Liverpool 1 Villa 2 1977

[Charlie8182]

I’ve only ever seen the goals from this game but not the highlights until now, including Carrodus hitting the bar in the last minute.

https://youtu.be/WfTfCF2Wx5E

[sid1964]

Remember listening to local radio (brmb?) on my transistor radio - could not believe that we had beaten them.

Andy Gray in his pomp a very young SID, and a beautiful away kit.

[dcdavecollett]

Typical of Villa's up and down form that season, we followed up this great win with a home defeat to Middlesbrough...

I remember Ian Callaghan being interviewed after this game and he was very complimentary about us.

[FrankyH]

Think it refers to the same game. I met one of Tony Barton's sons at a Old Stars signing  and he told me  ( and showed a picture on his phone) of Andy Gray's shirt from that game that he was given . It had visible blood stains on it and  if I remember correctly Barton junior reckons Andy  broke his nose , hence the blood. What's the saying Leave leave nothing on the pitch ? Our number 9 just left sweat, snot & blood !

[Dick Edwards]

I was at that game. I remember our fans in the Anfield Road end being surrounded, with only a thin line of police between us and their moronic fans who were throwing lighted bangers at us! It was my first visit to Anfield and remember how surprised I was to see the mighty Kop looking so small compared to the Holte End. It was very, very sweet to beat Liverpool in their own back yard, especially so given the coach ride back to Brum was so cold with the windows having been put through.

[Sussex Lion]

I'll never forget this game. The 3 of us, all 16 years old were really excited as we'd never been to Anfield, and we weren't worrying about the result as Liverpool hadn't lost at home for over a year so there were no expectations as we left New Street.
The first sign things would be uncomfortable was in the queue outside the Anfield Road end when this older gentleman whispered in a scouse accent to hide our scarves a bit better as he could see claret and blue poking through our jackets and if they got spotted we'd get hurt.
Then as Dick Edwards said as soon as we entered the terraces there were Liverpool fans straining at the police line trying to get at us and throwing fireworks throughout the game. It was November 5th.
I remember the Villa fans singing throughout half time because we were winning 1-0 which I think goaded the Liverpool fans even more (good). Our second goal was more of a shock than celebration and then with just 5 mins to go I remember thinking we've won this as Liverpool were taking ages to mount attacks with no urgency.
Another story was about to happen. When the game ended the police kept us back for over 20 mins because they said gangs of Liverpool fans were outside waiting to get at us. Eventually we were allowed out in a police escorted cordon back to Lime Street. But it was dark and somehow a few of us got separated. We were panicking as Liverpool fans picked us off and when one Villa fan appealed to a policeman for help he got hit by a police truncheon.
In desperation I ran in front of a taxi which slammed the brakes on and I begged him to take the 3 of us to Lime Street. A gruff voice in the back said to the driver to let us in. This hero passenger was a Liverpool fan from Glasgow who proceeded to show us his UDA tattoos (god knows why) and explained how he organised Liverpool fan clubs in Glasgow. Anyway at Lime street he escorted us to the Birmingham platform through a gang of Liverpool fans who were still trying to get at us.
We at last got on the train home and in between songs people were exchanging stories of escapes from Liverpool fans and near misses but sadly some Villa fans did get hit and badly hurt. 
It didn't take away the euphoria of a win at Anfield, which was even rarer in those days, but it did make me wonder why we did all this just to watch a game of football... 
 

[ez]

I’ve only ever seen the goals from this game but not the highlights until now, including Carrodus hitting the bar in the last minute.

https://youtu.be/WfTfCF2Wx5E

Yes Carrodus hit the woodwork twice. It was his header that came back off the post for Andy Gray to score.

[trinityoap]

Agree with Dick Edwards. The first time I went to Anfield I couldn't believe the size of the Kop. No more than 2/3 the size of the Holte. Trips to Liverpool were always interesting in those days , including pulling a dart out of my neck after one game. We sat down for this one and I tried to look miserable when Andy scored the winner but gave the game away when Carrodus hit the bar at the end. Not a  good idea. Phillips and McNaught were great that day with Phillips doing a real job of roughing up Dalgleish if I remember correctly.

[dcdavecollett]

Wins at Anfield in those days were as rare as rocking-horse droppings.

Our win in '77 was their first home defeat for years, so it really was one to savour.

The next week, we lost 1-0 at home to Middlesbrough!