more so than Cadamarteri, who is qualified to play for England, Nigeria, Italy, Ireland, Scotland and Jamaica. England is his preference, and he might well be worth a run-out.

We had Duncan Ferguson to thank for the increased excitement of the second half. He threatened immediately after the interval when he broke clear down the left but screwed his left-foot shot past the right-hand post. Soon afterwards, he controlled the ball inside the area, turned and was unfortunate to see his shot blocked.

The warning had been given but it was not heeded. When David Unsworth crossed from the left, Ferguson was unmarked inside the area and able to leap athletically to head inside the post. Everton had another good chance almost immediately. Olivier Dacourt, whose pace and cleverness made him an increasing threat, crossed from the right and Ball had time to do better than he did.

Wimbledon, needless to say, made a terrific attempt to retrieve the game. Roberts and Earle both spurned chances and Perry headed firmly against the crossbar from an Alan Kimble free-kick. But Everton, with Materazzi and Unsworth outstanding, held firm. The final chances, and the points, were theirs.

"That's important for a team in the position we've been in in the past few seasons," Walter Smith, the Everton manager, said, and while acknowledging the need for more creativity, he praised the "pride and determination" that saw his side through a late Wimbledon onslaught, and a new resilience that enabled them to shrug off an early setback, Andy Roberts' speculative shot from 30 yards surprising Thomas Myhre to give Wimbledon the lead.

The Everton revival was led from the front by Duncan Ferguson, the captain, who won his usual share of high balls but also demonstrated a sure touch on the ground. Smith has noticed a greater maturity in Ferguson since they worked together at Glasgow Rangers. "He's been through a fair bit and is more settled now," Smith said. "He's shown good leadership and has a great rapport with the supporters. And he's playing really well – I think that gets lost at times."

That could be explained in part by Ferguson's disciplinary problems, but he contributed to a quiet afternoon for Paul Alcock, the referee, who produced only two yellow cards and barely experienced a raised voice, let alone anything to compare with the raised hands he encountered last week.

Ferguson also had the satisfaction of coming out on top, for once, in his duel with Chris Perry, the Wimbledon central defender, who, despite giving away some eight inches to the 6ft 4in Ferguson, has tended to have the better of their recent meetings.

Perry's luck was out all afternoon. Unable to prevent Danny Cadamarteri cutting inside him to equalise after 31 minutes, he was only a spectator as Ferguson headed the winner just short of the hour from David Unsworth's cross; and when his header from Kimble's free kick rebounded to safety from the Everton crossbar with 13 minutes left, it capped an unhappy week.

Overlooked yet again when Glenn Hoddle's England squad was announced last week, Perry was reported on Friday to be considering a transfer to a more glamorous club. Joe Kinnear, the Wimbledon manager, rubbished the reports. "The lad never made any comment like that. He's happy as hell here."

Kinnear was not so happy with the result, of course, but put a brave face on it. "We created enough chances to have won maybe two matches," he said. "I said to the lads that if we play like that, we'll win more games than we lose." Strangely enough, some people were thinking the same about Everton.

Smith's side were forced to come from behind when Wimbledon struck early but by the end they had carved out enough chances to have won this game by a more significant advantage, opportunities that the Goodison manager will be hoping his £4.5 million signing, Ibrahim Bakayoko, will put away more easily.

Wimbledon were twice caught out at the back but this was not a poor performance by a side who maintained enough possession around Thomas Myhre's goal to have achieved more than Andy Roberts' effort. It was their first home defeat of the season.

Referee Paul Alcock had the assistance yesterday of a fourth official in Mike Reed who was clearly under instruction to lend him as much support as possible in what could have been an awkward return to football one week after the Paolo Di Canio incident. Reed even accompanied Alcock to the centre circle before the start but unless Di Canio was hiding in disguise as one of the 22 participants it was difficult to know what protection Alcock needed out in the middle.

There was a nice gesture from the Everton central defender Marco Materazzi, who strode to the centre circle to shake Alcock warmly by the hand as if determined to show that not all Italians take to the field wearing horns.

There were no goals in either fixture between the sides last season yet there was a goal here after only eight minutes and the promise of more to come as both defences were put under pressure.

Wimbledon's opener was a strange one, space suddenly expanding for Roberts who having skipped round John Collins was invited to shoot from 25 yards, Myhre standing rooted to his line as the shot swung away from him and nestled low into the bottom corner.

Everton remained unperturbed by this setback and made sure that Cadamarteri, who had replaced the injured Nick Barmby, saw plenty of the ball and had every opportunity to test his pace against that of his marker.

Ferguson was also prominent as the visitors continued to pick at the Wimbledon rearguard, Craig Short seeing a volley deflected wide and Don Hutchison unable shortly after to get in his shot when Michael Ball swung over his cross although there was a heavy suspicion of hands by the midfielder.

In the 33rd minute, Ball's long pass gave Cadamarteri the chance to build up some steam and how the youngster made it tell, his strong run carrying him past Chris Perry before beating Neil Sullivan on his near post.

Wimbledon were still creating chances as the action swung quickly to either end. Carl Leaburn and Jason Euell both went close though the best chance came on the stroke of half-time when Robbie Earle, left all on his own when Marcus Gayle's shot squeezed through, had two opportunities to punish the Merseysiders but made neither of them count.

When Dave Watson's huge clearance landed with Ferguson just outside the area he snatched at his shot and another opening had gone to waste. From his next opportunity, however, following a diagonal ball by David Unsworth, Ferguson was more convincing, nipping in front of Ben Thatcher to thump home his header.

Blackburn Rovers  3      West Ham United  0         25,213
Flitcroft 10,47, Davidson 68
Coventry City  1         Aston Villa  2                 
Soltvedt 71              Taylor 29,39
Derby County  0          Tottenham Hotspur  1       30,083 
                         Campbell 60
Leeds United  0          Leicester City  1          32,606  
                         Cottee 76
Middlesbrough  4         Sheffield Wednesday  0     34,163
Beck 27,45, Ricard 49, Gascoigne 90
Nottingham Forest  0     Charlton Athletic  1       22,661  
                         Youds 5
Southampton 0            Manchester United  3       15,251    
                         Yorke 11, Cole 59, Cruyff 74
Wimbledon  1             Everton  2                 16,054 
Roberts 8                Cadamarteri 32, Ferguson 60

Arsenal  3               Newcastle United  0        38,102
Bergkamp 21,66:pen, Anelka 29
Liverpool  1             Chelsea 1                  43,000
Redknapp 80              Casiraghi 10

Club                          P    W    D    L   GF   GA   GD   Pts
Aston Villa                   8    6    2    0   10    2    8   20
Manchester United             7    4    2    1   13    6    7   14
Arsenal                       8    3    4    1    9    3    6   13
Middlesbrough                 8    3    3    2   12    8    4   12
Liverpool                     8    3    3    2   13   10    3   12
Chelsea                       7    3    3    1   11    8    3   12
Derby County                  8    3    3    2    6    4    2   12
Wimbledon                     8    3    3    2   12   11    1   12
West Ham United               8    3    3    2    7    8   -1   12
Newcastle United              8    3    2    3   13   10    3   11
Leeds United                  8    2    5    1    8    5    3   11
Tottenham Hotspur             8    3    2    3    9   14   -5   11
Charlton Athletic             8    2    4    2   12   10    2   10
Everton                       8    2    4    2    6    6    0   10
Sheffield Wednesday           8    3    0    5    8    9   -1    9
Leicester City                8    2    3    3    7    8   -1    9
Blackburn Rovers              8    2    2    4    8   10   -2    8
Nottingham Forest             8    2    1    5    5   10   -5    7
Coventry City                 8    1    2    5    5   14   -9    5
Southampton                   8    0    1    7    3   21  -18    1