October 13th 1988 - Thrashing Blues

[Chico Hamilton III]

Villa show no mercy on Elliott's debut;Aston Villa v Birmingham CityDENNIS SHAW
13 October 1988
The Times
T
English
© 1988 Times Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved
Aston Villa 5 Birmingham City 0
(Aston Villa win 7-0 on aggregate)

Aston Villa heaped new indignities on their distressed neighbours at Villa Park by completing their removal from the Littlewoods Cup in an avalanche of goals.
Birmingham were forced to play the tie without their goalkeeper, Thomas, on loan from Newcastle, who did not want him to become cup-tied.
Birmingham's rain-swept agonies began in the first 45 seconds and never eased off. Elliott, their teenaged replacement for Thomas, had his first competitive appearance blemished by a Mountfield header in the first minute, and a stunning free kick from 25 yards by Gage meant that Villa had doubled their 2-0 lead from the first leg in only 10 minutes.
Gage extended the second-leg lead to 3-0 six minutes later, and Olney, another teenager making his first appearance, jabbed in Villa's fourth after 17 minutes.
Sturridge, another young player, was sent on, though by this time Villa had throttled back. Birmingham's only real counter-attack was a shot by Robinson which saw Spink diving full-length to save.
Motivation was not Villa's strong suit when they began the final 45 minutes of the two-legged tie with a six-goal cushion, but the fleet-footed Daley took centre stage with several dazzling dribbles. This led to a breathtaking fifth goal when he beat five defenders on the run before planting his shot wide of Elliott.
ASTON VILLA: N Spink; C Price, D Mountfield, A Evans, K Gage, S Sims, T Daley, D Platt, I Olney, G Cowans, S Gray (sub: B Gallacher).
BIRMINGHAM CITY: T Elliott; R Ranson (sub: S Sturridge), J Frain, I Atkins, V Overson, I Clarkson, D Bremner, D Peer, R Morris (sub: G Childs), C Robinson, S Wigley.
Referee: K Hackett.

[Richard E]

Fantastic evening. We had a Bluenose stood on the Holte with us. He was virtually in tears by half time. In the away end they were busy burning their scarves. Wonderful stuff.

[flybo]

Think we beat them 6-0 in the same season simod or Birmingham senior cup at the sty

[WarszaVillan]

And then we beat them 6 - 0 shortly after in the Simond cup as I remember.

[somec]

Footage of the match here.

Gage's second was a great strike, his first weren't bad either!

[Damo70]

Villa show no mercy on Elliott's debut;Aston Villa v Birmingham CityDENNIS SHAW
13 October 1988
The Times
T
English
© 1988 Times Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved
Aston Villa 5 Birmingham City 0
(Aston Villa win 7-0 on aggregate)

Aston Villa heaped new indignities on their distressed neighbours at Villa Park by completing their removal from the Littlewoods Cup in an avalanche of goals.
Birmingham were forced to play the tie without their goalkeeper, Thomas, on loan from Newcastle, who did not want him to become cup-tied.
Birmingham's rain-swept agonies began in the first 45 seconds and never eased off. Elliott, their teenaged replacement for Thomas, had his first competitive appearance blemished by a Mountfield header in the first minute, and a stunning free kick from 25 yards by Gage meant that Villa had doubled their 2-0 lead from the first leg in only 10 minutes.
Gage extended the second-leg lead to 3-0 six minutes later, and Olney, another teenager making his first appearance, jabbed in Villa's fourth after 17 minutes.
Sturridge, another young player, was sent on, though by this time Villa had throttled back. Birmingham's only real counter-attack was a shot by Robinson which saw Spink diving full-length to save.
Motivation was not Villa's strong suit when they began the final 45 minutes of the two-legged tie with a six-goal cushion, but the fleet-footed Daley took centre stage with several dazzling dribbles. This led to a breathtaking fifth goal when he beat five defenders on the run before planting his shot wide of Elliott.
ASTON VILLA: N Spink; C Price, D Mountfield, A Evans, K Gage, S Sims, T Daley, D Platt, I Olney, G Cowans, S Gray (sub: B Gallacher).
BIRMINGHAM CITY: T Elliott; R Ranson (sub: S Sturridge), J Frain, I Atkins, V Overson, I Clarkson, D Bremner, D Peer, R Morris (sub: G Childs), C Robinson, S Wigley.
Referee: K Hackett.

I didn't read all of that. I didn't think anything further on could top the openning sentence. 'Aston Villa heaped new indignities on their distressed neighbours at Villa Park by completing their removal from the Littlewoods Cup in an avalanche of goals'. The 6-0 that followed in the Simon Cup was 9th November 1988, on my eighteenth birthday.

Which was nice.

[Deano's Mullet]

I'd hate it if we wore a kit like it now but I didn't mind  this one at the time. I was only 11 so I wasn't probably up on tradition.

[b23]

No mercy. No quarter.

[b23]

Another version.

[andyaston]

To be fair, at the end of the match it felt like a non event. not many fans turned up if I remember it was only 19,000 or so.