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Game #3468

Aston Villa

8-4-6, 20 PTS

Saturday, 10 December 1977

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Won

10th (+1)

Last 5: 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟩

Division One

West Bromwich Albion

8-7-4, 23 PTS

Villa Park

Attendance: 41,631

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

Aston Villa

3-0

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West Brom

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🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

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MATCH TIMELINE

Saturday, 10 December 1977

🔁 | 18’ Sub off, Ken McNaught, Sub on, Gordon Cowans
⚽ | 35’ Goal, 1-0, Gordon Cowans, Assist by John Gidman
💥 | 44’ Villa reduced to 10 men, Player retired injured, Alex Cropley
⚽ | 44’ Goal, 2-0, Andy Gray, Assist by John Gidman
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 2-0 West Bromwich Albion
⚽ | 54’ Goal, 3-0, John Gidman
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 3-0 West Bromwich Albion

🟨 | Booking, Leighton Phillips, Heavy tackle.

Match Statistics

Not recorded

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

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ON THIS DAY

Saturday, 10 December 1977

  • Villa suffer at the hands of "Albion’s over-aggressive display" as another poor refereeing performance - this one widely condemned - sees Alex Cropley's career all but ended as Villa cruise to victory over Ronnie Allen's thugs.

  • Ron Saunders' Villa hammer Albion despite playing the second half with 10 men following Alex Cropley's injury. As a result Villa make it eight wins, four draws and six defeats in eighteen division one games this season.

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

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DEBUT APPEARANCES

None

FINAL APPEARANCES

None

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Aston Villa

League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1976-77

West Bromwich Albion

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League Champions: 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆
Last Trophy: 1967-68

Aston Villa

West Bromwich Albion

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FIXTURE HISTORY

Villa v

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West Bromwich Albion

Previous 5 vs. Albion: 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟨 🟩

West Bromwich Albion

PREVIOUS MATCH

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West Bromwich Albion

SUBSEQUENT MATCH

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

FIXTURE DETAILS

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Season | 1977-78 |
Matchday | #27 |
League Match | #18 |
Manager Game | #186 |
Saturday, 10 December 1977

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🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

MATCH SUMMARY

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Manager: Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Birkenhead, 1974-1982
Referee: Jim Bent | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Hemel Hempstead, 1972-1978 🆘
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟩 2-0
FT Result: 🟩 Won
FT Score: 🟩 3-0
Last 5: 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟩

Scorers
Timeline
On This Day
Trophies
Matches
Fixture

MANAGERIAL RECORD

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Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982

GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME

🕒 186 | 🟩 | 90 🟨 | 47 🟥 49 | 1.70

Villa Career Form:

Top 6

ALL THE MATCHES LED BY:

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Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

MATCH OFFICIALS

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Referee: Jim Bent | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Hemel Hempstead, 1972-1978 🆘
Matches Officiated: 3
🟩 : 3
🟨 : 0
🟥 : 0
🆘 : 1
🆘 Total failure to stop vile Albion's feverish physical intimidation. An awful, shameful performance that allowed the animals of Albion to take man not ball throughout the game. To make matters worse Bent defended himself and made light of the physicality in an appalling post game statement. Bent would never referee Villa again and disappeared off the football scene shortly after. A disgrace.
Previous 5: 🟩 🟩
Last Match: 🟩 16 May 1977, Villa 1-0 Stoke, Villa Park.
Cards: 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨

ALL THE MATCHES REFEREED BY:

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CARDS

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🟨

🟨 🟨 🟨

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

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TEAM NEWS

TEAM STATS

Alex Cropley replaces Gordon Cowans.

Starting XI Average Age
| 25.39 |

Oldest Player |
GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 29.85 |

Youngest Player |
CF Andy Gray | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 22.04 |

Referee
Manager

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

MANAGER

Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982

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Aston Villa

GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Ken McNaught | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 🔁 |
FB Gordon Smith | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
RB John Gidman | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔥 | 🔥 | ⚽ |
M Leighton Phillips | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | 🟨 |
M Alex Cropley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | ❌ |
M John Gregory | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Dennis Mortimer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W Frank Carrodus | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
F Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Andy Gray | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | ⚽ |

MANAGER

Ronnie Allen | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

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West Bromwich Albion

GK Tony Godden | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Paddy Mulligan | 🇮🇪 |
CB Aly Robertson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
D John Wile | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Derek Statham | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Bryan Robson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
M Len Cantello | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
W Laurie Cunningham | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
CF Alistair Brown | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 🟨 |
CF Cyrille Regis | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Tony Brown | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Line Ups

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

SUBSTITUTES

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🔁 | M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ | for CB Ken McNaught | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 18' |

SUBSTITUTES

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🔁 | W Laurie Cunningham | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | (M Mick Martin | 🇮🇪 |)

Substitutes

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

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None

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

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None

Player Positions:

GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half


M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward

Match Symbols:

⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution

🟨 | Booking

🟥 | Sending off

🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

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MATCHDAY SQUAD BIOGRAPHIES

STARTING XI

* This Game

Game
Start
Goal
Assist
Win
Draw
Loss
Goal Conceded
Clean Sheet
Yellow
Red
GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

SUBSTITUTES

Game
Sub
Goal
Assist
Win
Draw
Loss
Goal Conceded
Clean Sheet
Yellow
Red
M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
44
13*
6*
3
22*
8
14
-
-
0
0

UNUSED

Unused
Squad Bios

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

SQUAD STATS

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1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 11/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 12/12

SQUAD STATS

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1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 10/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 10/12

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

MATCHDAY SQUAD

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MATCHDAY SQUAD

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🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

UNAVAILABLE

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Injury | 2 |
FB John Robson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
F John Deehan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNAVAILABLE

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Not Recorded

Unavailable

LEAGUE TABLE

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MATCHDAY PROGRAMME

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Tables & Programmes

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

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MATCH QUOTES

"I don't want to disappoint anybody, but these things take time [signing a replace for Alex Cropley]. "I am not at all certain now that I will be able to sign a new player before Thursday’s midnight UEFA Cup Quarter Final deadline. “I am not allowed to comment on the referee [Jim Bent’s handling of the game. “But we shall be making an official complaint through the appropriate channels. “It was a late tackle. It was over zealous. “But there was no way the tBrown could have done that on purpose.” Ron Saunders. “As soon as I was tackled I knew what had happened [broken tibula and fibula in the left leg] because I heard the cracks. “The tackles was late and a bit high. “But he didn’t go over the top of the ball. “I thought the referee was right to book him. But that was enough. “I have played with Ally Brown since we were 14 year olds in Scottish Junior Football and he is not an over the top merchant. “I nipped in to beat him to the ball. But he carried through with his tackle. “I had all my weight on my left leg when he connected. “I felt I had been playing quite well this season and there had been talk about Argentine [World Cup]. “But I must forget about that now and concentrate on my recovery. “I am not bitter about it and I have no hard feelings. “You have to be prepared to accept knocks in this game.” Alex Cropley. “It was an accident. I was the cause of the injury and I was as sick as anyone about it. “But anybody who knows me must also know that I have never gone over the top intentionally in my life. Ally Brown. “I suppose on reflection, I might have been stricter at the start. But it is easy to say that after the event. “I could see no intent on his [Ally Brown’s] part and I checked this with my linesman. “Cropley jumped over Brown to win the ball, Brown followed through catching Cropley at the back of the leg.” Referee Jim Bent.
Quotes

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

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MATCH REPORTS

Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. With thanks to Reach PLC. Digitised by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited. All rights reserved. Source: British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

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Reports

🟩 10 December 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park.

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MATCH VIDEO

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