Game #4031
Saturday, 5 November 1988
Attendance: 44,804
Drew
Division One
8th (+1)
Manchester United
Last 5: 🟨 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟨
Old Trafford
Villa continue with their fine form as they leave Old Trafford with a point as the boos from the home fans still ring in their ears having seen their team outplayed in the second half.
Manchester United
1-1
Aston Villa
Assist(s) | Alan McInally | 60' |
KEY MAN
Alan McInally, superb season continued as he set up Gordon Cowans for an Old Trafford draw, Saturday, 5 November 1988.
PREVIOUS MATCH
NEXT MATCH
MATCH TIMELINE
🥅 | 42’ Goal, 0-1, (Manchester United), Steve Bruce
🕒 | HT Manchester United 1-0 Aston Villa
⚽ | 60’ Goal, 1-1, Gordon Cowans. Assist by Alan McInally
🕒 | FT Manchester United 1-1 Aston Villa
ON THIS DAY
Graham Taylor's Villa draw for the sixth time in eleven League games, winning two, and sit 11th in the table.
Aston Villa
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1981-82
Manchester United
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: 1984-85
FIXTURE HISTORY
Manchester United
Previous 5 vs. United: 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟥
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 1988-89 |
Matchday | #14 |
League Match | #11 |
Manager Game | #65 |
Saturday, 5 November 1988
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: Graham Taylor | 🏴 | Worksop, 1987-1990
Referee: Ffrangcon Roberts | 🏴 | Prestatyn, 1981–1990
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟥 0-1
FT Result: 🟨 Drew
FT Score: 🟨 1-1
Last 5: 🟨 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟨
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Ffrangcon Roberts | 🏴 | Prestatyn, 1981–1990
Previous 5: 🟩 🟨 🟥 🟩
Last Match: 🟩 4 November 1986, League Cup, Villa 2-1 Derby, Villa Park.
Cards: None
CARDS
TEAM NEWS
Graham Taylor names an unchanged line up.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 25.90 |
Oldest Player |
CB Allan Evans | 🏴 | 32.09 |
Youngest Player |
W Tony Daley | 🏴 | 21.07 |
MANAGER
MANAGER
Graham Taylor | 🏴 |
Alex Ferguson | 🏴 |
Aston Villa
GK Nigel Spink | 🏴 |
RB Chris Price | 🏴 |
CB Martin Keown | 🏴 |
CB Derek Mountfield | 🏴 |
CB Allan Evans | 🏴 |
RB Kevin Gage | 🏴 |
LB Bernie Gallacher | 🏴 |
M Gordon Cowans | 🏴 | ⚽ |
M David Platt | 🏴 |
W Tony Daley | 🏴 |
CF Alan McInally | 🏴 | 🔥 |
Manchester United
GK Jim Leighton | 🏴 |
LB Colin Gibson (ex) | 🏴 | 🔁 |
LB Mal Donaghy | 🇬🇧 |
LB Clayton Blackmore | 🏴 |
CB Steve Bruce | 🏴 | ⚽ |
M Liam O’Brien | 🇮🇪 |
M Gordon Strachan | 🏴 |
M Jesper Olsen | 🇩🇰 |
M Bryan Robson | 🏴 |
CF Brian McClair | 🏴 |
CF Mark Hughes | 🏴 |
SUBSTITUTES
No Substitutions Made
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | LB Colin Gibson (ex) | 🏴 | (RB Mike Duxbury | 🏴 |)
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
M Andy Gray | 🏴 |
F Ian Olney | 🏴 |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
CB Billy Garton | 🏴 |
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 11/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 13/13
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 9/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 11/13
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Not recorded
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
"Platt sent Alan Mclnally speeding away down the right and he broke past Bruce to send a centre across the face of the goal to reach Gordon Cowans for an equaliser."
*Birmingham Evening Mail*
Monday, 7 November 1988
MANCHESTER United's championship pretensions can be laid to rest here and now. For the second home game running, they left the field to spasmodic booings after drawing with Aston Villa the fifth league match in succession in which they have been pulled back after taking the lead.
The result leaves them without a win since September. Those statistics tell their own story. The performance, in front of their second largest crowd of the season 44,804 tells an even harsher one. Against a very average Villa side, United were mediocre.
The clubs' positions 12th and 13th before the start suggested a mid-table clash, and that was exactly what we had. An intermittently-exciting game but one far short of the sort of quality you expect from real championship contenders.
To add to United's frustration, they lost Colin Gibson, who was stretchered off only 19 minutes into his first home match since a cartilage operation in the summer. Gibson collapsed clutching his knee after collecting a sweeping pass from Mark Hughes and hitting over a deep cross with no one anywhere near him.
Gibson is the latest addition to a continual injury list with Paul McGrath and Norman Whiteside both long-term absentees, and Viv Anderson, Mike Duxbury and Billy Garton playing on while carrying minor injuries. Yet McGrath and especially Whiteside apart, it is hard to point at any of them as providing a real excuse for United's results and McGrath has been replaced at considerable expense by Mal Donaghy, who made a satisfactory home debut.
But equally telling for United fans was that rather than the expensive new recruits Mark Hughes, Jim Leighton or Donaghy their star performer was Liam O'Brien, the 24-year old Dubliner whose chances at Old Trafford have been so restricted that he has begun only 16 first team games in his three years at the club and whose presence on the transfer list has so far provoked widespread disinterest.
Whatever happened in the tunnel or indeed on the pitch, at Plough Lane last Wednesday, it seemed as if it has caused United to lose a little more of their zest for the game. In a lacklustre first-half. the exception was Irish international O'Brien who was apparently the only United player eager to test Nigel Spink's agility until Bruce came up to lend a hand.
O'Brien began his assault on the Villa goal after only four minutes as Mountfield was adjudged to have handled the ball just outside the penalty area. The free-kick was tapped square to the powerful Dubliner who hit the bar. Two minutes later, he had another drive from closer in as Chris Price unnecessarily obstructed Hughes but again the Villa wall proved equal to the task.
O'Brien's next attempt after the departure of Gibson was much closer as he received the ball from Brian McClair and fired in a hard low shot which took a deflection onto the post as Spink failed to reach it.
Those were rare moments of excitement, a firework on the terracing pointing up the almost total absence of any on the pitch. Finally, however, after a clash of heads between Chris Price and Jesper Olsen brought the trainers on again, and as the first half dragged on interminably, United took the lead.
It was a goal which Villa deserved to concede for their total inactivity even if United had done little to command it. Again. O'Brien was heavily involved, his low 30-yard shot forcing Spink to a diving save. From the resulting corner Bruce met Gordon Strachan's cross with an unstoppable header which bulleted into the roof of the net.
That goal, or possibly their half-time talk, at last provoked Aston Villa into some sort of activity. Almost immediately. Tony Daley got away for a cross which forced Jim Leighton to his first serious save of the afternoon. That gave United a warning which they failed to heed and on the hour Villa broke away for the equaliser.
David Platt sent Alan Mclnally speeding away down the right and he broke past Bruce to send a centre across the face of the goal to reach Gordon Cowans. Cowans swept it past Leighton for an equaliser which Villa hardly deserved and which once again sent a buzz of discontent through the home supporters.