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Game #3499

Aston Villa

Wednesday, 30 August 1978

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Won

2nd Round

Last 5: 🟥 🟩 🟩 🟥 🟩

League Cup

Sheffield Wednesday

Villa Park

Attendance: 31,152

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

Aston Villa

1-0

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Sheffield Wednesday

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Assist(s) | Gordon Cowans | 26' |

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

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MATCH TIMELINE

Wednesday, 30 August 1978

⚽ | 26’ Goal, 1-0, Gary Shelton, Assist by Gordon Cowans
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday
🟨 | 79’ Booking, Gordon Smith, Foul
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday

Match Statistics

Not recorded

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

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ON THIS DAY

Wednesday, 30 August 1978

Ron Saunders' Villa beat third division Wednesday in the second round of the league cup courtesy of Gary Shelton's first goal for the club.

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

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DEBUT APPEARANCES

FINAL APPEARANCES

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Aston Villa

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

Sheffield Wednesday

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League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: 1934–35

Aston Villa

Sheffield Wednesday

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FIXTURE HISTORY

Villa v

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Sheffield Wednesday

Previous 5 vs. Wednesday: 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

FIXTURE DETAILS

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Season | 1978-79 |
Matchday | #4 |
Manager Game | #217 |
Wednesday, 30 August 1978

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🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

MATCH SUMMARY

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Manager: Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Birkenhead, 1974-1982
Referee: Steve Bates | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Bristol, 1977–1984 🆘
HT Score: 🟩 1-0
FT Result: 🟩 Won
FT Score: 🟩 1-0
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

🕒 217 | 🟩 | 103 🟨 | 54 🟥 60 | 1.67

Villa Career Form:

Top 6

ALL THE MATCHES LED BY:

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Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

MATCH OFFICIALS

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Referee: Steve Bates | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Bristol, 1977–1984 🆘
Matches Officiated: 1
🟩 : 1
🟨 : 0
🟥 : 0
🆘 : 1
🆘 Completely failed to rein in the anti football thuggery of Jack Charlton's new side.
Previous 5: None
Last Match: None
Cards: 🟨 🟨 🟨

ALL THE MATCHES REFEREED BY:

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CARDS

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🟨

🟨 🟨

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

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TEAM NEWS

TEAM STATS

Andy Gray returns in place of John Gregory.

Starting XI Average Age
| 24.41 |

Oldest Player |
GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 30.57 |

Youngest Player |
M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 19.85 |

Referee
Manager

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

MANAGER

Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982

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Aston Villa

GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB John Gidman | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Allan Evans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
CB Ken McNaught | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
FB Gordon Smith | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔥 |
M Dennis Mortimer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Gary Shelton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
W Frank Carrodus | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
F Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Andy Gray | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

MANAGER

Jack Charlton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

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Sheffield Wednesday

GK Bob Bolder | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Ray Blackhall | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Hugh Dowd | 🇬🇧 |
CB Mark Smith | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Jimmy Mullen | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
D David Rushbury | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB David Grant | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Ian Porterfield | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 🟨 | 🔁 |
M Jeff Johnson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | 🟨 |
F Brian Hornsby | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
F Tommy Tynan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Line Ups

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

SUBSTITUTES

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No Substitutions Made

SUBSTITUTES

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🔁 | M Ian Porterfield | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | (W Gordon Owen | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |)

Substitutes

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

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M Leighton Phillips | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |

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

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, 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

UNUSED

Unused
Squad Bios

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, 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 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 11/11

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

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

MATCHDAY SQUAD

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MATCHDAY SQUAD

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🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

UNAVAILABLE

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Injury | 3 |
M Alex Cropley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
F John Deehan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Tommy Craig | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

UNAVAILABLE

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Not Recorded

Unavailable

LEAGUE TABLE

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MATCHDAY PROGRAMME

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Tables & Programmes

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

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MATCH QUOTES

Quotes

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, 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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*Birmingham Daily Post*
Thursday, 31 August 1978

Aston Villa coasted into the third round of the Football League Cup last night refusing to become involved in a brawl with their rugged Third Division opponents Sheffield Wednesday. Gary Shelton scored the all-important winning goal In the 26th minute after an outstanding move between John Gidman and Gordon Cowans and Villa afterwards sensibly kept their control and composure. It would have been easy for them to have lost their heads as the Yorkshire side inexplicably endeavoured to match skill with brawn. But Villa’s experienced professionals went about their task with just the right kind of determination to see them through to a deserved success. Bristol referee Steven Bates seldom gave Villa’s players the protection they required as Sheffield Wednesday’s men attempted to knock them out of their purposeful stride. Three players were booked - Wednesday’s Jeff Johnson and Ian Porterfield and Villa’s Gordon Smith - but the official might have taken even sterner action. Jackie Charlton’s side certainly failed to endear themselves to the 31,152 Villa Park crowd with tactics which left a lot to be desired. Their formation right from the start was also less than inspiring. They employed five men at the back, four in midfield and left Tommy Tynan up front as the solitary striker. Tynan was virtually the “loan ranger”. He did engage goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer in one save after 14 minutes when Villa’s defence was caught on a breakaway, but that was to be almost Wednesday’s only chance. There was really little excuse for Wednesday’s aggressive tactics and Johnson deservedly went into referee Bates’ book for scything down midfield architect Cowans after 51 minutes. The brilliant 19 year old prospect was often subjected to tackling of the most dubious nature and fortunately he was able to come through unscathed. Andy Gray, back in the side after injury, was also a target for fierce punishment from Hugh Dowd and the centre had could count himself lucky not to have been sent off. But Porterfield became the second Sheffield player to receive a caution when he viciously chopped down Shelton after 67 minutes in sheer desperation. Threatened Villa’s Smith had his name taken after a foul on Johnson after 79 minutes but this was the only time that any of the home players even threatened to resort to the tactics of their opponents. Under normal circumstances Villa should have won this game by miles. Their build up was vastly superior and in Cowans, Frank Carrodus and Dennis Mortimer they had by far the more skilful midfield performers. The build up was right and at times only brave goalkeeping by Bob Bolder prevented them from scoring a hat full of goals. As early as the 12th minute Gray might have scored with a powerful header after a right wing centre from Gidman. But Bolder flung himself across his goal to tip the ball away. Delightful Villa’s goal came however from a delightful move with Brian Little sending Gidman away down the right. The full back sent in a smart cross and Cowans prodded the ball forward for Shelton to score with a powerful drive. Villa were denied an obvious penalty just before half time when Gray was flattened by Dowd. Everyone in the ground knew it should have been a penalty apart from referee Bates. Wednesday’s defensive tactics succeeded to a degree in spoiling Villa’s attacking play, but it was nearly always one way traffic. The second half degenerated into football of the worst kind and Wednesday should have been punished with further goals.
Reports

🟩 30 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wednesday, Villa Park.

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MATCH VIDEO

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