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Game #4317

Aston Villa

Aston Villa.jpg

Saturday, 2 April 1994

10th

Last 5: 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟨 🟥

GK Mark Bosnich | 🇦🇺 |
LB Steve Staunton | 🇮🇪 |
CB Ugo Ehiogu | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Shaun Teale | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Earl Barrett | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Andy Townsend | 🇮🇪 |
M Garry Parker | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
M Kevin Richardson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W Tony Daley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Dean Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
CF Graham Fenton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Ron Atkinson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1991-1994
Aston Villa.jpg
Substitutes:

🔁 | CF Dwight Yorke | 🇹🇹 | for M Garry Parker | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 77’ |

Unused Substitutes:

GK Nigel Spink | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Neil Cox | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

None

European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1993-94

Matchday Squad:

Not recorded

Villa make three changes from the team that drew with Everton last time out as Graham Fenton, Tony Daley and Andy Townsend are recalled with Dwight Yorke, Ray Houghton and Steve Froggatt dropping out.

Starting XI Average Age
| 26.61 |

Oldest Player |
M Kevin Richardson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 31.35 |

Youngest Player |
F Graham Fenton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 19.88 |

  • Villa fail to score for the fourth time in five Premier League games under Ron Atkinson but despite poor recent  League form it is still a shock to be beaten by relegation threatened Manchester City.

  • Kevin Richardson makes his 150th appearance in a Villa shirt to make it W69 D39 L42, 15 Goals and 15 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 5.00 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

  • Dwight Yorke extends his goalless Premier League run to 15 games - his worst ever League goalscoring return - to make it 109 Appearances, 75 Starts, W46 D27 L35, 27 Goals, 13 Assists and 1 Booking at a goal per game rate of one for every 4.04 games he has played so far in his Villa career.

  • Mark Bosnich concedes his 50th goal in a Villa shirt on his 57th appearance (56 Starts) to make it W26 D13 L18, 52 Goals Conceded at a rate of 0.91 goals per game and 22 Clean Sheets (37%) so far in his Villa career.

DON'T try asking Villa's players to find reasons for their most emphatic defeat of the season.

The chances are, they don't have a clue how it happened. Come to think of it, more than 26,000 spectators left Maine Road equally bemused, even if the vast majority of them were too ecstatic to contemplate even a post-match analysis.

City's supporters had more important matters to occupy their thoughts, like the fact that survival is still possible despite their team's nosedive down the Premiership table.

For Villa, it seems, winning the Coca-Cola League Cup and attaining a place in next season's UEFA Cup represents the completion of their season's work.

Ron Atkinson's men will, no doubt, entertain us during their remaining fixtures, but the need to finish third in the table was removed by last week's glorious Wembley display.

Big Ron's relaxed after-match demeanour said it all. He wasn't exactly jumping for joy about a three-goal drubbing, but you got the impression he wasn't about to lose any sleep, either.

That's not to suggest Villa will be throwing in the towel at the first sign of danger during these last few weeks of the campaign, but Saturday was a classic case of the team needing the points showing greater urgency.

In view of the scoreline, it may seem silly to suggest that in terms of sheer quality, Villa were streets ahead, but they were.

For most of the first half, they sliced through City's defence almost at will, with Andy Townsend, Kevin Richardson and Garry Parker providing a succession of precision passes and Tony Daley's pace threatening to spark an avalanche of goals.

What Villa failed to do, though, was to get in where it hurt, with most of their blows thrown from long range and carrying insufficient menace to threaten a breakthrough.

Like a heavyweight in the corner, City were content to weather the storm and wait for the chance of a counter attack.

In the event, Horton's battlers delivered a sharp one-two from Peter Beagrie and Paul Walsh in the space of six minutes before half-time, and followed up with Uwe Rosier'a knockout blow eight minutes after the re-start.

No wonder Villa looked punch-drunk for the remainder of the match as they searched in vain for some sort of consolation to show for their impressive approach work.

As Atkinson pointed out, Villa's performance in the opening half hour or so was as good as anything they have produced in the league for some considerable time.

There are days, though, when it just isn't going to happen, and this was one of them.

Teenage striker Graham Fenton tested goalkeeper Andy Dibble with a fierce low drive towards the end, but otherwise Villa's raids went nowhere.

Where they had earlier been assured, there was a touch of self-doubt which inhibited their creative output and made everything they did rather predictable.

It might have been worse, too, for City's three-goal cushion gave them the confidence to be more adventurous. Mark Bosnich had to turn away a goal-bound Beagrie shot and Parker cleared off the line from Michel Vonk's close range header.

Had those efforts gone in, it would have been really embarrassing, for Villa, while disappointing in the second half, were most certainly never outclassed.

They simply paid the price for 14 catastrophic minutes either side of the interval, when even the otherwise solid Shaun Teale and Ugo Ehiogu went AWOL.

Aston Villa.jpg

Lost

0-3

🟥 2 Apr 1994, Villa 0-3 Manchester City, Maine Road
Scorer(s) | None

Assist(s) | None

Match Timeline:

🥅 | 39’ Goal, 0-1, (Manchester City), Peter Beagrie
🥅 | 45’ Goal, 0-2, (Manchester City), Paul Walsh
🕒 | HT Manchester City 2-0 Aston Villa
🥅 | 53’ Goal, 0-3, (Manchester City), Uwe Rosler
🔁 | 77’ Sub off, Garry Parker, Sub on, Dwight Yorke
🕒 | FT Manchester City 3-0 Aston Villa

Season | 1993-94 |
Matchday | #50 |
League Game | #35 |
Manager Game | #152 |
Saturday, 2 April 1994

Aston Villa.jpg

Manager: Ron Atkinson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Liverpool, 1991-1994
Referee: Paul Durkin | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Dorset, 1988-2004
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟥 0-2
FT Score: 🟥 0-3
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
Last 5: 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟨 🟥

Referee: Paul Durkin | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Dorset, 1988-2004

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

Total 🕒 129 | 🟩 50 | 🟨 33 | 🟥 46 | ⚽ 205 | 🥅 194 |
League 🕒 120 | 🟩 46 | 🟨 32 | 🟥 42 | ⚽ 187 | 🥅 178 |
FA Cup 🕒 6 | 🟩 2 | 🟨 1 | 🟥 3 | ⚽ 9 | 🥅 12 |
League Cup 🕒 2 | 🟩 2 | 🟨 0 | 🟥 0 | ⚽ 6 | 🥅 0 |
Other 🕒 1 | 🟩 0 | 🟨 0 | 🟥 1 | ⚽ 0 | 🥅 1 |
Home 🕒 67 | 🟩 37 | 🟨 18 | 🟥 12 | ⚽ 128 | 🥅 71 |
Away 🕒 61 | 🟩 13 | 🟨 14 | 🟥 34 | ⚽ 76 | 🥅 101 |
Neutral 🕒 1 | 🟩 0 | 🟨 0 | 🟥 0 | ⚽ 1 | 🥅 6 |

Aston Villa.jpg

Not recorded

Debut Appearances:

None

Final Appearances:

None

Ron Atkinson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1991-1994

🕒 152 | 🟩 | 69 🟨 | 40 🟥 43 | 1.63

Villa Career Form:

Top 6

Referee:

VAR (from 2021)

GK Mark Bosnich | 🇦🇺 |
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔥
57
🟩
26
🟨
2
56*
🟨
13
🟥
0
0
🟥
18*
0
🥅
21
52*
LB Steve Staunton | 🇮🇪 |
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔥
121
🟩
56
🟨
4
121*
🟨
33
🟥
0
8
🟥
32*
16
CB Ugo Ehiogu | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔥
27
🟩
14
🟨
0
14*
🟨
5
🟥
0
0
🟥
8*
1
CB Shaun Teale | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔥
144
🟩
66
🟨
16
143*
🟨
39
🟥
1
5
🟥
39*
0
RB Earl Barrett | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔥
109
🟩
51
🟨
5
109*
🟨
30
🟥
0
2
🟥
28*
1
M Kevin Richardson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔥
150
🟩
69
🟨
9
150*
🟨
39
🟥
0
15
🟥
42*
15
W Tony Daley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔥
285
🟩
108
🟨
3
239*
🟨
71
🟥
0
38
🟥
106*
31
CF Graham Fenton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔥
9
🟩
3
🟨
1
5*
🟨
2
🟥
0
0
🟥
4*
0
Sub 2
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔁
🔥
🟩
🟨
🟨
🟥
🟥
Player Profile
Sub 4
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔁
🔥
🟩
🟨
🟨
🟥
🟥
Player Profile
M Andy Townsend | 🇮🇪 |
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔥
40
🟩
22
🟨
3
40*
🟨
9
🟥
0
4
🟥
9*
7
M Garry Parker | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔥
99
🟩
43
🟨
3
97*
🟨
26
🟥
0
13
🟥
30*
6
CF Dean Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔥
92
🟩
44
🟨
2
91*
🟨
25
🟥
0
31
🟥
23*
6
F Dwight Yorke | 🇹🇹 |
Sub 1
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔁
🔥
109
🟩
46
🟨
1
34*
🟨
28
🟥
0
27
🟥
35*
13
Sub 3
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔁
🔥
🟩
🟨
🟨
🟥
🟥
Player Profile
Sub 5
Games
Results
Cards
🕒
🔁
🔥
🟩
🟨
🟨
🟥
🟥
Player Profile

Premier League

Manchester City

Aston Villa.jpg

Maine Road

Attendance: 26,075

GK Andy Dibble | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
CB David Brightwell | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Keith Curle | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Michel Vonk | 🇳🇱 |
RB Andy Hill | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Ian Brightwell | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M David Rocastle | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Steve McMahon (ex) | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W Peter Beagrie | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
CF Paul Walsh | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
CF Uwe Rösler | 🇩🇪 | ⚽ | 🔁 |

Brian Horton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
Aston Villa.jpg
Substitutes:

🔁 | CF Uwe Rösler | 🇩🇪 | (CF Mike Sheron | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |)

Unused Substitutes:

GK Martyn Margetson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
M Steffen Karl | 🇩🇪 |

None

European Cup / Champions League: ❌
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1975-76

Matchday Squad:

Not Recorded

🟩 12 Apr 2025, Villa 3-0 Southampton, St Mary's TBL.png

"DON'T try asking Villa's players to find reasons for their most emphatic defeat of the season."

🟩 12 Apr 2025, Villa 3-0 Southampton, St Mary's TBL.png

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)

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