Aston Villa 3 Middlesbrough 0 - League Div 1 - 25th April 1981

Score - 3-0 to Aston Villa
Competition - League Division One
Venue Villa Park
Attendance - 38,018
Villa starting lineup:
Jimmy Rimmer
Kenny Swain
Allan Evans
Ken McNaught
Colin Gibson
Tony Morley
Des Bremner
Dennis Mortimer
Gordon Cowans
Gary Shaw
Peter Withe
Boro Starting lineup:
Jim Platt
John Craggs
Tony McAndrew
Ian Bailey
David Armstrong
Mark Proctor
Colin Ross
Dave Shearer
Bozo Jankovic
Billy Ashcroft
Terry Cochrane
VillaBoy68
/ villaboy
/ villaboy68

[@71poiuytrewq]

I was at this game with my dad. I was only 10 but I remember it well. We were sat behind the dugout.

[@chrisdavies1637]

Ron Saunders what a great manager he was

[@stevanroth]

Awesome display of football, no wonder the following season they won the European cup, and when it was very hard to win.

[@jonhigh7619]

stevanroth You say it was hard to win. They played 8 games to get to the final. Valur of Iceland, Dynamo Berlin, Dynamo Kiev and Anderlecht before Bayern Munich in the final. In 1978 Liverpool only played 6 games before the final! Much harder to win these days.

[@stevereeves2140]

@@jonhigh7619 Interesting fact here: Bayern Munich had never lost a final of any description before Villa beat them. They were a tough nut to crack. These days you play teams that have scraped 4th in their league.

[@deakint1]

What you on about. You had to be League Champions then to qualify for the European Cup. The Champions League now is full of low quality teams who have finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, in their Leagues. No diving every time a player is about to lose the ball. Ref stopping game every minute. Full of cheats. football has become a non contact sport. Matches flowed in those days. Proper football, not the fake football of today, and with a proper ball. Todays Champions League, the matches are played on a League basis, which are so boring with safety first tactics. And as for Liverpool - They haven't won the League title since in 1989-90 season. So if the same rules applied, as they did for Villa in 1982, then Liverpool would have never qualified for the Champions League at all. Villa were a class team. Better than the hyped up tippy tappy diving boring, pass, pass, pass, game of today. After being crowned Champions of Europe in 1982, Villa, the next season 1983, Villa beat Barcelona in the Final of the Super Cup. Barcelona were the dirtiest team I have ever seen at Villa Park. They were 'animals'. Villa got to the Quarter Final of the European Cup, and got knocked out by Juventus. Juve had 8 of the Italian World Cup winning team including Paulo Rossi, Dino Zoff, Gentile, Cabrini, Bettega, Tardelli, also included Platini and Boniek. Trapattoni was Juve's manager. Juve were an absolutely World class team. And BTW - Liverpool played 8 games to get to the European Cup Final at Wembley in 1978 - not 6.

[@jonhigh7619]

Tony Deakin I say again Valur of Iceland.

[@jonhigh7619]

SteveReeves But 6 games!

[@1ChampagneSupernova1]

I was 15 and there in the holte end,Peter withes goal I WILL NEVER FORGET!!!!!!!Brilliant,holte end went nuts,got knocked all over the place,great days of football!!!!!

[@penfloyd]

Great season for Villa.

[@chucktrick5129]

Was there as well, the Peter Withe goal was epic!

[@reetpateet8656]

Great days and some great names there. Notice the lack of foreign players,and people riding tackles instead of rolling all over the pitch! There was an honesty about the game - if the pitches were like that now some of the players would be onto their agents complaining they got mud on them!!!! LOL

[@mohdazmi10]

those were great days in English football. we Malaysians enjoyed it even though there were no live Ebglish football here in Malaysia except the Cup Finals.

[@muhammudghulaamyaseen865]

I was at this game

[@71poiuytrewq]

Me too. Remember it well!

[@tomduggan51]

Villa Boy, Thanks for Match of the Day coverage of this crucial game-which you obligingly supply in full also on this channel. Great team performance by Villa, particularly Peter Withe, Tony Morley and Allan Evans!

[@irisdainter6507]

I was at the game. Happy day's.

[@seltaeb3302]

What a cracking team that was, whose motto was "have ball, let's score" the won tackling was amazing, no fights, no diving, just good honest footy, but oh Ron why did you desert your boys. Swallow your pride, the team comes first.

[@willjones8774]

Must be the history of the club and stadium Always have been my 2nd favourite team

[@markhemming318]

I remember that day, finishing Attendance Centre and the straight off to this match.

[@sailorford1]

I was there too. We lost 2-0 to Arsenal but won the league

[@markcartwright2263]

boro came down on a mini bus,by the looks of it lol.

[@SimonJohn67]

Jimmy Rimmer could have got his deck chair out and read a book whilst this game with in progress.

[@beds139]

This was the day I allowed myself to believe Villa could actually win the league. It had been building to this over a number of seasons. We had minimal injuries & Liverpool had by their standards some poor performances. Ipswich had a great chance to win the league after beating us at Villa Park towards the end of the season but ran out of steam. Great times UTV!!!

[@kailashpatel1706]

Surely players like Morley and Cowans should have featured in Greenwood's 1982 world cup squad?...Rix out for Morley and Mcdermott (terry) out for Cowans..(who also had good tackling abilities)..waste..

[@duncanedwards7840]

@@kailashpatel1706 Shocking, Sid was class, & if I recall dropped Morley, the magician for Peter Barnes of Man City, I think from the final 22.

[@beds139]

@@kailashpatel1706 The Villa team that won the League in 1981 was like the Leicester team that won the Premier League,ie the players were not given enough credit for their achievements. Morley was incredibly quick & was at his peak at this time. Sid played just 10 times for England over a 7 year period. He was up against Glenn Hoddle and then Gaza for that schemer role but it is another example of wasted talent

[@kailashpatel1706]

@@beds139 If Clough and Taylor had got the England job in 1978, the key goal would have been the 1982 World Cup..This is the team they would have played in Spain...Shilton/V. Anderson/A Martin/T Butcher/D. Statham-Coppell-Hoddle-Robson-Cunningham-Francis and Mariner)-Subs Cowans, Morley, Regis..I would have used Morley and Cowans as killer subs..

[@kailashpatel1706]

@@duncanedwards7840 Peter Barnes did not make the squad for either the Euro '80' or '82' World Cup England teams..

[@billkent6037]

Great turn out by the away fans!

[@SamandSteve]

Was there. We could have had 10.

[@stevewebster5729]

Remember this like it was yesterday - we could have scored 10

[@sniffrat3646]

Jeez! Boro were shocking

[@duncanedwards7840]

I think they went down. I think it was more Villa were good & good on this day. Beat Ipswich for us though :)

[@mohdazmi10]

Boro were relegated the very next season after losing David Armstrong and Mark Proctor to Southampton and Forest respectively.

[@leefran71]

Boro that season were pretty decent at home but their away form was dire,they lost 18 of their 21 away games

[@deakint1]

What you on about. You had to be League Champions then to qualify for the European Cup. The Champions League now is full of low quality teams who have finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, in their Leagues. No diving every time a player is about to lose the ball. Ref stopping game every minute. Full of cheats. football has become a non contact sport. Matches flowed in those days. Proper football, not the fake football of today, and with a proper ball. Todays Champions League, the matches are played on a League basis, which are so boring with safety first tactics. And as for Liverpool - They haven't won the League title since in 1989-90 season. So if the same rules applied, as they did for Villa in 1982, then Liverpool would have never qualified for the Champions League at all. Villa were a class team. Better than the hyped up tippy tappy diving boring, pass, pass, pass, game of today. After being crowned Champions of Europe in 1982, Villa, the next season 1983, Villa beat Barcelona in the Final of the Super Cup. Barcelona were the dirtiest team I have ever seen at Villa Park. They were 'animals'. Villa got to the Quarter Final of the European Cup, and got knocked out by Juventus. Juve had 8 of the Italian World Cup winning team including Paulo Rossi, Dino Zoff, Gentile, Cabrini, Bettega, Tardelli, also included Platini and Boniek. Trapattoni was Juve's manager. Juve were an absolutely World class team. And BTW - Liverpool played 8 games to get to the European Cup Final at Wembley in 1978 - not 6.

[@beds139]

Well it wasn't all gentlemanly,Peter Withe would still thump you if you went through him from the back. UTV!!

[@LETHALAPOLLOGAMING]

That's a Young Jimmy Greaves There lol

[@ArmyofLove]

2 strikers with 20 goals a season will always win titles.

[@vincentavery6598]

Been a long time since I've seen Jimmy's chin

[@swervohawks5596]

History repeating itself.

[@Doggomorph]

Bremner the leeds one?

[@MrClitheroe]

Des, not Billy MADERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! lol ;)

[@Doggomorph]

@@MrClitheroehahahahahahahhaa