Game #3531
Wednesday, 4 April 1979
Attendance: 27,056
Lost
Division One
13th (-2)
Nottingham Forest
LWLDL
City Ground
Villa hold their own in the first half without looking like they would threaten high flying Forest but are obliterated in the second half to leave them languishing in thirteenth in the table.
Nottingham Forest
4-0
Aston Villa
Assist(s) | None
KEY MAN
Ron Saunders, off the pace at Forest, Wednesday, 4 April 1979.
PREVIOUS MATCH
NEXT MATCH
MATCH TIMELINE
13’ Goal, 0-1, (Nottingham Forest), Allan Evans o.g.
HT Nottingham Forest 1-0 Aston Villa
49’ Goal, 0-2, (Nottingham Forest), Tony Woodcock
55’ Goal, 0-3, (Nottingham Forest), Trevor Francis
71’ Goal, 0-4, (Nottingham Forest), Martin O’Neill
FT Nottingham Forest 4-0 Aston Villa
ON THIS DAY
Ron Saunders' Villa suffer their heaviest defeat of the season to make it ten wins, twelve draws and eight defeats in thirty division one games this season.
Casualties abounded as the Forest debacle would prove to be centre forward Andy Gray’s final Villa appearance.
Villa had signed Gray from Dundee United for a fee of £110,000 as a 19 year old and he went on to represent Villa between 1975-76 and 1978-79 but was significantly out of favour with boss Ron Saunders in 1978-79 and ostracised in 1979-80 before his departure from the club to Wolverhampton Wanderers in September 1979 for a fee of £1,469,000.
Also seeing his Villa career end was midfielder Tommy Craig who made his final appearance aged 26 before moving on to Swansea City in July 1979 for a fee of £150,000.
Villa had signed Craig from Newcastle United in January 1978 for £270,000 and he played for the club between 1977-78 and 1978-79 making 32 appearances and scoring twice.
Aston Villa
Nottingham Forest
League Champions: 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆
Last Trophy: 1978-79
FIXTURE HISTORY
Nottingham Forest
Previous 5 vs. Forest: | 🟥 | 🟥 | 🟥 | 🟥 | 🟥 |
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 1978-79 |
Matchday | #36 |
League Match | #30 |
Manager Game | #249 |
Wednesday, 4 April 1979
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager | Ron Saunders |
FT Result | Lost |
FT Score | 0-4 |
Last 5 Games | LWLDL |
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Unknown
CARDS
TEAM NEWS
John Gidman, Ken McNaught and Alex Cropley replace Gordon Cowans, Gary Williams and Ivor Linton.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 26.04 |
Oldest Player |
GK Jimmy Rimmer | 31.17 |
Youngest Player |
CB Allan Evans | 22.49 |
MANAGER
MANAGER
Ron Saunders
Brian Clough | 🏴 |
Aston Villa
GK Jimmy Rimmer |
RB John Gidman |
CB Ken McNaught |
CB Allan Evans |
RB Kenny Swain |
M Dennis Mortimer |
M Alex Cropley |
M John Gregory |
M Tommy Craig |
CF Andy Gray |
F Brian Little |
Nottingham Forest
Shilton, Needham, Lloyd, Anderson, Bowyer, McGovern, Robertson, Gemmill, O’Neill (g), Woodcock (g), Francis (g). Manager: Brian Clough.
SUBSTITUTES
None
SUBSTITUTES
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
M Gordon Cowans |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
SQUAD STATS
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Injury | 1 |
Frank Carrodus |
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
*Birmingham Post*
Thursday, 5 April 1979