Pausing, Ginola swayed left then right before slipping past Earle to fire a low shot past Neil Sullivan.Maybe Graham will prove better for Ginola than any manager he has played under “I thought he was terrific,” Graham said. The goal that brought Tottenham level in the 72nd minute, after Robbie Earle’s perfectly executed overhead kick on the hour had raised Wimbledon’s hopes of progression, further emphasised the extent of Ginola’s ability and imagination.Nothing much promised for Tottenham when Ginola drifted infield and took a square pass from Stephen Carr with Wimbledon’s defence packed in front of him. “I’ve told David [Ginola] that the best way to deal with all this is on the field.”If Ginola does not always perform to Graham’s satisfaction on alien territory (he has been repeatedly substituted away from home) he justified a full stint in the 1-1 draw that added another encounter to the serial. It wasn’t so much Ginola’s diving for penalties that bothered me as having players sent off.”George Graham had been determined to stay out of the controversy “I haven’t got involved,” he said when we spoke on Friday.

“Just about sums things up,” he said.
More to the point Ginola had risen above the grind of a hard fought Cup- tie and pantomime booing without incurring the wrath of Kinnear’s defenders. In fact, Gallagher never had cause to exercise his judgement in matters of legality. “Perhaps he [Ginola] is realising that he doesn’t need to act up,” Kinnear said, “and if that is the case our complaints after last week’s match have achieved something. “I’m not kidding,” Wimbledon’s manager Joe Kinnear said, up to mischief with a tasty morsel of information. “Ginola was asked for the shirt and he took it to the referee’s dressing-room. Saw it myself.”

All week long Kinnear had sought an edge in the ongoing saga of Ginola’s thespian activities and with three more matches to play against Tottenham he was not about to pass up an opportunity. Sending-off: Materazzi.Man of the match: Hutchison.Attendance: 28,854..

IT WAS almost too much of a good thing that David Ginola had been spotted handing over his shirt to referee Dermot Gallagher. Substitutes not used: Holster, Bracey (gk).Referee: M Riley (Leeds).Bookings: Everton: Barmby, Cadamarteri Ipswich: Thetis, Mowbray, Johnson, Bramble. Substitutes not used: Jevons, Milligan, Simonsen (gk).Ipswich Town (3-5-2): Wright; Thetis (Tanner, 84), Mowbray, Venus; Wilnis, Dyer, Stockwell (Bramble, 68), Holland, Clapham; Johnson, Petta (Naylor, h-t). If they start to struggle in that department, as well as in front of goal, it could yet be a hard winter at Goodison.Goal: Barmby (39) 1-0.Everton (3-5-2): Myhre; Cleland (O’Kane, 87), Materazzi, Unsworth; Ward, Grant, Hutchison, Barmby, Ball; Oster, Cadamarteri (Branch, 75). Cleland, performing well in an unaccustomed role in a back three, will be out for six weeks with a calf injury.For all Hutchison’s industry, Everton’s relative security in the Premiership is based more on defensive solidity than anything else. Apart from Fabian Wilnis’s disallowed strike in injury time, they kept Ipswich at bay with some ease, but they could find their resources stretched by Materazzi’s continuing disciplinary strife and the addition of Alex Cleland to their injury list. It was his second dismissal of a season during which he has already served three suspensions – a record that has limited his value to his new club.Everton, in fact, have defensive problems building up.