Everton’s Top 10 Goodison Park Matches: A Tribute to a Legendary Ground
Picking a definitive top 10 matches at Goodison Park is no easy feat, given the sheer volume of unforgettable moments. As Everton reporter for the *ECHO* and author of *Spirit of the Blues: Everton’s Most Memorable Matches and Goodison Park’s Greatest Games*, I’ve chronicled 100 landmark games from the club’s 133-year history at England’s first purpose-built football stadium.
With one last chapter still to be written after this Sunday’s clash with Southampton, the book captures iconic Everton moments — from epic league wins to historic FA Cup ties, World Cup fixtures, and even a women’s game that once held a world attendance record for nearly a century. But for this countdown, we’re focusing solely on Everton matches, leaving out the broader events.
Goodison remains the ground with the most English top-flight games. While the Blues’ first title was clinched across Stanley Park at Anfield, every major triumph since has come at Goodison. This list is inevitably subjective, and many worthy games didn’t make the cut. From the 99 Everton fixtures in *Spirit of the Blues*, I’ve carefully selected 10 that span the decades and reflect the club’s storied past. Over the next five days, leading up to Everton’s final men’s game at the Grand Old Lady on May 18, we’ll count them down — starting with No. 10.
Number 10 – May 7, 1994: Everton 3–2 Wimbledon
It was a day of drama and dread. Facing relegation, Everton had to beat Wimbledon to survive — but quickly fell 2–0 behind to a Dean Holdsworth penalty and a Gary Ablett own goal. What followed was pure football theatre.
Graham Stuart converted a penalty on 24 minutes, Barry Horne blasted in a stunning equaliser on 67, and then Stuart sealed the comeback with a second goal on 81. Yet even as fans flooded the pitch, they didn’t know if the result was enough to keep the Blues up. It was — just. It wasn’t a moment for champagne, as Stuart recalled, but one that embodied the grit of Goodison.
Unlike the less dramatic escapes of 1998 and 2023, this was *Roy of the Rovers* stuff — a day when the old ground and its crowd refused to let their team go down.
Number 9 – April 20, 1963: Everton 1–0 Tottenham Hotspur
If Wimbledon was survival, this was a statement of dominance. Tottenham, double winners just two years earlier, came to Goodison for a title showdown in front of 67,650 fans — a club record at the time.
John Moores and manager Harry Catterick were building a new Everton for the Swinging Sixties, and this win proved it. On a pitch bursting with stars, John Smith’s 16th-minute goal sent shockwaves through the stadium — literally. One reporter swore the press box bounced from the noise.
The Blues went unbeaten at home all season, averaging over 50,000 fans per game, and secured the league title shortly after. That win over Spurs lit the spark for a golden era at Goodison.
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