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Game #4504

Saturday, 17 January 1998

Attendance: 24,834

Lost

Premier League

13th (-3)

Blackburn Rovers

Last 5: 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟩 🟥

Ewood Park

Villa suffer one of the worst days in the club's history as anarchy breaks out on the pitch at Ewood Park and Villa face a deep fracture having conceded nine without reply against Blackburn this season.

Blackburn Rovers

5-0

Aston Villa

Assist(s) | None

KEY MAN

Savo Milošević, a nadir

PREVIOUS MATCH

NEXT MATCH

MATCH TIMELINE

🥅 | 21’ Goal, 0-1, (Blackburn Rovers), Tim Sherwood
🥅 | 29’ Goal, 0-2, (Blackburn Rovers), Kevin Gallacher
🕒 | HT Blackburn Rovers 2-0 Aston Villa
🥅 | 54’ Goal, 0-3, (Blackburn Rovers), Kevin Gallacher
🥅 | 68’ Goal, 0-4, (Blackburn Rovers), Kevin Gallacher
🥅 | 81’ Goal, 0-5, (Blackburn Rovers), Stuart Ripley
🕒 | FT Blackburn Rovers 5-0 Aston Villa

🟨 | Booking, Ian Taylor

ON THIS DAY

A terrible day for everyone associated with Villa, the team had shipped 9 goals against Blackburn this season alone however even this appalling result was overshadowed by Savo Milošević’s behaviour on the Ewood Park pitch. Hopelessly frustrated, Milošević let his emotions take control and spat to the ground in front of the Villa fans. An inexcusable action made all the more bizarre by the fact that Villa’s faithful had taken Milošević to their heart throughout his time with the club providing him with unwavering support. Milošević’s Villa career inevitably dwindled after this game but it is to the credit of all parties that he could take the field again in a Villa shirt, albeit less regularly, before leaving at the end of the season. Something that but for his stupid behaviour this winter afternoon didn’t need to happen.

Aston Villa

European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96

Blackburn Rovers

European Cup / Champions League: ❌
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: 1994–95

FIXTURE HISTORY

Blackburn Rovers

Previous 5 vs. Blackburn: 🟨 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟥

FIXTURE DETAILS

Season | 1997-98 |
Matchday | #32 |
League Game | #23 |
Manager Game | #158 |
Saturday, 17 January 1998

MATCH SUMMARY

Manager: Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Peterlee, 1994-1998
Referee: Keith Burge | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | Tonypandy, 1986–1999
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟥 0-2
FT Score: 🟥 0-5
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
Last 5: 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟩 🟥

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Keith Burge | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | Tonypandy, 1986–1999
Previous 5: 🟥 🟩 🟨 🟩 🟥
Last Match: 🟥 18 October 1997, Villa 1-2 Wimbledon, Villa Park.
Cards: 🟨 🟨

CARDS

Villa

🟨

Blackburn Rovers

🟨

Keith Burge

TEAM NEWS

Fernando Nélson replaces Riccardo Scimeca.

TEAM STATS

Starting XI Average Age
| 26.85 |

Oldest Player
M Ian Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 29.64 |

Youngest Player
CF Savo Milošević | 🇷🇸 | 24.39 |

MANAGER

MANAGER

Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Roy Hodgson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Aston Villa

GK Mark Bosnich | 🇦🇺 |
RB Fernando Nélson | 🇵🇹 |
RB Simon Grayson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Ugo Ehiogu | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
LB Steve Staunton | 🇮🇪 |
LB Alan Wright | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Ian Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 |
M Mark Draper | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Savo Milošević | 🇷🇸 |
CF Stan Collymore | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Dwight Yorke | 🇹🇹 |

Blackburn Rovers

GK Tim Flowers | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Jeff Kenna | 🇮🇪 |
CB Colin Hendry | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
CB Stéphane Henchoz | 🇨🇭 | 🟨 |
M Tim Sherwood | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
M Garry Flitcroft | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
W Damien Duff | 🇮🇪 |
W Stuart Ripley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
W Jason Wilcox | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Kevin Gallacher | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | ⚽ | ⚽ | ⚽ | 🔁 |
CF Chris Sutton | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

SUBSTITUTES

No Substitutions Made

SUBSTITUTES

🔁 | M Garry Flitcroft | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | (LB Gary Croft | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |)
🔁 | CF Kevin Gallacher | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | (M Billy McKinlay | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |)

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

GK Michael Oakes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB David Hughes | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
RB Gary Charles | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Lee Hendrie | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Julian Joachim | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

GK Alan Fettis | 🇬🇧 |
CB Tore Pedersen | 🇳🇴 |
CF James Beattie | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

SQUAD STATS

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 6/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 11/16

MATCHDAY SQUAD

SQUAD STATS

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 8/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 12/16

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

2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg

PROGRAMME

Quotation Marks.png

MATCHDAY QUOTES

"Only twice did Villa threaten to score, but Milosovic was woefully off target and Collymore was denied by Flowers."

*Sunday Tribune*
Sunday, 18 January 1998

Blackburn fire five warning shots

KEVIN GALLACHER blasted a brilliant hat-trick as Blackburn signalled their intention that the Premiership title race is far from over. Rovers overwhelmed Aston Villa at Ewood Park, with the Scot in dazzling form as he took his goal tally for the season to 16.

Captain Tim Sherwood scored Rovers' first and Stuart Ripley a terrific fifth as Blackburn climbed to second in the Premiership, five points behind Manchester United.

The champions have a game in hand and play at Southampton on Monday but Rovers are refusing to concede the title.

Rovers went close to breaking the deadlock after 20 minutes when Damien Duff's header was nodded back by Sutton and touched on by Sherwood for Colin Hendry to unleash a drive which was deflected over the bar.

From the resulting corner they went one better when Flitcroft flicked on Duff's near-post corner for Sherwood to score his sixth goal of the season from close range.

Blackburn doubled their lead on the half hour when Sherwood turned from goal-taker to goal-maker for Gallaher. Sutton played the ball forward and Sherwood flicked it on for Gallacher to score.

Rovers were now coasting and after 32 minutes, Jason Wilcox. who had replaced Gary Croft at left-back, threaded Sutton through and his shot went narrowly wide.

Aston Villa have won just twice on their league travels this season and, on the evidence of this first-half display, it was not hard to see why.

Only twice did they threaten to score, but Milosovic was woefully off target and Collymore was denied by Flowers.

Flitcroft went close with two shots just after the interval: after Gallacher set him up for a drive which was blocked by Bosnich, he then fired a second effort over the bar.

Gallacher directed a header Just over the top from Jeff Kenna's cross in the 51st minute but the Scot scored Rovers' third with a superb piece of individual skill on 53 minutes. Gallacher latched on to Hendry's long clearance and turned Steve Staunton inside-out before slotting home at the far post.

Gallacher duly completed his hat-trick after 68 minutes when he headed home Ripley's corner from close range. The 31-year-old striker was substituted four minutes later and left the pitch to a standing ovation from the home supporters.

Rovers were not finished and 10 minutes from time Ripley cracked home a 25-yard drive for their fifth goal and his second of the season.

After the game, Blackburn manager Roy Hodgson said: "We scored five goals but we could have scored even more. It was a very satisfying performance and I hope we continue like that for the next 15 games."