Game #3336
Aston Villa
24-8-9, 56 PTS
Saturday, 26 April 1975
Won
2nd (-)
Last 5: 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩
Division Two
Attendance: 57,266
Sunderland
Villa Park
19-13-10, 51 PTS
Villa beat long time promotion rivals Sunderland to drop them to fourth in the table and hand promotion to Norwich - who Villa face in their final game of the season. Villa keep their fifth consecutive clean sheet and make it seven League wins in a row to leave them insurmountable in second place in the table ahead of their promotion to the top flight.
Aston Villa
2-0
Sunderland
Assists(s) | Bobby McDonald | 84' |
KEY MAN
PREVIOUS MATCH
NEXT MATCH
MATCH TIMELINE
Saturday, 26 April 1975
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 0-0 Sunderland
⚽ | 78’ Goal, 1-0, Ian Ross (pen)
⚽ | 84’ Goal, 2-0, Brian Little, Assist by Bobby McDonald
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 2-0 Sunderland
ON THIS DAY
Ron Saunders' promoted Villa side have just a single defeat in eighteen League games including seven successive wins and sixteen goals without reply in the last five as they make it twenty four wins, eight draws and nine defeats in Saunders' first forty one League games as Villa boss.
Aston Villa
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1974-75
Sunderland
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: 1972-73
FIXTURE HISTORY
Sunderland
Previous 5 vs. Sunderland: 🟩 🟨 🟥 🟥 🟨
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 1974-75 |
Matchday | #54 |
League Match | #41 |
Manager Game | #54 |
Saturday, 26 April 1975
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: Ron Saunders | 🏴 | Birkenhead, 1974-1982
Referee: Arthur Hart | 🏴 | Kent, 1970-1975
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Result: 🟩 Won
FT Score: 🟩 2-0
Last 5: 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩
MANAGERIAL RECORD
Ron Saunders | 🏴 |
GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME
🕒 54 | 🟩 | 32 🟨 | 12 🟥 10 | 2.00
Career Form:
Top 4
Ron Saunders | 🏴 |
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Arthur Hart | 🏴 | Kent, 1970-1975
Previous 5:
Last Match:
Cards: None
Arthur Hart
CARDS
Villa
None
Sunderland
None
TEAM NEWS
Steve Hunt makes his full debut in place of Chico Hamilton.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 25.62 |
Oldest Player |
LB Charlie Aitken | 🏴 | 33.01 |
Youngest Player |
W Steve Hunt | 🏴 | 18.74 |
MANAGER
MANAGER
Ron Saunders | 🏴 |
Bob Stokoe | 🏴 |
Aston Villa
GK Jim Cumbes | 🏴 |
FB John Robson | 🏴 |
CB Chris Nicholl | 🇬🇧 |
CB Ian Ross | 🏴 | ⚽ |
LB Charlie Aitken | 🏴 |
LB Bobby McDonald | 🏴 | 🔥 |
M Leighton Phillips | 🏴 |
W Steve Hunt | 🏴 | 🔁 |
W Frank Carrodus | 🏴 |
F Keith Leonard | 🏴 |
F Brian Little | 🏴 | ⚽ |
Sunderland
GK Jim Montgomery | 🏴 |
RB Dick Malone | 🏴 |
CB Bobby Moncur | 🏴 |
CB Dave Watson | 🏴 |
LB Ron Guthrie | 🏴 | 🔁 |
LB Joe Bolton | 🏴 |
M Bobby Kerr | 🏴 |
M Tony Towers | 🏴 |
F Rod Belfitt | 🏴 |
CF Billy Hughes | 🏴 |
CF Pop Robson | 🏴 |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | RB John Gidman | 🏴 | for W Steve Hunt | 🏴 | 59' |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | LB Ron Guthrie | 🏴 | (M Dennis Longhorn | 🏴 |)
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
None
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
None
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 11/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 12/12
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 11/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 12/12
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Injury | 3 |
M Pat McMahon | 🏴 | Ankle
F Sammy Morgan | 🇬🇧 | Stomach muscle
W Ray Graydon | 🏴 | Hamstring
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
MATCH STATS
Not recorded
TABLE
PROGRAMME
MATCHDAY QUOTES
*Birmingham Daily Post*
Monday, 28 April 1975
The natural sympathy one felt for Bob Stokoe, was tempered by the fact that if Sunderland could not beat Aston Villa on Saturday they did not deserve to be promoted.
Because while Sunderland had to win to stand a chance of being promoted, Villa were suffering from the effects of winning promotion on Wednesday night, effects both psychological and physical.
There was bound to be a reaction as there was at Derby as well and it should have favoured Sunderland.
I do not doubt that had the Villa players a choice as to who should accompany them and Manchester United into the First Division, it would have been Sunderland. But the North Easterners, in the top two or three for so long, could not overcome the tension; their anxiety was always evident.
No one can blame Villa for slipping from the standards they have set themselves this year - although a colleague who has not seen them since early in the season still thought they had improved beyond measure - and they did not begin to play until John Gidman came on in the 60th minute.
He was brought on to give the team width and it was his first appearance in the side since he suffered a serious eye injury on November 5. But immediately Gidman was all pace, enthusiasm and personality.
He had something to prove to the crowd, which was 700 short of capacity, and to the manager, Ron Saunders.
It is an indication of the way Villa have been playing this year - 30 points out of 34 - that Gidman has been unable to win his place back.
But the way he played in the last 30 minutes as a right winger, a role not far removed from the way he used to play as a full back, means he must surely be a part of the team in the First Division. If not as a full back, then a midfield player.
Les Cocker, the assistant to Don Revie, was at the match and he must have been impressed with Gidman’s half hour.
Cocker, too, must have enjoyed Brian Little’s goal, which settled the scoreline.
In the 78th minute Moncur brought down the 21-year-old, who was born only a few miles from Sunderland, and lan Ross converted his second penalty in successive games.
Then, in the 84th minute, Little ran onto a pass from Bobby McDonald and from an angle on the left curved a right foot shot around Jim Montgomery.
Cocker must have marked that down and Little has to be worth an Under-23 place at least, although he missed two easier chances.
The skill of Little and Gidman plus the solid experience of players like Ross, John Robson and the supporters’ player of the year, Chris Nicholl, augurs well for Villa next season.
But the main reason I think they will do well in the First Division is the method that Saunders has instilled into the team and the way he has motivated the players.
With two exceptions they are the same players who were there last season; the difference lies in the way they have been influenced.
Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. With thanks to Trinity Mirror. Digitised by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited. All rights reserved. Source: British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)