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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

Villa

None

Bristol City

None

Brian Daniels

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

2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg

PROGRAMME

Quotation Marks.png

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