26 years ago this week

[Chico Hamilton III]

What a great weekend down in Bournemouth. A great second division away day, everywhere you looked there were Villa fans. The beach was full of them the day after the game - it was like Weston. A posh Weston.

 


Football: Villa silence doubts
By STEVE TONGUE
6 March 1988
The Sunday Times
ST
English
© 1988 Times Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved
Bournemouth ............ 1 Aston Villa ............ 2
NINE games to go and Aston Villa are looking good. On a bracing south-coast afternoon, they reasserted themselves with a confidence which suggested last month's defeats at Blackburn and Middlesbrough have had no serious effect on their promotion bid.
If there was a fault yesterday it was in not killing off more quickly and cleanly a team now anxiously scanning the bottom half of the League table.
Villa manager, Graham Taylor, used a more vivid but unprintable metaphor which recalled Paul Gascoigne's recent fate at the hands of Wimbledon's Vinnie Jones.
Certainly, Andy Gray's headed own-goal, three minutes from time, would have proved acutely embarrassing had it not been for Platt's measured chip at the other end just beforehand.
As with many of Villa's visits to more humble surroundings this season, the occasion was more cup-tie than Second Division, featuring an all-ticket crowd packed into small stands and urging the home team to 'get stuck in' before the big boys could settle down.
In fact, as their astonishing away record suggests, Villa are now immune to this sort of culture shock. While the old sweats relegated a year ago might not have fancied it at all, Taylor's eager young men went purposefully about their work, and the thousands down from Birmingham had a goal to celebrate after only 15 minutes.
It was scored with considerable style by Daley, the graceful former England Youth international now filling Mark Walters's position on the left. He gained possession, after play was restarted with a dropped ball in midfield, then drifted inside two defenders to beat Peyton off the far post.
It was odd that Bournemouth, having lost O'Driscoll and the new record signing Close with first-half injuries, should then begin to look more dangerous. Abandoning the sweeper system, they tested Villa's defensive resolve, but Aylott's low drive, pushed round a post by Spink, was their only scoring opportunity. Only, that is, until Gray's unfortunate header.
-------------------------------------------------- Weather: cold. Ground: soft. -------------------------------------------------- Goals: Daley (15min) 0-1: Platt (83min) 0-2; A Gray (og 87min) 1-2. -------------------------------------------------- Bournemouth -------------------------------------------------- (1-4-2-3): Peyton: Newson; Langan, Williams, Whitlock, Morrell; Brooks, O'Driscoll (sub: Armstrong 20min); Crooke, Close (sub: O'Connor 45min), Aylott. -------------------------------------------------- Aston Villa -------------------------------------------------- (4-3-3): Spink; Gage, Evans, Keown, Gallacher; Birch, A Gray, S Gray; Platt, Thompson, Daley. -------------------------------------------------- Referee: J Moules (Dagenham). -------------------------------------------------- (c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 1988

[class_of_82]

Remember it well had a great time there hired a car for the week end and 6 of us piled in and down to Bournemouth. Pulled up at this pub on a Friday night and bouncer said no football supporters allowed in, so we blagged him saying let us just have a piss then and went in and it was full of villa.

[dave.woodhall]

Great weekend, their papers were full of the impending invasion for a week and I remember the look on the face of the policeman who pointed to the station. Three broke off towards it, about a thousand said "We're staying the night."

And prize quiz - what significant incident in the history of H+V took place that weekend?

[PeterWithesShin]

You first met someone? Mac?

[TopDeck113]

I loved that season.  No. Correction.  I loved the away games that season.

[cdward]

Great weekend Villa everywhere. Went clubbing the night of the match, asked the DJ if he would dedicate a tune for all the Villa fans, he said he couldn't do that, so I asked could he do it for all the Brummies, he said yeah that's ok. The place erupted with Villa when he did it. Trouble in the town all night. Stories of a Villa fan getting run over on purpose by a taxi, cue fights all around with taxi drivers.
Good away end, great support as usual, all I really remember is McInally warming up as a sub, and getting chants of Rambo, Rambo.

[cdbearsfan]

Great weekend, their papers were full of the impending invasion for a week and I remember the look on the face of the policeman who pointed to the station. Three broke off towards it, about a thousand said "We're staying the night."

And prize quiz - what significant incident in the history of H+V took place that weekend?

I'm remembering the H&V quiz from the Barton's a few years back and thinking it could be when Simon Page punched a police horse?