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Game #3296

Wednesday, 9 October 1974

Attendance: 12,290

Drew

League Cup 3rd Round

3rd Round

Crewe Alexandra

WDWWD

Gresty Road

Villa are held at Gresty Road in the third round of the League Cup by fourth division side Crewe ahead of a Villa Park replay.

Crewe Alexandra

2-2

Aston Villa

Assists(s) | Sammy Morgan | 57' |

KEY MAN

RELATED MATCHES

MATCH TIMELINE

10’ Goal, 1-0, Sammy Morgan
Booking, Ian Ross for breaking from a defensive wall
HT Crewe Alexandra 0-1 Aston Villa
49’ Goal, 1-1, (Crewe Alexandra), Chris Duffey
57’ Goal, 2-1, Keith Leonard, Assist by Sammy Morgan
85’ Goal, 2-2, (Crewe Alexandra), Hughie Reed
86’ Sending off, (Crewe Alexandra), Dennis Nelson
FT Crewe Alexandra 2-2 Aston Villa

Cards.
Booking, Keith Leonard
Booking, Sammy Morgan

ON THIS DAY

Ron Saunders' Villa can only draw with Fourth Division side Crewe in the League Cup third round necessitating a Villa Park replay.

Aston Villa

Crewe Alexandra

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

FIXTURE HISTORY

Previous 5 vs. Crewe: | - | - | - | - | 🟩 |

FIXTURE DETAILS

Season | 1974-75 |
Matchday | #14 |
Manager Game | #14 |
Wednesday, 9 October 1974

MATCH SUMMARY

Manager | Ron Saunders |
Referee | Peter Willis, County Durham |
FT Result | Drew |
FT Score | 2-2 |
Last 5 Games | WDWWD |

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Peter Willis | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | County Durham, 1972-1986 🆘
Previous 5:
Last Match:
Cards: 🟥 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨

CARDS

Villa

🟨 🟨 🟨

Crewe Alexandra

🟥 🟨

TEAM NEWS

John Robson, Chico Hamilton and Sammy Morgan return for Leighton Phillips, Tony Betts and Alan Little.

TEAM STATS

Starting XI Average Age
| 25.59 |

Oldest Player |
LB Charlie Aitken | 32.46 |

Youngest Player |
RB John Gidman | 20.76 |

MANAGER

Ron Saunders

MANAGER

Aston Villa

GK Jim Cumbes |
FB John Robson |
RB John Gidman |
CB Chris Nicholl |
CB Ian Ross |
LB Charlie Aitken |
M Chico Hamilton |
W Ray Graydon |
W Frank Carrodus |
F Keith Leonard |
F Sammy Morgan |

Crewe Alexandra

Crudgington (ex), Lowry, Snookes, Carter, Nicholls, Lugg, Kinsey, Riley, Nelson, Wain (Reed (g)), Duffey (g).

Manager: Jimmy Melia.

SUBSTITUTES

None

SUBSTITUTES

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

M Alan Little |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

SQUAD STATS

MATCHDAY SQUAD

SQUAD STATS

MATCHDAY SQUAD

UNAVAILABLE

Injury | 4 |
M Pat McMahon, Ankle |
F Bobby Campbell |
M Leighton Phillips |
F Brian Little |

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

2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg

PROGRAMME

Quotation Marks.png

MATCHDAY QUOTES

*Birmingham Daily Post*
Thursday, 10 October 1974

Hughie Reed, the Scottish winger who started his career at West Bromwich Albion. earned his latest club a League Cup third round replay with five minutes remaining at Gresty Road last night.

Reed had come on as a substitute for Les Wain only ten minutes before and his low 20 yard shot ended a sweeping move.

The Fourth Division side, who beat Birmingham City in the last round will be at Villa Park next Monday.

It was an astonishing end to mediocre match.

A minute after the equaliser Dennis Nelson was sent off for fouling Chico Hamilton and then arguing about the decision and two minutes later Chris Duffey, Crewe’s other scorer, became the fifth player to be cautioned.

Earlier referee Peter Willis, a policeman from County Durham, booked lan Ross and Villa’s two scorers Sammy Morgan and Keith Leonard.

He also cautioned Crewe goalkeeper Geoff Crudgington, who used to play for Villa.

That’s five booked and one sent off - it sounds fascinating but it was mostly dull.

The football never matched the atmosphere generated by the 12,290 crowd and Mr. Willis was over-officious - he followed the League’s instructions, but far too closely.

Morgan, back after missing three matches with a stomach injury, opened the scoring after ten minutes when Crudgington could only block Ray Graydon’s shot.

The goalkeeper’s name was then taken for, of all things, hands. He caught Morgan’s chip when standing out of his area and Ross was booked for breaking too quickly from a defensive wall - both technical offences.

Then Morgan upset the referee by hooking Tommy Lowry’s feet away, and the centre forward had another long lecture just before halftime.

Crewe had pressed towards the end of the the first half but without suggesting that they could do anything inside the penalty area.

Four minutes after the interval they altered that impression.

Player-coach Albert Kinsey, whose skill had stood out throughout, crossed from the left and Duffey jumped high at the far post with Charlie Aitken but got his head to the ball with Jim Cumbes diving needlessly.

For eight minutes Crewe looked as if they might kill another giant but then Hamilton’s long pass up the left was picked up by Morgan.

He bustled past Phil Nicholls, tapped the ball inside and Leonard scored.

Crudgington complained that Morgan had fouled Nicholls but Villa were now in control although Leonard leant on Ray Lugg to get his caution.

Then came Crewe manager Jimmy Melia’s inspired substitution and the remarkable end.

Meanwhile, Villa manager Ron Saunders would not comment yesterday about Oldham’s action In reporting him to the FA for remarks made after Saturday’s match.

Saunders was quoted as calling Oldham’s Alan Groves a “high diver” after ViIIa full-back John Gidman had been sent off following two fouls on the winger.

When Groves was told of the substance of the remarks he confronted Saunders in the Lancashire club’s guest room and yesterday the Oldham general manager, Walter Griffiths, announced that “the board had decided to report the matter to the FA.”