SATURDAY’S FOOTBALL MATCHES ASSOCIATION RULES. THE LEAGUE. NOTTS COUNTY V. ASTON VILLA In bright sunshine and with the air so balmy that players suffered cruelly for the delectation of the spectators, Notts County broke a lance with Aston Villa on Saturday at Perry Barr. The tourney was watched by at least 7,000 spectators and proved to be a spirited and enjoyable encounter. It showed the Villa team to have excellent stuff in it, and might have ended more conspicuously in a favour of that organisation if all its members had been in perfect training As it was, they set such a pace at the start that, although while it lasted they outplayed their opponents at every point of the game, it became an anxious question, before the fight was done, whether they could retain the advantage they had so brilliantly acquired. Their opponents having won the toss, they had to kick off with the sun in their faces, and instantly Daft and Locker were given the ball, and sped away down the field. Devey fell, and Daft centred to Oswald, who, a little too quick for Cox, headed the ball forward. Happily the shot flew wide of its mark, and when Warner had kicked out, the attack was instantly retorted, and that with interest. Amid almost intermittent applause, a rattling fire was directed on the visitors' citadel for a full five minutes. A shot from Hodgetts, at a difficult angle, went just outside; McKnight put in a brilliant bit of dodging; Connor delivered a shrewd aim from the other wing; and Graham and Dickson brought off a clever manoeuvre which nearly resulted in the latter player scoring with a dropping shot. For a moment Notts broke away, finely led by Oswald and Daft, and Evans had to give a throw-in near the corner. But Dickson dashed up the field again, dodging beautifully, and was never tackled till he reached Hendry in front of goal. Him, after a sharp rally he beat also, and so quick and perilous was his shot that Toone had to throw himself full length on the ground to ward it off with his hands. Next Hodgetts showed one of his old flashes, making a lot of ground and passing in smartly to Devey, whose shot was only diverted at the cost of a corner. This was finely taken by Brown, and he scored off Dickson’s legs. The point might have been almost immediately neutralised, for on the restart for Mclnnes found himself in front of the home goal, with none to say him nay but Warner, but his shot was a fine one only as judged by the Rugby code. At once the Villa forwards set about the business of adding to their score. Brown and Dickson took the ball along by a series of pretty passes, and centred at last in to Graham, whose shot, which sped like a bullet, was luckily stopped by Maclean. Down the field came Daft and Locker, bent on the like manoeuvre but the centring was grandly spoiled by Evans, and directly afterward Cowan put in a dangerous long shot in reply. But Dickson was the means of scoring the next point. He received the ball about fifteen yards from goal, and for the second time in the game he pierced a very thicket of antagonists. On the threshold of goal in he gave the ball to McKnight, who drove it through while Graham looked after Toone. When, after a moment or two of excitement, the spectators saw the attack to be deadly, a great roar of cheering acclaimed it. But directly afterwards a cry with a not of angry protest in it went up. The Notts men had raced down the field, and Locker, though appealed against off-side, had centred to McGregor, who had scored with a screwing shot. The Villa players, regardless of etiquette, joined in the protest, but the point was allowed. From this stage up until hall-time, the local men pressed their opponents as hotly as ever, and Dickson, McKnight, and Devey were in turn more or less alarming; but Toone was admirable as a court *en dernier ressort*, and nothing came of it all. During the interval the talk around the enclosure was to the sole effect that the visitors were playing "a beaten game" but the second half dispelled that notion rudely. To begin with Warner had twice to save his goal, and that he succeeded in one case was due as much to luck as anything, for somebody had been "fouled" right in front of the posts, and he had no time to get the ball away by any surer method than a kick right under the noses of the oncoming forwards. It is true that the home team now scored for the third time. McKnight having centred to Dickson, the latter headed so perilously that Hendry had to give a corner, from which, when Brown kicked across, Graham scored with a low quick shot. But after this much of the sparkle went out of the Villa game. It became the turn of the visitors to force the pace, and in doing so they developed confidence and a larger power of mischief. They made a sudden rally in front of the Villa goal, and peppered it furiously. Brown relieved the pressure for a moment, and McKnight having sent the ball across to Dickson, the centre forward came within an ace of scoring. Hodgetts too tried a long diagonal aim with ugly accuracy, but the Nottingham men, set on selling their lives dearly, took the ball grandly up the field again, and caught the home backs napping. Warner rushed out injudiciously and was beaten but a piece of illegitimate play at the very last pinch disentitled the visitors to count the point. Stimulated by the disappointment, they came on again in capital style, and, after one shot had just gone over the bar, McGregor centred to Locker, who put the ball through with a slow falling shot from his head. Thus the score was brought up to 2 goals against 3, and things began to look as if Notts would make up the slight disparity. Once, when Warner ran out again to meet Daft, it would have been done if Evans had not dashed in to the rescue. That player and Devey distinguished themselves at this period of the game by long kicks whose unfailing certainty of relief was of infinite value : but on the other side Maclean was not less serviceable. The doubtful struggle was waged for the most part in the home team's half of the ground, and it was probably fortunate for them that the Notts men, in their great eagerness, were betrayed into sundry "fouls”. Hendry showed furious ill-temper at one point, and the excitement reached fever- heat. Beyond a couple of corner-kicks on either side, however, nothing which looked like being decisive was done, and the game ended Villa 3, Notts 2.