Ask any Everton fan the most important match in the last 40 years and they will tell you it was against Wimbledon in 1994.

The teams met in the final match of the season at Goodison Park and the Toffees had to win to be sure of avoiding relegation from the Premier League.

Everton have only been relegated twice in their history and have spent just four years outside the top flight - so they were desperate to avoid making it a fifth.

Going into this fixture, Wimbledon were on a seven-match unbeaten run and owner Sam Hamman had promised the Dons a visit to Las Vegas if they remained unbeaten until the end of the campaign.

The Toffees got off to a nightmare start by going a goal down with just three minutes gone on the clock. Anders Limpar needlessly held out his arm Gary Elkins' corner in the box to and referee Robbie Hart awarded a penalty.

Goalkeeper Neville Southall got a hand to Dean Holdsworth's spot-kick but the shot had too much power and the ball nestled into the bottom left corner.

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Wimbledon doubled their advantage in the 20th minute after some poor Everton defending. Dave Watson and David Unsworth crashed into each other as they went for the same header and the ball fell into the path of Andy Clarke whose goalbound strike was deflected into his own net by Gary Ablett.

Two goals behind, the Mersysiders were staring relegation in the face and the supporters were fearing the worst.

But minutes later, Limpar made ammends for giving away the earlier penalty by winning one himself after Peter Fear was adjudged to have brought the Swede down in the box. Graham Stuart held his nerve to convert from the spot to send Hans Segers the wrong way and Everton were back in it.

With 20 minutes left, midfield ace Barry Horne made it 2-2 after a driving run through midfield before unleashing a 30-yard rocket into the top corner for his first goal of the season.

And Stuart etched his name into Everton folklore by grabbing a sensational winning goal in the 80th minute by steering Tony Cottee's pass beyond the outstretched arm of Segers for 3-2.

The Toffees may have featured in FA Cup Finals, League Cup Finals and had memorable nights playing in the European Cup and Uefa Cup in their proud history. But none matched the significance of this Premier League match on 7 May, 1994.

Everton: Southall, Snodin, Ablett, Ebbrell (Barlow 80), Watson, Unsworth, Stuart, Horne, Rideout, Cottee, Limpar.

Wimbledon: Segers, Barton, Elkins, Jones, Scales, Blackwell, Fear (Blissett 82), Earle, Gayle, Holdsworth, Clarke.