Football: Kinnear's barbed charges: Graham's men stroll on
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Your support makes all the difference.Wimbledon. . .0
Arsenal. . . .3
THE local solicitors who sponsored this north v south London clash at Selhurst Park may pick up a fair bit of knock-on business when they open tomorrow.
The amiable Joe Kinnear will probably be first through the door. The Wimbledon manager has good cause to feel aggrieved about the daylight robbery that the Gunners perpetrated. The Dons certainly should not have been three-goal losers. Pushing three, sometimes four, players forward in the second half, they created more chances and should have scored at least twice.
Kinnear may also have to take advice on his own threatening behaviour. 'We have no problem about staying in the Premier League. You may not like us, but you'll have to put up with us for another year,' he told pressmen - though it was clear he was aiming his barbs at those glossy clubs who have found Wimbledon a tough nut to crack.
Talking of tough nuts, he will probably run into Vinny Jones at the solicitors. David Hillier and John Jensen both experienced that formidable short fuse, but it was not a hard man's game, and Jones orchestrated Wimbledon's best move with a silky 30-yard pass to Andy Clarke that almost produced a goal.
No, Jones will more likely be seeking advice for the treatment he got on the Christmas edition of Gladiators, where the musclemen ganged up on him after some unwise early remarks. (Will he ever learn?) The Gladiators host, John Fashanu, suffered no such rough stuff, but surely he will need counsel to defend himself from disgruntled fans' allegations that he spent Saturday impersonating a footballer.
Kinnear said: 'He is like a bee with a sore head. He knows he could have had a hat-trick.'
Still, Wimbledon's defence might also plead guilty to some glaring errors. A side notorious for the upfield steepler proved curiously incapable of hoofing the ball from their own goalmouth. Kevin Campbell and Ian Wright made short work of such gifts.
And Arsenal? Well, the only man who might need legal help is Ray Parlour, who made one goal, scored another and still got criticised by his manager, George Graham: 'Ray didn't do as well as he has in the past. He can do better.'
Graham refused to discuss any threat to Manchester United, though Kinnear was more expansive: 'They have enough depth to have a realistic go at the League. I don't believe it is all over.'
Goals: Campbell (18) 0-1; Parlour (23) 0-2; Wright (55) 0-3.
Wimbledon (4-4-2): Segers; Barton, Blackwell, Fitzgerald, Elkins; Jones, Earle, Fear (Clarke, h/t), Ardley; Fashanu, Holdsworth. Substitutes not used: Perry, Sullivan (gk).
Arsenal (4-4-2): Seaman; Dixon, (Keown, 78), Bould, Adams, Winterburn; Parlour, Jensen (Merson, 84), Hillier, McGoldrick; Campbell, Wright. Substitute not used: Miller (gk).
Referee: G Ashby (Worcester).
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