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Game #4803

Aston Villa

Saturday, 24 April 2004

Won

6th (-)

Last 5: 🟨 🟨 🟩 🟨 🟩

Premier League

Attendance: 31,322

Middlesbrough

Riverside Stadium

Villa win at the last to keep up the pressure on the European places and make it eleven wins in twenty Premier League games under David O'Leary as they consolidate sixth in the table.

Middlesbrough

1-2

Aston Villa

Assist(s) | Thomas Hitzlsperger | 45’ |

KEY MAN

Peter Crouch celebrates his late winner to keep Villa 6th and make it eleven wins in twenty Premier League games under David O'Leary, Saturday, 24 April 2004.

PREVIOUS MATCH

NEXT MATCH

MATCH TIMELINE

Saturday, 24 April 2004

🟨 | 13’ Booking, Gareth Barry
🥅 | 41’ Goal, 0-1, (Middlesbrough), Joseph-Désiré Job
⚽ | 45’ Goal, 1-1, Gareth Barry, Assist by Thomas Hitzlsperger
🕒 | HT Middlesbrough 1-1 Aston Villa
🔁 | 52’ Sub off, Gareth Barry, Sub on, Peter Whittingham
🟥 | 57’ Sending off, Nolberto Solano
🔁 | 58’ Sub off, Darius Vassell, Sub on, Mark Delaney
🔁 | 74’ Sub off, Juan Pablo Ángel, Sub on, Peter Crouch
⚽ | 89’ Goal, 2-1, Peter Crouch, Assist by Ulises de la Cruz
🟨 | 89’ Booking, Peter Crouch
🕒 | FT Middlesbrough 1-2 Aston Villa

ON THIS DAY

Villa see off shadow Villa side Middlesbrough, despite being reduced to 10 men, and keep up their challenge for Champions League qualification as Boro's ex Villa contingent have nothing to play for except their pay packet.

Aston Villa

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

Middlesbrough

European Cup / Champions League: ❌
League Champions: ❌
FA Cup Winners: ❌
League Cup Winners: 🏆
Last Trophy: 2003-04

FIXTURE HISTORY

Middlesbrough

Previous 5 vs. Middlesbrough: 🟨 🟥 🟩 🟩 🟥

FIXTURE DETAILS

Season | 2003-04 |
Matchday | #42 |
League Game | #35 |
Manager Game | #42 |
Saturday, 24 April 2004

MATCH SUMMARY

Manager: David O’Leary | 🇮🇪 | Stoke Newington, 2003-2006
Referee: Graham Barber | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Tring, 1994-2004
Kick off: 8.00pm
HT Score: 🟨 1-1
FT Score: 🟩 2-1
FT Result: 🟩 Won
Last 5: 🟨 🟨 🟩 🟨 🟩

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Graham Barber | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Tring, 1994-2004
Previous 5: 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟥 🟥
Last Match: 🟥 10 January 2004, Villa 0-1 Liverpool, Anfield.
Cards: 🟥 🟨

CARDS

Villa

🟥 🟨

Middlesbrough

None

Graham Barber

TEAM NEWS

Gavin McCann and Juan Pablo Ángel replace Lee Hendrie and Peter Crouch.

TEAM STATS

Starting XI Average Age
| 26.87 |

Oldest Player |
CB Ronny Johnsen | 🇳🇴 | 34.90 |

Youngest Player |
M Thomas Hitzlsperger | 🇩🇪 | 22.07 |

MANAGER

MANAGER

David O'Leary | 🇮🇪 |

Steve McLaren | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Aston Villa

GK Thomas Sörensen | 🇩🇰 |
CB Olof Mellberg | 🇸🇪 |
CB Ronny Johnsen | 🇳🇴 |
RB Ulises de la Cruz | 🇪🇨 |
RB Jlloyd Samuel | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Gareth Barry | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟨 | ⚽ | 🔁 |
M Gavin McCann | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Thomas Hitzlsperger | 🇩🇪 | 🔥 |
W Nolberto Solano | 🇵🇪 | 🟥 |
CF Juan Pablo Ángel | 🇨🇴 | 🔁 |
F Darius Vassell | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |

Middlesbrough

GK Mark Schwarzer | 🇦🇺 |
LB Frank Queudrue | 🇫🇷 | 🔁 |
CB Ugo Ehiogu (ex) | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Danny Mills | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
M George Boateng (ex) | 🇳🇱 |
M Juninho Paulista | 🇧🇷 |
M Gaizka Mendieta | 🇪🇸 |
W Boudewijn Zenden | 🇳🇱 |
CF Michael Ricketts | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Massimo Maccarone | 🇮🇹 | 🟨 |
CF Joseph-Désiré Job | 🇨🇲 | ⚽ |

SUBSTITUTES

🔁 W Peter Whittingham | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for M Gareth Barry | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 53’ |
🔁 RB Mark Delaney | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 | for F Darius Vassell | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 58’ |
🔁 CF Peter Crouch | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ | 🟨 | for CF Juan Pablo Ángel | 🇨🇴 | 74’ |

SUBSTITUTES

🔁 | LB Frank Queudrue | 🇫🇷 | (W Stewart Downing | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |)
🔁 | RB Danny Mills | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | (F Szilard Németh | 🇸🇰 |)

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

GK Stefan Postma | 🇳🇱 |
CB Liam Ridgewell | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

GK Brad Jones | 🇦🇺 |
LB Colin Cooper | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Jonathan Greening | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

SQUAD STATS

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 4/11
Homegrown: 4/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 8/16
Homegrown: 6/16

MATCHDAY SQUAD

SQUAD STATS

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 3/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 6/16

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

"But just when it seemed as if their stubborn defence would steal the plaudits for stopping all that Boro could create, Crouch crept in and stole all three points."

*BBC Sport*
Saturday, 24 April, 2004

Aston Villa maintained their push for a Champions League spot with a last-minute goal from Peter Crouch.

The substitute slotted from close range to give Villa’s 10-men a shock win following Nolberto Solano’s second-half sending off for violent conduct.

Boro opened the scoring when Gaizka Mendieta played in Joseph-Desire Job who fired in a fierce shot.

But Gareth Barry levelled with a header from a Thomas Hitzlsperger free-kick before Crouch’s injury time winner.

The visitors had made most of the early running in the first half, a stark contrast to the backs-to-the-wall way in which they played the majority of the second.

Darius Vassell outpaced former Villain Ugo Ehiogu only to be denied by Mark Schwarzer and Hitzlsperger shot into the side netting from 15 yards.

But having played a supporting role for the first 25 minutes, Middlesbrough suddenly took centre stage, with Mendieta in the spotlight. The Spaniard played in both Massimo Macarone and Job in quick succession only to see their efforts stopped by the alert Scandinavian pair of Thomas Sorensen and Olof Mellberg.

Minutes later it was third time lucky for the influential Mendieta when he threaded a ball through to Job in the box and the Cameroonian striker left Sorensen with no chance.

But the Boro fans had barely stopped celebrating before Villa were level in first-half stoppage time, Hitzlsperger’s inswinging free-kick from the right, following a Franck Queudrue foul on Solano, being glanced in by Barry.

But after the break Boro began to dominate proceedings and their hopes of a fifth successive home win were helped by Solano’s second-half sending off.

The Peruvian tangled with George Boateng, and when the former Villa player went down, referee Barber had no option but to wield the red card.

Vassell made way for Mark Delaney and Villa focused on shutting up shop and returning to the Midlands with a point.

But just when it seemed as if their stubborn defence would steal the plaudits for stopping all that Boro could create, Crouch crept in and stole all three points. Schwarzer could only parry Ulises De La Cruz’s late shot and the striker was on hand to score.

Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren enjoyed the build up to the match with a training break in Malaga and can rest easy for the rest of the season with a return ticket to Europe assured courtesy of the club’s Carling Cup win.

David O’Leary, who has never failed to qualify for Europe in his short managerial career, could be joining him with Villa occupying a Uefa Cup spot.

But if his side can enjoy more luck along these lines late in the season, fourth place and a Champions League berth will be firmly in their sights.