Game #3468
Aston Villa
8-4-6, 20 PTS
Saturday, 10 December 1977


Won
10th (+1)
Last 5: 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟩
Division One
West Bromwich Albion
8-7-4, 23 PTS
Villa Park
Attendance: 41,631
🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park
Aston Villa
3-0

West Brom

Assist(s) | John Gidman | 39' | 44' |
🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park


MATCH TIMELINE
Saturday, 10 December 1977
🔁 | 18’ Sub off, Ken McNaught, Sub on, Gordon Cowans
⚽ | 35’ Goal, 1-0, Gordon Cowans, Assist by John Gidman
🚑 | 44’ Player retires from field of play with injury, Alex Cropley
⚽ | 44’ Goal, 2-0, Andy Gray, Assist by John Gidman
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 2-0 West Bromwich Albion
⚽ | 54’ Goal, 3-0, John Gidman
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 3-0 West Bromwich Albion
🟨 | Booking, Leighton Phillips, Heavy tackle.
Match Statistics
Not recorded
Goal ⚽, Assist 🔥, Goal Conceded 🥅, Injury 🚑, Booking 🟨, Sending off 🟥, Comment 🗒️, ❗ Villa Chance,❗❗Huge Villa Chance, 💥 Opposition action, 🎥 VAR, 🆘 Referee error, ❌ Missed pen, disallowed goal, player retires from field of play, 🟢 Debut, 🔴 Final appearance, 🕒 Half time, Full time, 🔁 Substitution
🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park

ON THIS DAY
Saturday, 10 December 1977
Ron Saunders' Villa hammer Albion despite playing the second half with 10 men following midfielder Alex Cropley's 🏴 double leg break.
Villa make it 🟩 eight wins, 🟨 four draws and 🟥 six defeats in 🕒 eighteen division one games this season but suffer at the hands of "Albion’s over-aggressive display" as another poor refereeing performance - this one widely condemned - sees midfielder Alex Cropley's 🏴 career all but ended as Villa cruise to victory over Ronnie Allen's thugs.
A disgraceful, shaming, disgusting performance from referee Jim Bent is universally condemned, an official who should never be allowed to referee again. In an era of rank poor officiating the depths of Bent's incompetence, or worse, is simply indefensible.
Right back John Gidman 🏴 contributes his 🔥 25th assist s in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 174th appearance at a rate of one every 5.61 games. It is Gidman’s 🔥 10th assist in 🕒 35 games having taken 🕒 112 matches to contribute his first 10 🔥.
Forward Brian Little 🏴 secures his 🟩 100th win in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 211th appearance.
🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park

DEBUT APPEARANCES
None
FINAL APPEARANCES
None
Seasons | 🕒 Games | ✅ Starts (🔁 Subs) | ⚽ Goals | 🔥 Assists | 🇺 Unused | Player Number |
Aston Villa
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1976-77
West Bromwich Albion


League Champions: 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆
Last Trophy: 1967-68
🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park
FIXTURE DETAILS


Season | 1977-78 |
Matchday | #27 |
League Match | #18 |
Manager Game | #186 |
Saturday, 10 December 1977
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🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park
MATCH SUMMARY


Manager: Ron Saunders | 🏴 | Birkenhead, 1974-1982
Referee: Jim Bent | 🏴 | Hemel Hempstead, 1975-1977 🆘
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟩 2-0
FT Result: 🟩 Won
FT Score: 🟩 3-0
Last 5: 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟩
MANAGERIAL RECORD

Ron Saunders | 🏴 | 1974-1982
🕒 186 | 🟩 | 90 🟨 | 47 🟥 49 | 1.70
Villa Career Form:
Top 6
Games 🕒, Won 🟩, Drew 🟨, Lost 🟥, Points per Game
🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Jim Bent | 🏴 | Hemel Hempstead, 1975-1977
VAR PROFILE (from 2021)
CARDS

🟨 Leighton Phillips, Heavy tackle.
CARDS

🟨 🟨 🟨
🆘 Total failure to stop vile Albion's feverish physical intimidation. An awful, shameful performance that allowed the animals of Albion to take man not ball throughout the game. To make matters worse Bent defended himself and made light of the physicality in an appalling post game statement. Bent would never referee Villa again and disappeared off the football scene shortly after. A disgrace.
Won 🟩, Drew 🟨, Lost 🟥, Notably poor performance 🆘, Cards 🟨 Booking, Cards 🟥 Sending off, Disallowed ❌ Goal disallowed, ⚽ Penalty for, 🥅 Penalty against, ❌ Penalty Disallowed
🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park

TEAM NEWS
TEAM STATS
Alex Cropley replaces Gordon Cowans.
Starting XI Average Age
| 25.39 |
Oldest Player |
GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴 | 29.85 |
Youngest Player |
CF Andy Gray | 🏴 | 22.04 |
🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park
MANAGER
Ron Saunders | 🏴 | 1974-1982

Aston Villa
GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴 |
CB Ken McNaught | 🏴 | 🔁 |
FB Gordon Smith | 🏴 |
RB John Gidman | 🏴 | 🔥 | 🔥 | ⚽ |
M Leighton Phillips | 🏴 | 🟨 |
M Alex Cropley | 🏴 | 🚑 | ❌ |
M John Gregory | 🏴 |
M Dennis Mortimer | 🏴 |
W Frank Carrodus | 🏴 |
F Brian Little | 🏴 |
CF Andy Gray | 🏴 | ⚽ |
MANAGER
Ronnie Allen | 🏴 |

West Bromwich Albion
GK Tony Godden | 🏴 |
RB Paddy Mulligan | 🇮🇪 |
CB Aly Robertson | 🏴 |
D John Wile | 🏴 |
LB Derek Statham | 🏴 |
M Bryan Robson | 🏴 | 🟨 |
M Len Cantello | 🏴 | 🟨 |
W Laurie Cunningham | 🏴 | 🔁 |
CF Alistair Brown | 🏴 | 🟨 |
CF Cyrille Regis | 🏴 |
CF Tony Brown | 🏴 |
🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park
SUBSTITUTES

🔁 | M Gordon Cowans | 🏴 | ⚽ | for CB Ken McNaught | 🏴 | 18' |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | W Laurie Cunningham | 🏴 | (M Mick Martin | 🇮🇪 |)

🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

None
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

None
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

🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park
MATCHDAY SQUAD BIOGRAPHIES
STARTING XI
SUBSTITUTES
Player | 🕒 | 🔁 | ⚽ | 🔥 | 🟩 | 🟨 | 🟥 | 🥅 | ⛔ | Yellow | Red |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
M Gordon Cowans | 🏴 | | 45 | 13* | 6* | 3 | 22* | 8 | 14 | - | - | 0 | 0 |
UNUSED
Player | 🇺 |
---|---|
Games 🕒, Starts ✅, Substitute 🔁, Goals ⚽, Assists 🔥, Won 🟩, Drew 🟨, Lost 🟥, Conceded 🥅, Clean Sheets ⛔, Unused Substitute 🇺
🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park
SQUAD STATS

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 11/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 12/12
SQUAD STATS

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 10/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 10/12
🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park
MATCHDAY SQUAD

MATCHDAY SQUAD

🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park
UNAVAILABLE

Injury | 2 |
FB John Robson | 🏴 |
F John Deehan | 🏴 |
UNAVAILABLE

Not Recorded
LEAGUE TABLE


MATCHDAY PROGRAMME



🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park


MATCH QUOTES
🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park


MATCH REPORTS
Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. With thanks to Reach PLC. Digitised by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited. All rights reserved. Source: British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)









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🟩 10 Dec 1977, Villa 3-0 Albion, Villa Park

