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Villa's injury crisis continues unabated as they are forced to raid the reserves again and field a side of whom seven are under the age of 21. 

Such is the desperate need for bodies that centre back Noel Blake 🇯🇲, 18, is selected to make his Villa debut after joining from Sutton Town in December 1978. Blake, on the very periphery of the youth set up becomes the 614th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football in one of the most unexpected promotions in Villa's history.

Villa 🟩 win for the second time in five and record their 🟩 first win in four to make it 🟩 fifteen wins, 🟨 fourteen draws and 🟥 eleven defeats in 🕒 forty League matches this season under Ron Saunders.

Villa remain joint 5th with five games to play, three points clear of 6th and three points behind fourth.

Midfielder Gordon Cowans 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 scores his ⚽ 20th goal in a Villa shirt on his 🕒 157th appearance (142 Starts) to make it 🟩 W66 🟨 D45 🟥 L46, ⚽ 20 Goals and 🔥 18 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 4.13 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

Colin Gibson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 50th appearance in a Villa shirt.