Game #3309
Saturday, 7 December 1974
Attendance: 13,390
Lost
Division Two
7th (-1)
Bristol City
WWDWL
Ashton Gate
Villa’s poor League run continues at Ashton Gate but as the home side played the second half with two injured players. Villa drop to 7th, ten points off the leaders.
Bristol City
1-0
Aston Villa
Assists(s) | None |
KEY MAN
Ray Graydon, roundly booed on his return to Bristol as Villa slump again, Saturday, 7 December 1974.
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MATCH TIMELINE
28’ Goal, 0-1, (Bristol City), Jimmy Mann
HT Bristol City 1-0 Aston Villa
FT Bristol City 1-0 Aston Villa
ON THIS DAY
Ron Saunders' Villa lose in Bristol again to make it eight wins, six draws and six defeats in his first twenty League games as Villa boss. Meanwhile, midfielder Alan Little made his final Villa appearance aged 19 before moving to Southend United later this month.
Aston Villa
Bristol City
League Champions: ❌
FA Cup Winners: ❌
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: ❌
FIXTURE HISTORY
Bristol City
Previous 5 vs. Bristol City: | 🟥 | 🟥 | 🟩 | 🟨 | 🟩 |
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 1974-75 |
Matchday | #27 |
League Match | #20 |
Manager Game | #27 |
Saturday, 7 December 1974
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager | Ron Saunders |
Referee | Brian Daniels, Essex |
FT Result | Lost |
FT Score | 0-1 |
Last 5 Games | WWDWL |
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Brian Daniels | 🏴 | Essex, 1968-1983
Previous 5:
Last Match:
Cards: None
CARDS
TEAM NEWS
Ron Saunders names an unchanged line up.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 25.71 |
Oldest Player |
LB Charlie Aitken | 32.62 |
Youngest Player |
M Alan Little | 19.85 |
MANAGER
MANAGER
Ron Saunders
Aston Villa
GK Jim Cumbes |
FB John Robson |
CB Chris Nicholl |
CB Ian Ross |
LB Charlie Aitken |
M Chico Hamilton |
M Jimmy Brown |
M Alan Little |
W Ray Graydon |
W Frank Carrodus |
F Brian Little |
Bristol City
Cashley, Sweeney, Merrick, Gow (Whitehead), Rodgers, Collier, Tainton, Ritchie, Cheesley, Griffin, Mann (g).
Manager: Alan Dicks.
SUBSTITUTES
None
SUBSTITUTES
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
F Tony Betts |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
SQUAD STATS
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Injury | 4 |
M Pat McMahon, Ankle |
RB John Gidman, Eye |
F Sammy Morgan, Stomach muscle |
M Leighton Phillips, Ankle |
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
“It is incredible that we can play as we did in the second half and yet come away without a point.
“In the end, when we started moving the ball around, we had enough of the play to have won.”
Ron Saunders.
“They’re a negative crowd [at Ashton Gate].
“They picked on Graydon because he was obviously the danger man.
“It was only because they were against him, that they were for us.
Alan Dick’s, Bristol City manager on his own supporters.
*Birmingham Daily Post*
Monday, 9 December 1974
Ray Graydon must have mixed feelings about coming back to play in the city where his League career began.
In September he was booed off the field even though Villa had just gone down 2-0 to his old club, Bristol Rovers, and on Saturday his determination to save a point earned a chorus of whistles and insults, this time from the Ashton Gate crowd.
Graydon’s duel with Geoff Merrick had been the main feature of a match which was otherwise hugely anonymous, and the City skipper’s booking after 64 minutes for taking Graydon in preference to the ball only spurred on the fans in their attempts to upset Graydon and encourage their own team.
“They’re a negative crowd.” said Alan Dick’s, City’s manager. “They picked on Graydon because he was obviously the danger man. It was only because they were against him, that they were for us.”
City’s crowd problem is a matter for them to worry about. Ron Saunders, Villa’s manager, was only upset by his team’s failure to gain at least one point. “It is incredible that we can play as we did in the second half and yet come away without a point.” he said. “In the end, when we started moving the ball around, we had enough of the play to have won.”
Villa appeared slow to realise that with Gerry Gow having gone off after 23 minutes, both Torn Ritchie (knee injury) and Kevin Griffin (badly-bruised ribs) were mere passengers in the second half. Indeed, Dick’s halftime instructions to Griffin were: “If the ball comes near you. Just walk the other way.”
Villa, badly missing John Gidman, Sammy Morgan and Leighton Phillips, were the more inept of two poor teams in the first half and conceded a soft goal after 28 minutes when Jimmy Mann headed in a long throw from Paul Cheesley.
Villa recovered later, but rarely encroached into the City penalty area and their shots - mainly from the irrepressible Graydon - were from long range