Game #3112
Saturday, 16 January 1971
Attendance: 28,965
Won
Division Three
1st= (+1)
Port Vale
WWLWW
Villa Park
Bristol Rovers lose again, Fulham are held and Villa win to catapult them into joint first place behind Rovers only on goal average. Villa’s goal once again comes from Bruce Rioch and is from a planned move that brought success against Shrewsbury and Vale and had become a major tactical feature of Villa’s play as Brian Godfrey taps the ball forward to Rioch who shoots through the defensive wall within which Pat McMahon has broken away to create space.
Aston Villa
1-0
Port Vale
Assist(s) | Brian Godfrey | 31' |
KEY MAN
PREVIOUS MATCH
NEXT MATCH
MATCH TIMELINE
31’ Goal, 1-0, Bruce Rioch, Assist by Brian Godfrey
HT Aston Villa 1-0 Port Vale
FT Aston Villa 1-0 Port Vale
ON THIS DAY
Vic Crowe's League Cup finalists Villa make it fourteen wins, seven draws and five defeats in twenty six division three games so far this season to climb to joint first in the table, level on points with leaders Bristol Rovers, separated on goal average.
Aston Villa
Port Vale
League Champions: ❌
FA Cup Winners: ❌
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: ❌
FIXTURE HISTORY
Port Vale
Previous 5 vs. Port Vale: | - | - | 🟩 | 🟩 | 🟥 |
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 1970-71 |
Matchday | #36 |
League Match | #26 |
Manager Game | #52 |
Saturday, 16 January 1971
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager | Vic Crowe |
Referee | Gordon Hill, Leicester |
FT Result | Won |
FT Score | 1-0 |
Last 5 Games | WWLWW |
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Gordon Hill | 🏴 | Bolton, 1966-1975
Previous 5:
Last Match:
Cards: None
CARDS
TEAM NEWS
Vic Crowe names an unchanged line up.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 25.31 |
Oldest Player |
F Brian Godfrey | 30.73 |
Youngest Player |
GK Geoff Crudgington | 18.93 |
MANAGER
MANAGER
Vic Crowe
Aston Villa
GK Geoff Crudgington |
D Keith Bradley |
CB Fred Turnbull |
CB Brian Tiler |
LB Charlie Aitken |
M Chico Hamilton |
M Willie Anderson |
M Pat McMahon |
M Bruce Rioch |
CF Andy Lochhead |
F Brian Godfrey |
Port Vale
Sherratt, Boulton, Lacey, Summerscales, Cross, Green, Morris (McLaren), Gough, Morgan (ex), Horton, James.
Manager: Gordon Lee.
SUBSTITUTES
None
SUBSTITUTES
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
F Dave Gibson |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
SQUAD STATS
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
George Curtis
Mick Wright
John Dunn
UNAVAILABLE
Not Recorded
Player Abbreviations:
GK : Goalkeeper
LB, RB, FB : Left Back, Right Back, Full Back
CB, D : Centre Back, Defender
M, W : Midfielder. Winger
F, CF : Forward, Centre Forward
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game
Symbols:
⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution
🟨 | Booking
🟥 | Sending off
🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
DEBUT APPEARANCES
FINAL APPEARANCES
MATCH STATS
Not recorded
TABLE
PROGRAMME



MATCHDAY QUOTES
“I’m glad his team [ex Villa team mate Gordon Lee] lost today.
“There can be no room for sentiment in football.
“I don’t care who manages the opposition - if it was my own brother I would still want to beat him. This can be the only way.
“It’s a nice position to be in [top of the table].”
“[Geoff Crudgington] has played extremely well and these couple of games will have been a very good experience for him.”
Vic Crowe.
*Birmingham Daily Post*
Monday, 18 January 1971