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Game #3518

Aston Villa

7-6-5, 20 PTS

Saturday, 9 December 1978

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Won

9th= (-)

Last 5: 🟩 🟩 🟥 🟨 🟩

Division One

Chelsea

2-4-12, 8 PTS

Stamford Bridge

Attendance: 19,080

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea

0-1

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Aston Villa

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Assist(s) | Gary Shaw | 15' |

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

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MATCH TIMELINE

Saturday, 9 December 1978

⚽ | 15’ Goal, 1-0, Allan Evans, Assist by Gary Shaw
🕒 | HT Chelsea 0-1 Aston Villa
🔁 | 82' Sub off, Gary Shaw, Sub on, Alex Cropley
🕒 | FT Chelsea 0-1 Aston Villa

Match Statistics

Not recorded

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

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ON THIS DAY

Saturday, 9 December 1978

  • A still injury ravaged Villa luck in at Stamford Bridge as they benefit from a curious power play between referee and linesman as Allan Evans strikes from an offside position to put Villa ahead with the ultimately crucial winning goal. 

  • Meanwhile, Ron Saunders is busy buying in new players to try and offset the injury crisis that has plagued the club since the start of the campaign.

  • Ron Saunders' Villa win for the first time in three to make it seven wins, six draws and five defeats in eighteen division one games this season. 

  • Meanwhile, full back Gordon Smith made his final Villa appearance age 24 before moving on to Spurs in February 1979 for a fee of £150,000. Smith played for Villa between 1976-77 and 1978-79 making 96 appearances.

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

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DEBUT APPEARANCES

None

FINAL APPEARANCES

🔴 FB Gordon Smith | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 1976-78 | 🕒 96 | 72 (14) | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 5 | 🇺 6 | #582 |

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Aston Villa

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

Chelsea

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UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆
Last Trophy: 1970-71

Aston Villa

Chelsea

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FIXTURE HISTORY

Villa v

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Chelsea

Previous 5 vs. Chelsea: 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟩

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

FIXTURE DETAILS

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Season | 1978-79 |
Matchday | #23 |
League Match | #18 |
Manager Game | #236 |
Saturday, 9 December 1978

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🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

MATCH SUMMARY

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Manager: Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Birkenhead, 1974-1982
Referee: Clive Thomas | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | Treorchy, 1966–1984
Kick off: 3.00pm
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

🕒 236 | 🟩 | 109 🟨 | 62 🟥 65 | 1.65

Villa Career Form:

Top 6

ALL THE MATCHES LED BY:

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Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

MATCH OFFICIALS

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Referee: Clive Thomas | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | Treorchy, 1966–1984 🆘
Matches Officiated: 19
🟩 : 10
🟨 : 3
🟥 : 6
🆘 : 5
🆘 Thomas was accused of failing to consult his linesman for an offside flag for Villa's goal, that his decision was correct didn't take away from the perception that for Thomas it was always about his profile.
Previous 5: 🟩 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟩
Last Match: 🟩 19 August 1978, Villa 1-0 Wolves, Villa Park.
Cards: None

ALL THE MATCHES REFEREED BY:

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CARDS

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None

None

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

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TEAM NEWS

TEAM STATS

Gordon Smith replaces Gary Williams.

Starting XI Average Age
| 24.02 |

Oldest Player |
GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 30.85 |

Youngest Player |
F Gary Shaw | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 17.06 |

Referee
Manager

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

MANAGER

Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982

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Aston Villa

GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB John Gidman | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
FB Gordon Smith | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 🔴 |
CB Allan Evans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | ⚽ |
CB Ken McNaught | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
M Tommy Craig | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M John Gregory | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Dennis Mortimer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
F John Deehan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
F Gary Shaw | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔥 | 🔁 |

MANAGER

Ken Shellito | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

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Chelsea

GK Bob Iles | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB David Stride | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
D Steve Wicks | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Ron Harris | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Graham Wilkins | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Ray Wilkins | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M John Bumstead | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Ian Britton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
M Gary Stanley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Trevor Aylott | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Duncan McKenzie | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |

Line Ups

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

SUBSTITUTES

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🔁 | M Alex Cropley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | for F Gary Shaw | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 82' |

SUBSTITUTES

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🔁 | CF Duncan McKenzie | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | (W Clive Walker | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |)

Substitutes

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

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

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

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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

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

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

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

MATCHDAY SQUAD

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MATCHDAY SQUAD

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🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

UNAVAILABLE

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Injury | 4 |
W Frank Carrodus | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Andy Gray | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
F Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Gary Shelton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNAVAILABLE

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Not Recorded

Unavailable

LEAGUE TABLE

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MATCHDAY PROGRAMME

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Tables & Programmes

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

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MATCH QUOTES

“I have agreed terms with Chelsea for [Kenny Swain]. “There is a slight problem at their end, but I do not envisage any difficulties. "Clyde have also agreed to sell [Joe] Ward and I am hoping he will travel down to sign in the next day or so." “I believe that with our game in hand we can now move into the top six of the First Division. "Our position in the League speaks for the character of our players. “We have had terrible luck with injuries and several youngsters have come into the side and performed nobly. “But it is not always possible to pin all your hopes on young players immediately. “They need to be nursed carefully and used sparingly at the start of their careers. "We played very well and should have won much more easily." Ron Saunders.
Quotes

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

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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

🟩 9 December 1978, Villa 1-0 Chelsea, Stamford Bridge.

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MATCH VIDEO

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