Villa 1 Albion 0 April 1981

[LeeB]

Brendan Batson and Bosko Jankovic, honorary Lions.

We had a couple of teams to thank for helping us go up automatically on the last day in 1988 too. One was Leicester but I can't think of the other one.

Ipswich I think.

I think you are right. I think Ipswich beat Boro in a nice twist on 1981 and Leicester beat Bradford, meaning our point at Swindon took us up automatically. Bradford ended on 77 points and Villa and Boro ended on 78 points, both with a goal difference of +27. We went up on goals scored. We scored five more goals than them over the season.

Ipswich beat Bradford away, and Leicester won at 'Boro, both of them with absolutely zip all to play for.

Gary MacAllistar doing the damage for Leicester IIRC.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Wow.  Great find.  Without that goal I very much doubt we'd have won the league.  Funnily enough, until seeing this footage my recollection was that Withe was left with more time and space than that to execute a lob, but that clip shows him racing on to the back pass and a finish much more instinctive than I remembered it.

I sort of understand what you are saying but remember we finished 4 points clear of Ipswich under the old 2 points for a win system. If you believed Balloonhead Brazil you would think we scraped it on goal difference and that it was morally their title anyway by virtue of their 1-0 win at ours on the run in.

Ipswich won 2-1 at Villa Park. The title was won and lost on the Easter weekend when we beat Forest at Villa Park on the Saturday and drew at Stoke on the Monday. They lost at home to Arsenal on the Saturday and lost at Norwich on the Monday. They then crucially lost away at Boro on the last day of the scheduled season and also lost their game in hand at home to Southampton, which by then was a dead rubber as we had already had our open top bus parade and civic reception by the time that game was played.

Didn’t they also lose the day we beat Leicester away 4-2 (Aldaniti and Bob Champion won the National the same day) ? may have been at the Albion can’t remember for certain. And IIRC didn’t we win more games than any team in any division that season.

Your spot on. We won 4-2 at Leicester, Liverpool lost as their challenge faltered. They gave the National result over the tannoy at half time but I couldn't hear. Found out coming out the ground that Aldaniti had won (I'd put £20 on at 10/1). A good day.
P.S. I don't think I've picked the winner since !

[dcdavecollett]

Going back to LeeB, the Borough match was a delayed finish, I presume because of injury.

This meant that there were NINE minutes of stoppage time! Listening to the game on the radio, knowing that Villa had drawn 0-0 at Swindon was a form of torture!!

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Going back to LeeB, the Borough match was a delayed finish, I presume because of injury.

This meant that there were NINE minutes of stoppage time! Listening to the game on the radio, knowing that Villa had drawn 0-0 at Swindon was a form of torture!!

I seem to remember Graham Taylor coming over to the corner where we all packed in listening the radios asking for news.

[villan from luton]

Was a mighty dour game that night, but the relief when Batson passed the ball for With to score was immense.

Was at Leicester for that game, what a team we had and Des was a vital player in that. Andy Blair was brought in that summer and most thought it would be at Des expense, but his worth to the team was totally immense

[Roysmert]

brilliant post, thank you for sharing it. what a great night that was, must've been over fifty thousand squeezed in that night. I know there was at least one that day pay, that was me.

[Damo70]

Going back to LeeB, the Borough match was a delayed finish, I presume because of injury.

This meant that there were NINE minutes of stoppage time! Listening to the game on the radio, knowing that Villa had drawn 0-0 at Swindon was a form of torture!!

I seem to remember Graham Taylor coming over to the corner where we all packed in listening the radios asking for news.

I was in that corner but I don't remember SGT coming over. I do recall a few of the players coming over asking for news.

SGT's first win in charge was away to Leicester. About five of us were sitting together in the front row and before the game SGT walked over to talk to us. One of our travelling party shouted "When are we gonna win Graham"? He winked, smiled and said firmly "Today"! Which brought a big cheer from us. And he was right. One of the lads we travelled with had gone to the game straight from the airport after a boozy Spanish holiday and got ejected from the ground for being sick into his sombrero!

[WarszaVillan]

brilliant post, thank you for sharing it. what a great night that was, must've been over fifty thousand squeezed in that night. I know there was at least one that day pay, that was me.

47,998 'officially'. I'm sure I've mentioned it before here, I knew the two season ticket holders that didn't attend.

[GXVilla]

What a fantastic night that was, a really tense game. Only just got in the Holte as it filled up early. Thought we'd blown it until Brendan helped us out!

Was also on the terrace at Swindon, having survived the crush to get in, while we waited for the Leicester result at Boro. I was with my elder brother while my younger brother, the only nose in the family, was playing in the Leicester defence that day. We were sure he'd do a Brendan and set Boro up and he told us later he was tempted, but wanted the win bonus! That injury time seemed to go on forever until we could celebrate promotion.

[rob_bridge]

What a fantastic night that was, a really tense game. Only just got in the Holte as it filled up early. Thought we'd blown it until Brendan helped us out!

Was also on the terrace at Swindon, having survived the crush to get in, while we waited for the Leicester result at Boro. I was with my elder brother while my younger brother, the only nose in the family, was playing in the Leicester defence that day. We were sure he'd do a Brendan and set Boro up and he told us later he was tempted, but wanted the win bonus! That injury time seemed to go on forever until we could celebrate promotion.

And here it is!

Who is your brother?

[Charlie8182]

It seems like its taken 38 years for us to give Albion the favour back after the Whelan mistake yesterday, hopefully it ultimately won't prove fatal.

[Roysmert]

Must be Simon Morgan. He was a decent player an' all.

[Damo70]

What a fantastic night that was, a really tense game. Only just got in the Holte as it filled up early. Thought we'd blown it until Brendan helped us out!

Was also on the terrace at Swindon, having survived the crush to get in, while we waited for the Leicester result at Boro. I was with my elder brother while my younger brother, the only nose in the family, was playing in the Leicester defence that day. We were sure he'd do a Brendan and set Boro up and he told us later he was tempted, but wanted the win bonus! That injury time seemed to go on forever until we could celebrate promotion.

And here it is!

Who is your brother?

I think there were two Brummies in the Leicester team that day. Simon Morgan and Nicky Cross. Plus Brierley Hill born goalkeeper Paul Cooper. So I will guess it was one of them.

[Villafirst]

Brendan Batson and Bosko Jankovic, honorary Lions.

We had a couple of teams to thank for helping us go up automatically on the last day in 1988 too. One was Leicester but I can't think of the other one.

Ipswich I think.

I think you are right. I think Ipswich beat Boro in a nice twist on 1981 and Leicester beat Bradford, meaning our point at Swindon took us up automatically. Bradford ended on 77 points and Villa and Boro ended on 78 points, both with a goal difference of +27. We went up on goals scored. We scored five more goals than them over the season.

I thought Leicester beat Middlesbrough 2-0?

[dcdavecollett]

Leicester beat Middlesbrough 2-1 at Ayresome Park.