Game #2642
Aston Villa
Tuesday, 2 May 1961
Won
Semi Final
Last 5: 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟩 🟩
League Cup
Attendance: 7,953
Burnley
Old Trafford
Aston Villa
2-1
Burnley
Assist(s) | Alan Deakin | 87' |
MATCH SUMMARY
Villa win through to the League Cup final with a goal 3 minutes from time from Gerry Hitchens. Sadly that would be the goalscoring superstar's last act in a Villa shirt as the club prematurely sold him in the close season. The final itself was slated to take place before the start of the 1961-62 campaign subject to FA approval, if that was not forthcoming the two legged tie would be played in September before the first round of the 1961-62 League Cup. A bizarre mess.
KEY MAN
Gerry Hitchens, final act was to score to put Villa through to the first ever League Cup final, Tuesday, 2 May 1961.
PREVIOUS MATCH
NEXT MATCH
%20Aston%20Villa%20Kit_gif.png)
Copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission.
MATCH TIMELINE
Tuesday, 2 May 1961
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 0-0 Burnley
⚽ | 69' Goal, 1-0, Stan Lynn, pen
🥅 | 70' Goal, 1-1, (Burnley), Jimmy Robson
⚽ | 87' Goal, 2-1, Gerry Hitchens, Assist by Alan Deakin
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 2-1 Burnley
ON THIS DAY
Joe Mercer's Villa's play their thirteenth game in thirty nine days to beat fourth placed Burnley in the Semi Final replay at Old Trafford for the inaugural League Cup.
Such is the fixture congestion caused by the addition of, and success in, a new cup on the calendar that Villa have already played fifty seven games this season and are forced to postpone to the two legged final against second division Rotherham until the following season.
Despite an often fabulous return to the top flight for Joe Mercer’s men a tragedy - in the footballing sense - struck as the peerless Gerry Hitchens made his final appearance for Villa aged just 26, before his record breaking move to Inter Milan in the close season for £60,000.
Hitchens should never have needed to leave but sadly Villa cashed in and a rare talent was lost to the club and a legend in the mould of a Pongo Waring or Billy Walker left the Villa Park stage.
Aston Villa
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1956-57
Burnley
League Champions: 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆
Last Trophy: 1959-60
FIXTURE HISTORY
Burnley
Previous 5 vs. Burnley: 🟨 🟩 🟨 🟨 🟨
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 1960-61 |
Matchday | #57 |
Manager Game | #132 |
Tuesday, 2 May 1961
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: Joe Mercer | 🏴 | Ellesmere Port, 1958-1964
Referee: Unknown
Kick off: 7.30pm
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Result: 🟩 Won
FT Score: 🟩 2-1
Last 5: 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟩 🟩
MANAGERIAL RECORD
Joe Mercer | 🏴 |
GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME
🕒 129 | 🟩 | 62 🟨 30 🟥 37 | 1.67
Villa Career Form:
Top 6
ALL THE MATCHES LED BY:
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Unknown
Cards: None
ALL THE MATCHES REFEREED BY:
CARDS
Villa
None
Burnley
None
TEAM NEWS
Gordon Lee, Stan Lynn and Ron Wylie replace Charlie Aitken, John Neal and Johnny Dixon.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 27.11 |
Oldest Player |
FB Stan Lynn | 🏴 | 32.89 |
Youngest Player |
M Alan Deakin | 🏴 | 19.44 |
MANAGER
Joe Mercer | 🏴 |
Aston Villa
GK Nigel Sims | 🏴 |
FB Gordon Lee | 🏴 |
FB Stan Lynn | 🏴 | ⚽ |
CB Jimmy Dugdale | 🏴 |
M Alan Deakin | 🏴 | 🔥 |
M Vic Crowe | 🏴 |
W Jimmy MacEwan | 🏴 |
W Harry Burrows | 🏴 |
F Gerry Hitchens | 🏴 | ⚽ | 🔴 |
F Ron Wylie | 🏴 |
F Bobby Thomson | 🏴 |
MANAGER
Harry Potts | 🏴 |
Burnley
GK Adam Blacklaw | 🏴 |
RB John Angus | 🏴 |
CB Tommy Cummings | 🏴 |
M Walter Joyce | 🏴 |
M Brian Miller | 🏴 |
M Jimmy Adamson | 🏴 |
M Gordon Harris | 🏴 |
W John Connelly | 🏴 |
F Ian Lawson | 🏴 |
F Jimmy Robson | 🏴 | ⚽ |
CF Ray Pointer | 🏴 |
Not necessarily indicative of the actual matchday formation
SUBSTITUTES
No Substitutions permitted in period
SUBSTITUTES
No Substitutions Permitted in Period
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
No Substitutions permitted in period
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
No Substitutions Permitted in Period
SQUAD STATS
Villa XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 11/11
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
Burnley XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 11/11
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Injury | 1 |
F Peter McParland | 🇬🇧 |
UNAVAILABLE
Not Recorded
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
DEBUT APPEARANCES
FINAL APPEARANCES
🔴 F Gerry Hitchens | 🏴 | ⚽ |
MATCH STATS
Not recorded
LEAGUE TABLE
MATCHDAY PROGRAMME
MATCHDAY QUOTES
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)
All Videos
All Videos
🥶 Three points against the Cherries 🍒 | Aston Villa 3-1 Bournemouth | HIGHLIGHTS
FULL PENALTY SHOOTOUT | Aston Villa beat Lille on pens to reach Europa Conference League Semi-Finals
Martinez The Hero 🧤 | Lille 2-1 Aston Villa (3-4 penalties) | Europa Conference League Quarter-Final
