top of page

Game #3468

Aston Villa

8-4-6, 20 PTS

Saturday, 10 December 1977

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

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

Villa.gif

West Brom

2509-2.png

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

Villa.gif
2509-2.png
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

Villa.gif
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

Villa.gif
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

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

League Champions: 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆
Last Trophy: 1967-68

FIXTURE HISTORY
West Bromwich Albion
Villa.gif
2509-2.png
Previous 5 vs. Albion: 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟨 🟩

Games 🕒, Won 🟩, Drew 🟨, Lost 🟥, Goals Scored ⚽, Goals Conceded 🥅

West Bromwich Albion

PREVIOUS MATCH
2509-2.png

West Bromwich Albion

SUBSEQUENT MATCH

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

FIXTURE DETAILS
Villa.gif
2509-2.png

Season | 1977-78 |
Matchday | #27 |
League Match | #18 |
Manager Game | #186 |
Saturday, 10 December 1977

2020-21 (h) Aston Villa Kit.gif

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

MATCH SUMMARY
Villa.gif
2509-2.png

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: 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟩

Scorers
Timeline
On This Day
Trophies
Fixture
Manager
MANAGERIAL RECORD
Villa.gif
Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982

🕒 186 | 🟩 | 90 🟨 | 47 🟥 49 | 1.70

Villa Career Form:

Top 6

Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982

Games 🕒, Won 🟩, Drew 🟨, Lost 🟥, Points per Game

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

Villa.gif
MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Jim Bent | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Hemel Hempstead, 1975-1977

VAR PROFILE (from 2021)

CARDS
Villa.gif

🟨 Leighton Phillips, Heavy tackle.

CARDS
2509-2.png

🟨 🟨 🟨

🆘 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

Villa.gif
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 |

Referee

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

MANAGER

Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1974-1982

Villa.gif
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 | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

2509-2.png
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 | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Line Ups

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

SUBSTITUTES
Villa.gif

🔁 | M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ | for CB Ken McNaught | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 18' |

SUBSTITUTES

🔁 | W Laurie Cunningham | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | (M Mick Martin | 🇮🇪 |)

2509-2.png
Substitutes

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

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
Villa.gif

None

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
2509-2.png

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

Squad Bios

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

SQUAD STATS
Villa.gif

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 11/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 12/12

SQUAD STATS
2509-2.png

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 10/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 10/12

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

MATCHDAY SQUAD
Villa.gif

MATCHDAY SQUAD
2509-2.png

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

UNAVAILABLE
Villa.gif

Injury | 2 |
FB John Robson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
F John Deehan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNAVAILABLE
Villa.gif

Not Recorded

Unavailable
LEAGUE TABLE
Villa.gif
2509-2.png
Tables & Programmes
🟩 12 Apr 2025, Villa 3-0 Southampton, St Mary's TBL.png
MATCHDAY PROGRAMME
Villa.gif
2509-2.png
2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg

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

Villa.gif
2509-2.png
MATCH QUOTES
"I don't want to disappoint anybody, but these things take time [signing a replace for Alex Cropley]. "I am not at all certain now that I will be able to sign a new player before Thursday’s midnight UEFA Cup Quarter Final deadline. “I am not allowed to comment on the referee [Jim Bent’s handling of the game. “But we shall be making an official complaint through the appropriate channels. “It was a late tackle. It was over zealous. “But there was no way the tBrown could have done that on purpose.” Ron Saunders. “As soon as I was tackled I knew what had happened [broken tibula and fibula in the left leg] because I heard the cracks. “The tackles was late and a bit high. “But he didn’t go over the top of the ball. “I thought the referee was right to book him. But that was enough. “I have played with Ally Brown since we were 14 year olds in Scottish Junior Football and he is not an over the top merchant. “I nipped in to beat him to the ball. But he carried through with his tackle. “I had all my weight on my left leg when he connected. “I felt I had been playing quite well this season and there had been talk about Argentine [World Cup]. “But I must forget about that now and concentrate on my recovery. “I am not bitter about it and I have no hard feelings. “You have to be prepared to accept knocks in this game.” Alex Cropley. “It was an accident. I was the cause of the injury and I was as sick as anyone about it. “But anybody who knows me must also know that I have never gone over the top intentionally in my life. Ally Brown. “I suppose on reflection, I might have been stricter at the start. But it is easy to say that after the event. “I could see no intent on his [Ally Brown’s] part and I checked this with my linesman. “Cropley jumped over Brown to win the ball, Brown followed through catching Cropley at the back of the leg.” Referee Jim Bent.
Quotes

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

Villa.gif
2509-2.png
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)

Opens in New Window

Reports

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

Villa.gif
2509-2.png
MATCH VIDEO
Videos
bottom of page