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Game #4085

Aston Villa

8-3-4, 27 PTS

Saturday, 2 December 1989

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Won

1st= (-)

Last 5: 🟥 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩

Division One

Nottingham Forest

6-4-6, 22 PTS

Villa Park

Attendance: 25,575

🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

Aston Villa

2-1

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Nottingham Forest

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Assist(s) | Gordon Cowans | 76' |

🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

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MATCH TIMELINE
Saturday, 2 December 1989

⚽ | 2’ Goal, 1-0, Ian Olney
🥅 | 21’ Goal, 1-1, (Nottingham Forest), Lee Chapman
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 1-1 Nottingham Forest
⚽ | 76’ Goal, 2-1, David Platt, Assist by Gordon Cowans
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 2-1 Nottingham Forest

🟨 | Booking, Gordon Cowans, Late tackle
🟨 | Booking, Kent Nielsen, Grappling

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

🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

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ON THIS DAY
Saturday, 2 December 1989
  • Villa win for the eighth time in nine first division games and sit joint first in the table with Liverpool after a fine victory over Forest but almost as entertaining is the furious back-peddling of the Birmingham Evening Mail after their over the top criticisms of Graham Taylor's 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 side earlier in the season - although they took damning with feint praise to a whole new level.

  • Indeed the Evening Mail’s coverage begins: “IT WOULD come as no surprise to see Graham Taylor 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and the whole Villa team walking on water, so charmed are they at this moment.” Unbelievable.

  • Midfielder David Platt 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 contributes his 40th goal involvement on his 🕒 79th appearance in a Villa shirt to make it 🟩 W30 🟨 D20 🟥 L29, ⚽ 33 Goals and 🔥7 Assists at a rate of one goal involvement for evey 1.98 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

  • Ian Olney 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 scores his ⚽ 10th goal in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 39th appearance (26 Starts) to make it 🟩 W16 🟨 D10 🟥 L13, ⚽ 10 Goals and 🔥 1 Assist at a goal involvement per game rate of one for every 3,25 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

  • Having been goalless in his previous 19 games, Ian Ormondroyd 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ⚽ scores for the second time in four to make it 🕒 25 appearances (16 Starts), 🟩 W8 🟨 D5 🟥 L12, ⚽ 3 Goals and 2 Assists at a goal involvement per game rate of one for every 5.00 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

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DEBUT APPEARANCES

None

FINAL APPEARANCES

None

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

Nottingham Forest

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European Cup / Champions League: 🏆🏆
League Champions: 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1988-89

FIXTURE HISTORY
Nottingham Forest
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Previous 5 vs. Forest: 🟥 🟨 🟨 🟥 🟨

League 🕒 94 | 🟩 44 | 🟨 21 | 🟥 29 | ⚽ 167 | 🥅 137 |
FA Cup 🕒 9 | 🟩 4 | 🟨 1 | 🟥 4 | ⚽ 16 | 🥅 12 |
League Cup 🕒 2 | 🟩 1 | 🟨 0 | 🟥 1 | ⚽ 3 | 🥅 4 |
Home 🕒 50 | 🟩 32 | 🟨 9 | 🟥 9 | ⚽ 109 | 🥅 50 |

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

Nottingham Forest

PREVIOUS MATCH
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Nottingham Forest

SUBSEQUENT MATCH

🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

FIXTURE DETAILS
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Season | 1989-90 |
Matchday | #21 |
League Match | #16 |
Manager Game | #119 |
Saturday, 2 December 1989

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🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

MATCH SUMMARY
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Manager: Graham Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Worksop, 1987-1990
Referee: Roger Dilkes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Mossley, 1984-1997
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟨 1-1
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

🕒 119 | 🟩 | 52 🟨 | 29 🟥 38 | 1.55

Villa Career Form:

Top 8

Graham Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1987-1990

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

🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

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MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Roger Dilkes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Mossley, 1984-1997

VAR PROFILE (from 2021)

CARDS
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🟨 Gordon Cowans, Late tackle
🟨 Kent Nielsen, Grappling

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

🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

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TEAM NEWS
TEAM STATS

Graham Taylor names an unchanged line up for the second successive League game.

Starting XI Average Age
| 27.07 |

Oldest Player |
GK Nigel Spink | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 31.34 |

Youngest Player |
CF Ian Olney | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 19.97 |

Referee

🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

MANAGER

Graham Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1987-1990

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Aston Villa

GK Nigel Spink | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Chris Price | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Paul McGrath | 🇮🇪 |
CB Derek Mountfield | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Kent Nielsen | 🇩🇰 | 🟨 |
M Stuart Gray | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔥 | 🟨 |
M David Platt | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
W Tony Daley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Ian Olney | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
CF Ian Ormondroyd | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

MANAGER

Brian Clough | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

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Nottingham Forest

GK Mark Crossley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
LB Stuart Pearce | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Des Walker | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Steve Chettle | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Brian Laws | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Gary Crosby | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Brian Rice | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
M Garry Parker | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Nigel Clough | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Steve Hodge (ex) | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Lee Chapman | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |

Line Ups

🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

SUBSTITUTES
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No Substitutions Made

SUBSTITUTES

No Substitutions Made

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Substitutes

🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
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M Mark Blake | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Gareth Williams | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
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RB Gary Charles | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
F Nigel Jemson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

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

🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

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

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 11/13

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

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

🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

MATCHDAY SQUAD
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MATCHDAY SQUAD
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🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, 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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🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

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MATCH QUOTES
"Villa rose above this because of Cowans, of Platt's penchant to come up with a poisoned dart of a finish almost to order, and of lan Olney's willing front running."
Quotes

🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, 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 Evening Mail*
Monday, 4 December 1989
IT WOULD come as no surprise to see Graham Taylor and the whole Villa team walking on water, so charmed are they at this moment. The statistics make powerful enough reading - eight League wins out of nine, third in the table [sic], without even considering the factors which have landed them on the other side of a potential sea of discontent. It was on September 23 that Trevor Francis's three goals sent them on their way, leaking anxiety, apparently towards another engagement with the relegation area. Had anyone that day suggested it was Francis who would sink and Villa buoyantly bob to the top of Division One in nine matches, he would have been a candidate for a miracle cure of the head. The following two weeks held the key to this remarkable run, however. For one of the rare times in his life, Gordon Cowans asserted himself, politely told the manager that he was a first-teamer or nothing and was just as politely informed that he had better prove it. Then, a week later another of the club's model professionals, Kent Nielsen, returned to the central defence, armed with more than hearsay knowledge of the English way of football. Nielsen and Cowans had two things in common against Forest: they looked high-class international players, Villa's best on the pitch, and they were both booked. Cowans was faultless on a day he bestrode the centre stage, Villa's virtuoso, while David Platt was assigned to control Steve Hodge, Paul McGrath played as third central defender and the service from elsewhere was off-beat. Taylor made no attempt afterwards to hide from the truth of this victory - that Villa could just as well have lost. Villa rose above this because of Cowans, of Platt's penchant to come up with a poisoned dart of a finish almost to order, and of lan Olney's willing front running. Most of all, though, because the team are confident enough to step on water in the first place. It's not only the tide but fortune, too. that is running with them. Next week they face the supreme test.
Reports

🟩 2 Dec 1989, Villa 2-1 Forest, Villa Park

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MATCH VIDEO
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