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Game #3569

Aston Villa

Saturday, 29 December 1979

Won

5th (+3)

Last 5: 🟥 🟩 🟩 🟥 🟩

Division One

Bristol City

Attendance: 18,221

Ashton Gate

Bristol City

1-3

Aston Villa

Assist(s) | Gordon Cowans | 52' |

MATCH SUMMARY

Villa bounce back from their second defeat in fifteen games to beat Bristol City at Ashton Gate.

KEY MAN

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NEXT MATCH

2020-21 (h) Aston Villa Kit.gif
2020-21 (h) Aston Villa Kit.gif

Copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission.

MATCH TIMELINE

Saturday, 29 December 1979

🕒 | HT Bristol City 0-0 Aston Villa
⚽ | 52’ Goal, 1-0, Gary Shaw, Assist by Gordon Cowans
⚽ | 54’ Goal, 2-0, Gary Shaw
🥅 | 75’ Goal, 2-1, (Bristol City, pen), Gerry Gow
⚽ | 86’ Goal, 3-1, Gary Shaw
🕒 | FT Bristol City 1-3 Aston Villa

🟨 | Booking, Colin Gibson, Foul

ON THIS DAY

Ron Saunders' Villa win for the third time in four Division One games as a Gary Shaw hat-trick makes it four in two matches for the 18 year old striker. As a result Villa make it eight wins, nine draws and five defeats in twenty two League matches this season climb back to fifth in the table.

Aston Villa

League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1976-77

Bristol City

League Champions: ❌
FA Cup Winners: ❌
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: ❌

FIXTURE HISTORY

Bristol City

Previous 5 vs. Bristol City: 🟨 🟩 🟥 🟩 🟥

FIXTURE DETAILS

Villa.gif
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Season | 1979-80 |
Matchday | #26 |
League Match | #22 |
Manager Game | #287 |
Saturday, 29 December 1979

MATCH SUMMARY

Manager: Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Birkenhead, 1974-1982
Referee: Dennis Hedges | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Oxford, 1979-1990
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Result: 🟩 Won
FT Score: 🟩 3-1
Last 5: 🟥 🟩 🟩 🟥 🟩

MANAGERIAL RECORD

Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME

🕒 287 | 🟩 | 126 🟨 | 82 🟥 79 | 1.60

Villa Career Form:

Top 6

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Dennis Hedges | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Oxford, 1979-1990
Matches Officiated: 1
🟩 : 1
🟨 : 0
🟥 : 0
🆘 : 0
Previous 5: None
Last Match: None
Cards: 🟨 🟨

ALL THE MATCHES REFEREED BY:

CARDS

Villa

🟨

Bristol City

🟨

TEAM NEWS

Jimmy Rimmer returns in place of Nigel Spink.

TEAM STATS

Starting XI Average Age
| 24.20 |

Oldest Player |
GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 31.90 |

Youngest Player |
F Gary Shaw | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 18.12 |

MANAGER

Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Villa.gif

Aston Villa

GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Kenny Swain | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Ken McNaught | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
CB Brendan Ormsby | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Dennis Mortimer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Colin Gibson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔥 |
M Des Bremner | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
F Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
F Gary Shaw | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ | ⚽ | ⚽ |
CF Terry Donovan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

MANAGER

Alan Dicks | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

2509-2.png

Bristol City

GK John Shaw | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
RB Gerry Sweeney | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
CB David Rodgers | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Geoff Merrick | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Clive Whitehead | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Trevor Tainton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Jimmy Mann | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Gerry Gow | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | ⚽ |
F Howard Pritchard | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
CF Kevin Mabbutt | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Chris Garland | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Villa.gif

Not necessarily indicative of the actual matchday formation

SUBSTITUTES

Villa.gif

No Substitutions Made

SUBSTITUTES

2509-2.png

No Substitutions Made

Villa.gif

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

Villa.gif

M Terry Bullivant | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

2509-2.png

CF Joe Royle | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Villa.gif

SQUAD STATS

Villa.gif

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

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

MATCHDAY SQUAD

Villa.gif

SQUAD STATS

2509-2.png

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

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

MATCHDAY SQUAD

2509-2.png

UNAVAILABLE

Villa.gif

Injury | 6 |
M Alex Cropley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
M Frank Carrodus | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W Tony Morley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Mike Pejic | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF David Geddis | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Allan Evans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

UNAVAILABLE

Villa.gif

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

LEAGUE TABLE

2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg

MATCHDAY PROGRAMME

MATCH QUOTES

“You can't turn it on all the time and we did work hard and, always looked as though we would win." Ron Saunders.

MATCH REPORT

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)

*Birmingham Daily Post*
Monday, 31 December 1979

Gary Shaw, Aston Villa's 18-year-old second-half hat-trick hero of the 3-1 victory at Bristol City on Saturday admitted after the game that he knew he stood to be substituted after the interval. Clutching the match-ball, which had been autographed by both teams he said: "At half-time our manager had a go at some of us including myself. "He told me that he wanted me to be more aggressive so I knew I had to do something about it." The former England youth International added: "I've scored hat-tricks before in less important matches, but this was my first in the First Division, and I hope there will be more to follow." Struggling City played most of the football worth watching, but Villa, or rather Shaw, scored the goals that mattered. It was as simple as that sheer floodlit robbery and Villa manager, Ron Saunders, went at least halfway to admitting it when he said. "It was a bitty game and we didn't play well. We seldom put more than four or five passes together. "But you can't turn it on all the time and we did work hard and, always looked as though we would win." His opposite number, Alan Dicks, who goes into 1980 facing a stiff relegation fight, claimed that the result was governed by Villa's first goal seven minutes after a goalless first half when Shaw heaved himself at a Cowans corner kick and nudged the ball over the line. Afterwards, Shaw was still not certain whether the ball had hit his head or his shoulder, but Dicks made the point that his goalkeeper, John Shaw had been impeded. Dicks said "John couldn't move when he tried to catch the ball and that goal was a bitter upset for us. It marred everything we had done, all the good football we had played up to that point." But Dicks could not quarrel with Villa's second goal, which followed only two minutes later when Gary Shaw, on a break with Donovan and Little, took possession quite 35 yards out, spotted his namesake coming off his line and hit a marvellous swerving shot which bent into the far top corner of the net. Almost immediately, a brave Bristol rally was foiled by goalkeeper Rimmer, who pulled off a brilliant reflex save from a snap header by Rodgers and then bravely charged down a point-blank shot by Mabbutt. Inches over Young Shaw almost had his hat-trick in the 74th minute when his dipping header from a Gibson free kick was only inches over the bar, but Bristol pulled back a goal when McNaught handled a bobbing ball and Gow scored from the spot in the 75th minute. Ormsby prevented an equaliser by blocking Mabbutt's shot a minute later, but four minutes from the end Gary Shaw came up with another good-looking goal when he chased a long ball out of defence. With nobody coming up in time to support him, he took on and beat full - back Sweeney to score with a low cross-shot and Bristol had nothing left.

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