ASTON VILLA v. SUNDERLAND. - The Aston Villa Committee are making elaborate arrangements for the accommodation of the great crowd which is expected to be present at the meeting of the Aston Villa and Sunderland teams tomorrow. Large as was the attendance when the Villa and Wanderers played the first round won the 27th, it is thought that it will be exceeded on this occasion, and the committee of the Villa are providing accommodation of 40,000 spectators. The unreserved portions of the ground are being further banked up, so that, if necessary, the spectators can, in places, stand nearly a hundred deep, and all obtain a fair view of the game. Ample means of entrance and exit will be furnished, and the gates, as on the previous occasion, will be thrown open at twelve o’clock, or three hours before the kick-off. The elevens will probably be unchanged from last week, and all the men are reported to be in excellent condition; so that if the weather is favourable, a great match may confidently be expected. The Sunderland team will arrive in Birmingham at 8.40 to-night, and will make the Colonnade Hotel their headquarters. --- *The Birmingham Daily Post* Monday 19 February 1894 SATURDAY’S FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION RULES. ENGLISH CUP: SECOND ROUND (REPLAYED TIES). ASTON VILLA v. SUNDERLAND. This tie was played at Perry Barr, in a heavy fall of rain and snow, but not-withstanding these adverse conditions there was an attendance of about 12,000 spectators. The home team played the better game throughout, and at half-time led by 1 goal to 0. The second half was marked by the Villa keeping up the pressure almost throughout. The game ended in a win for the Villa by 2 goals to 0. At the conclusion of the game a meeting of the Emergency Committee was held, and it was decided to regard the match as a friendly one. The tie will therefore be re- played at Perry Barr on Wednesday next. --- *The Birmingham Daily Post* Thursday 22 February 1894 FOOTBALL. ASSOCIATION CUP. - SECOND ROUND. ASTON VILLA v. SUNDERLAND. Before a crowd of more than twenty thousand people yesterday the Aston Villa football team established their right to meet Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday in the third round of the English Cup competition. The great combination of the North, who won the championship of the League for two seasons in succession, were no match for the Villa, and retired beaten by three goals to one, a total that would have been much heavier but for the brilliant goalkeeping of Doig, who stopped every shot which, by reason of his great reputation, he might fairly have been expected to stop, and a good many more which he apparently had a very small chance of saving. No matter how difficult the shot he was never at a loss how to deal with - it, and the great crowd present cheered him again and again. The Villa have thoroughly earned their victory - it would, indeed, have been exceeding bad fortune if they had lost. On Saturday in the mud they were the better team; yesterday in the frost they once more proved their superiority, and no club at present left in the competition more richly deserve success than do Aston Villa. It is to be hoped that the men will not feel stale on Saturday, and on that account succumb to an admittedly inferior combination. The Perry Barr players all looked exceedingly well when they entered the enclosure yesterday, and their play showed that they were not suffering in the slightest degree from the effects of the two severe fights with the now beaten Sunderland eleven. If they are well on Saturday they will win, and they will undoubtedly go to Sheffield with the best wishes of all footballers in the district. Nor will they be without supporters, for doubtless a large number of persons will avail themselves of the excursions which will be ran by Messrs. Cook and Sons. The first will leave New Street Station at half-past nine o’clock in the morning, and is due to arrive at Sheffield at noon, whilst a second train will leave Birmingham at five minutes past twelve o’clock, and is timed to reach Sheffield at ten minutes past two. The return fare by the first excursion is 4s., by the second 3s. In many quarters it was feared that the match might have to be again postponed owing to the frozen state of the ground. Fortunately, however, those fears were not realised, and the match, which was pleasantly contested, ended without any player sustaining serious hurt. True, falls were frequent, but not so frequent as might have been expected, thanks to the excellent precautions taken by the Villa committee, the field of play prior to the commencement of the match having been thickly strewn with sand, thus affording a better foothold for the men engaged in the contest than would otherwise have been the case. The arrangements for the accommodation of the crowd were also excellent, and everyone present must have had a fairly good view of the game. Scarcely a breath of air was stirring when the teams entered the arena; but, nevertheless, the crowd cheered when Devey won the toss, inasmuch as it enabled him to place his men with their backs to the sun. The start was sensational, the Villa forwards at once obtaining possession of the ball, which was passed and re-passed with beautiful precision until it was taken close into goal. One of the Sunderland players touched the ball out, but the throw-in gave Woolley a chance to centre, and the ball came right into the goal mouth. Gow tried to kick it out of danger but failed to get fairly hold of it, and it twisted off his foot to Athersmith, who promptly shot it into the net. This success, gained two minutes after the start, augured well for the Villa’s success and a great cheer went up from the crowd. Another attack quickly followed, but proved unsuccessful and then Sunderland forced the game. J. Hannah quickly secured a splendid chance of shooting, but slipped when about to kick, and ere he could recover himself was charged off the ball by Baird, and the opportunity was lost. The game was fiercely contested by each side and attacks followed in quick succession, but the defence of either team was exceedingly reliable. At this early. stage of the contest it was noticeable that the Villa were playing the more finished game, and their forwards, when they got down, were always more dangerous than were those of the visitors. The latter in the field worked capitally, but invariably fell to pieces near goal. Hodgetts was cheered for one grand run, which all but gave his side a goal and a moment later Gillespie secured a splendid opening, but ere he could shoot Groves came with one of his rushes, and robbed the Sunderland player of the ball. An exciting scrimmage followed near Sunderland’s goal, but Doig twice fisted out dangerous shots, and then Reynolds put an end to the suspense by kicking over. The Villa were the better side, and the forwards experienced terribly hard luck in not scoring on many occasions. Many corners fell to them, but the visitors packed their goal and prevented its further downfall until eight minutes from the interval, when Chatt scored a second with a lovely shot, Doig having no chance whatever of stopping the ball. The point was the outcome of some beautiful passing, in which every forward had a share. Being centred from the left, the ball was passed by Athersmith to Chatt, who made no mistake. The Villa were distinctly the better team, and the Sunderland goal had several narrow escapes before the interval, but, thanks to the fine custodianship of Doig and the sound defence of the backs, it was not again captured. The manner in which the Villa had performed in the first half clearly pointed to their ultimate victory, and when ten minutes alter the change of ends they scored again the result was beyond doubt. The third goal was the best scored during the contest, and Hodgetts, who obtained it, was cheered again and again. It would not be going too far, perhaps, to say that he never scored a finer goal during his long career as a player. He dribbled round two opponents and from a distance of twenty yards shot hard and low for goal. The, ball passed through the corner, Doig making no attempt to stop it, so quickly was it shot. Although they had three goals in hand, the Villa forwards played desperately hard, Athersmith making some grand rushes, but never quite succeeding in getting the ball through. With the Villa still having the best of play time wore on, but at length Sunderland commenced to press, the Villa having somewhat relaxed their efforts. From a throw in by Wilson Dunlop tried a fine shot, but the ball struck the crossbar and rebounded into play. It was very bad luck, but the Villa themselves had been just as unlucky, for only a few minutes before a shot from Woolley had struck the Sunderland cross-bar. Though Sunderland were pressing they did not appear likely to score, the Villa defence being as steady as a rock and 3 goals to 0 seemed likely to be the final result. In the last five minutes, however, Hannah scored with a fine shot, Sunderland’s only point, for try as hard as they could they were not able to again beat the defence. Three goals to 1 was the extent of the Villa’s victory, but 5 goals to 1 would have better represented the difference between the teams. The Villa forwards were greatly superior to those of Sunderland, whilst the half-backs were also stronger. The visitors’ backs, however, played a great game, and the only fault to be urged against a masterly exhibition by Gow was the mis-kick which gave the Villa their first goal. Devey, as usual, played finely in the centre, whilst Hodgetts showed himself a master of the game, and his little partner Woolley performed excellently. Chatt did grandly as inside right and Athersmith ran, dribbled and centred in his best style. The half-backs played a great game, and broke up the Sunderland combination time after time, and it would be unfair to make comparisons between them. Both Baird and Elliott kicked and tackled with great judgment, and some of the latter’s efforts for goal caused Doig no end of trouble. Dunning did what little he had to do very cleverly. Campbell, Miller, and Harris played well for Sunderland, but the forwards as a whole were not very effective, and fell away badly in front of goal. Wilson was best of the half- backs, but Dunlop also played creditably. We have preciously referred to the play of Doig and the backs.