You have to deal with disappointments following the Villa, Part 4 !!!!!!!

Friday saw me take a drive to Villa Park to see their 150th Anniversary Game, which had been deemed to be the Third Rond FA Cup game at home to West Ham. Tickets were reduced to £25 and less for children so another grandson was able to come along and see his first ever game at Aston Villa.

Other celebratory actions were the use of an Anniversary kit of black shirts, to pay homage to the original shirts that also had no sponsorship or player names on them. There were also items for sale in the club shop,  which had lengthy queues, for £1.50, as well as a souvenir programme for the same price. Unfortunately only a few had been printed and although we entered the North Stand an hour early, there were none left, although they were for sale on eBay the next day at a very inflated price. Subsequent to this a new batch have been re-printed for sale to fans.

It was a cold clear night with the car temperature registering minus 4 degrees as we parked, and we were soon chilled on the way to the stadium, but inside, where there was a full house, it was warmer. There had been rumblings about Villa making this their anniversary match  yet I felt the full house was a vindication considering the weather , a Friday night and the game being on TV. It also gave the chance for younger fans to attend and get their first taste of the Villa bug.

Villa fans were in good voice as too were the 6000 from West Ham who helped to create a good atmosphere.

Aston Villa 2 West Ham 1

Friday 10th February 2025 20.00 pm kick off F.A. Cup 3rd Round

Villa Park, Trinity Road, Aston, Birmingham, B6 6HE, Villains v Hammers

Villa; Black shirts, white shorts West Ham; White Shirts, claret shorts.

The noise ramped up as the game started with both sides looking to take control. A mistake trying to head clear a challenge in the centre of the pitch was swept out to the West Ham right and the ball was quickly moved forward to be centred which allowed Luca Paqueta to shoot low to the left of Olsen, in goal for Villa, maybe for the last time, into the corner of the net to take the lead with 9 minutes gone.

Villa looked sluggish at this point and continual sideways passes with no result were greeted with derision by the home fans. The continual probing didn’t lead to anything and their flow was disrupted on 23 minutes when Barkley was substituted for Onana after a leg injury, not long after Fullkrug had been replaced for West Ham by ex villain Danny Ings. The probing pattern of play continued for Villa, with West Ham occasionally making a quick break but neither side looked like adding to the score as the clock wound down to half time. A group of past players were warmly applauded when they walked around the pitch at the break.

The second half started without West Ham’s Summerville who had been influential in the visitors play.

Villa took more control yet still didn’t score even though they forced a series of corners. One corner from the right was swung in to be headed on by Tyrone Mings to Ezri Konsa at the back post who headed it down into the ground where it was spilled by Fabianski, the West Ham keeper, after an intervention by a defender. The ball was pounced on by the imposing Onana who poked it over the line. Should the Hammers goal Hero, Paqueta, not have fallen over next to Konsa, he would have been able to challenge his goalward header.

The goal signalled a resurgent Villa which was also helped by the immediate introduction of three substitutes. Five minutes after the goal, Yuri Tielemans released a long ground pass from deep in his own half to Emi Buendia, who had started with a positive go forward attitude, who swept the ball out to the left where Ollie Watkins raced into the Hammers penalty area and flashed the ball along the ground to Morgan Rogers who with one strike buried it into the net. A typical Villa goal under Unai Emery. The onslaught continued and only the left hand post stopped Jacob Ramsey’s beautiful curling shot from making it three.

Villa relaxed a little and it was their other substitute, Nedeljkovic who raced back at impressive speed to block a goalward bound shot. Villa fans were now in full flow and were relieved and pleased at their teams second half play. For 70 minutes I though that I would need to write ‘ You have to deal with disappointments following the Villa part 4’ but my influence had changed which I put down to wearing my claret and blue scarf, knitted by my mother 30 years ago, to keep me warm.

UP THE VILLA, even though I couldn’t get any chips with the huge queue, because all food and drink was £1.50 and the crowd was 40898.