top of page

Game #3520

Aston Villa

7-8-5, 22 PTS

Saturday, 23 December 1978

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

Drew

9th= (-)

Last 5: 🟥 🟨 🟩 🟨 🟨

Division One

Derby County

7-3-10, 17 PTS

Baseball Ground

Attendance: 20,109

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

Derby County

0-0

Villa.gif

Aston Villa

2509-2.png

Assist(s) | None

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

MATCH TIMELINE

Saturday, 23 December 1978

💥 | 10’ Goal disallowed, Kenny Swain
🕒 | HT Derby County 0-0 Aston Villa
🕒 | FT Derby County 0-0 Aston Villa

Match Statistics

Not recorded

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

Villa.gif

ON THIS DAY

Saturday, 23 December 1978

  • A simply unbelievable refereeing performance gifts Derby an undeserved goalless draw. 

  • Kenny Swain legitimately puts Villa ahead from a John Deehan cross on 9’ but the ball exits the goal through a hole in the net. The referee, Derek Richardson - described as having an “undistinguished match” - delayed the game for two minutes, inspected the net, called for repairs, was surrounded by Derby players, consulted his linesman and ruled Swain's strike out for a non-existent offside. 

  • Richardson would refuse to discuss his performance and decisions following the game much to the chagrin of the gathered press corps.

  • Ron Saunders' Villa go four games unbeaten to make it seven wins, eight draws and five defeats in twenty division one games this season.

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

Villa.gif

DEBUT APPEARANCES

None

FINAL APPEARANCES

None

2020-21 (h) Aston Villa Kit.gif

Aston Villa

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

Derby County

2509-2.png
Villa.gif

League Champions: 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: 1974-75

Aston Villa

Derby County

2509-2.png
Villa.gif

FIXTURE HISTORY

Villa v

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

Derby County

Previous 5 vs. Derby: 🟩 🟩 🟥 🟩 🟨

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

FIXTURE DETAILS

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

Season | 1978-79 |
Matchday | #25 |
League Match | #20 |
Manager Game | #238 |
Saturday, 23 December 1978

2020-21 (h) Aston Villa Kit.gif

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

MATCH SUMMARY

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

Manager: Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Birkenhead, 1974-1982
Referee: Derek Richardson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Lincoln, 1975–1981 🆘
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Result: 🟨 Drew
FT Score: 🟨 0-0
Last 5: 🟥 🟨 🟩 🟨 🟨

Scorers
Timeline
On This Day
Trophies
Matches
Fixture

MANAGERIAL RECORD

Villa.gif

Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982

GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME

🕒 238 | 🟩 | 109 🟨 | 64 🟥 65 | 1.64

Villa Career Form:

Top 6

ALL THE MATCHES LED BY:

Villa.gif
Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

MATCH OFFICIALS

Villa.gif

Referee: Derek Richardson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Lincoln, 1975–1981 🆘
Matches Officiated: 1
🟩 : 0
🟨 : 1
🟥 : 0
🆘 : 1
🆘 Disallowed a Kenny Swain goal from a John Deehan cross after the ball had entered the goal and exited via the side netting. Richardson would later claim Swain was offside and that was the reason the goal was chalked off. He wasn't. It wasn't.
Previous 5: None
Last Match: None
Cards: None

ALL THE MATCHES REFEREED BY:

Villa.gif

CARDS

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

None

None

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

Villa.gif

TEAM NEWS

TEAM STATS

Gary Shelton replaces John Gregory.

Starting XI Average Age
| 23.72 |

Oldest Player |
GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 30.89 |

Youngest Player |
RB Gary Williams | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 18.03 |

Referee
Manager

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

MANAGER

Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982

Villa.gif

Aston Villa

GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Kenny Swain | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB John Gidman | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Gary Williams | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Allan Evans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
CB Ken McNaught | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
M Tommy Craig | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Gary Shelton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Dennis Mortimer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
F John Deehan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

MANAGER

Tommy Docherty | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

2509-2.png

Derby County

GK David McKellar | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
LB Steve Buckley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB David Webb | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
CB Roy McFarland | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB David Langan | 🇮🇪 |
RB Steve Powell | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Gerry Daly | 🇮🇪 |
M Jonathon Clark | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
M Steve Carter | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Billy Caskey | 🇬🇧 |
W Gordon Hill | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Line Ups

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

SUBSTITUTES

Villa.gif

No Substitutions Made

SUBSTITUTES

2509-2.png

🔁 | CB David Webb | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | (CB Vic Moreland | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |)

Substitutes

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

Villa.gif

M John Gregory | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

2509-2.png

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

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

Villa.gif

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

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

SQUAD STATS

Villa.gif

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

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

SQUAD STATS

2509-2.png

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 9/11

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

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

MATCHDAY SQUAD

Villa.gif

MATCHDAY SQUAD

2509-2.png

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

UNAVAILABLE

Villa.gif

Injury | 3 |
W Frank Carrodus | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Andy Gray | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
F Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNAVAILABLE

Villa.gif

Not Recorded

Unavailable

LEAGUE TABLE

Villa.gif
2509-2.png
2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg

MATCHDAY PROGRAMME

Villa.gif
2509-2.png
2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg
Tables & Programmes

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

MATCH QUOTES

“It looked a good goal to me and until half time I had no idea why it was disallowed. “My players said the referee told them it was for offside. “That can’t be right, as the linesman did not raise his flag.” Ron Saunders.
Quotes

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

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)

Opens in New Window

Reports

🟨 23 December 1978, Villa 0-0 Derby, Baseball Ground.

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

MATCH VIDEO

Videos
bottom of page