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Game #3986

Aston Villa

Saturday, 31 October 1987

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Won

4th (-)

Last 5: 🟨 🟩 🟨 🟩 🟩

Division Two

Reading

Villa Park

Attendance: 13,413

🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

Aston Villa

2-1

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Reading

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🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

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MATCH TIMELINE
Saturday, 31 October 1987

🔁 | 8’ Sub off, David Hunt, Sub on, Andy Blair
💥 | 23’ Referee Mike Peck replaced by Martin Mountain
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 0-0 Reading
🥅 | 58’ Goal, 0-1, (Reading), Dean Horrix
⚽ | 64’ Goal, 1-1, Andy Blair, Assist by Mark Burke
⚽ | 78’ Goal, 2-1, Mark Lillis
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 2-1 Reading

🟨 | Booking, Mark Lillis, Retaliation
🟨 | Booking, Nigel Spink, Violent play

Match Statistics

Not recorded

Goal ⚽, Assist 🔥, Goal Conceded 🥅, Injury 🚑, Booking 🟨, Sending off 🟥, Comment 🗒️, ❗ Villa Chance,❗❗Huge Villa Chance, 💥 Opposition action, 🎥 VAR, 🆘 Referee error, ❌ Missed pen, disallowed goal, player retires from field of play, 🟢 Debut, 🔴 Final appearance, 🕒 Half time, Full time, 🔁 Substitution

🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

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ON THIS DAY
Saturday, 31 October 1987
  • Villa extend their unbeaten run to thirteen as Andy Blair scores after a 14-month lay off with injury to help secure victory over Reading as Villa remain fourth in the second division table.

  • Graham Taylor's Villa make it fourteen games unbeaten as they record their ninth win in thirteen. 

  • Meanwhile, Mark Burke made his final appearance for Villa aged 18 before moving on to Middlesbrough in December 1987 for a fee of £50,000. Burke played for Villa in 1986-87 and 1987-88 making 7 appearances.

🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

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DEBUT APPEARANCES

None

FINAL APPEARANCES

🔴 W Mark Burke | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1987 🕒 8 | ✅ 5 🔁 (3) | ⚽ 0 | 🔥 1 | 🇺 7 | #642 |

Seasons | 🕒 Games | ✅ Starts (🔁 Subs) | ⚽ Goals | 🔥 Assists | 🇺 Unused | Player Number |

Aston Villa

European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1981-82

Reading

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European Cup / Champions League: ❌
League Champions: ❌
FA Cup Winners: ❌
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: ❌

FIXTURE HISTORY
Reading
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Previous 5 vs. Reading: 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟨 🟩

Games 🕒, Won 🟩, Drew 🟨, Lost 🟥, Goals Scored ⚽, Goals Conceded 🥅

🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

FIXTURE DETAILS
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Season | 1987-88 |
Matchday | #20 |
League Match | #17 |
Manager Game | #20 |
Saturday, 31 October 1987

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🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

MATCH SUMMARY
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Manager: Graham Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Worksop, 1987-1990
Referee: Mike Peck | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Kendal, 1980-1993
Replaced by Martin Mountain | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Mansfield on 23'
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Result: 🟩 Won
FT Score: 🟩 2-1
Last 5: 🟨 🟩 🟨 🟩 🟩

Scorers
Timeline
On This Day
Trophies
Fixture
Manager
MANAGERIAL RECORD
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Graham Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1987-1990

🕒 20 | 🟩 | 10 🟨 | 7 🟥 3 | 1.85

Villa Career Form:

Top 4

Graham Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1987-1990

Games 🕒, Won 🟩, Drew 🟨, Lost 🟥, Points per Game

🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

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MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Mike Peck | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Kendal, 1980-1993

VAR PROFILE (from 2021)

CARDS
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🟨 Mark Lillis, Retaliation
🟨 Nigel Spink, Violent play

CARDS
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None

Won 🟩, Drew 🟨, Lost 🟥, Notably poor performance 🆘, Cards 🟨 Booking, Cards 🟥 Sending off, Disallowed ❌ Goal disallowed, ⚽ Penalty for, 🥅 Penalty against, ❌ Penalty Disallowed

🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

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TEAM NEWS
TEAM STATS

Mark Burke replaces Mark Walters.

Starting XI Average Age
| 24.54 |

Oldest Player |
CB Steve Sims | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 30.35 |

Youngest Player |
W Mark Burke | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 18.73 |

Referee

🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

MANAGER

Graham Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1987-1990

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Aston Villa

GK Nigel Spink | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
RB Kevin Gage | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Martin Keown | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Steve Sims | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Bernie Gallacher | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
M Warren Aspinall | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M David Hunt | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
M Paul Birch | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Mark Lillis | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ | 🟨 |
W Mark Burke | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔥 | 🔴 |
CF Alan McInally | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

MANAGER

Ian Branfoot | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

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Reading

GK Gary Westwood | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Linden Jones | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
D Mick Tait | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
D Martin Hicks | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Keith Curle | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Michael Gilkes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Jerry Williams | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Les Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W Neil Smillie | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
F Dean Horrix | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
CF Colin Gordon | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Line Ups

🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

SUBSTITUTES
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🔁 | M Andy Blair | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | ⚽ | for M David Hunt | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 8' |

SUBSTITUTES

No Substitutions Made

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Substitutes

🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
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F Gary Shaw | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
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CB Gary Peters | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Stuart Beavon | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

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

Squad Bios

🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

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

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 13/13

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

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 13/13

🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

MATCHDAY SQUAD
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MATCHDAY SQUAD
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🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

UNAVAILABLE
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Not recorded

UNAVAILABLE
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Not Recorded

Unavailable
LEAGUE TABLE
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Tables & Programmes
🟩 12 Apr 2025, Villa 3-0 Southampton, St Mary's TBL.png
MATCHDAY PROGRAMME
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🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, Villa Park

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MATCH QUOTES
“Lousy game, good result.” Graham Taylor.
Quotes

🟩 31 Oct 1987, Villa 2-1 Reading, 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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