An early start to head south to watch a grandson’s under 6 game in Northampton and then on to Wembley.

A Wembley trip is an occasion as well as a football match, and for me to go with two grandsons made me reflect on my first visit. Then there were twin towers, and England lost 2.3 to Sweden in 1959. This was only England’s second loss to a team other than a Home Nation on the hallowed turf. Just six years after the thrashing by Hungary and only 7 years before England’s World Cup triumph. Bobby Moore’s statue, with reference to the rest of the team, stands proud outside the entrance.

There have been other changes, too, even since a visit to see Aston Villa lose in a Championship Playoff final in 2018. On my first visit, my father showed me the decaying buildings left over from the British Empire Exhibition of 1924/25, and I showed what was left to my son in 1994 when Villa beat Manchester United. None of that now , the area has been transformed into a modern high-rise city of its own with the tiered walkway that was Wembley Way replaced by a flat pathed area to complement the new living style.

The organisation was fantastic, with the turnstiles and security opened, all of the queuing fans were whisked into the stadium. Inside the concourse offers food and drink and toilets to befit a national stadium.

The vastness of the red seats hit you as you walk into your seating area brought smiles to the grandsons. The immaculate pitch gleamed a bright green despite the grey overhead cloud, and there was no wind or breeze in this bowl.

Strangely, the Villa fans, so vociferous at home and away, seemed subdued, but a ripple of applause broke out as Stan Collymore was spotted standing above a ‘Villa Cannock’ flag.

Crystal Palace 3 Aston Villa 0

Saturday 26th April 2025, FA Cup Semi-final, 17.15 kick off.

Eagles v Villians.

There was little intensity to the start of the game, and Villa looked as if they were playing walking football out from the back as Palace didn’t press them but crowded out the mid field and defence. Palace fans were in ascendancy when 31 minutes Pau Torres made a mistake to let Ismail Sarr cross the ball for Ebrechi Eze to hit a fierce shot into the roof of the net past Martinez’s right hand.

Villa tried to get into the game and, with much of the possession, didn’t create a worthwhile chance despite some hard work by John McGinn.

Villa briefly looked a little sharper at the start of the second half but conceded a penalty . Jean-Paul Mateta stepped forward and placed the ball to the diving Martinez’s left, but with it clipping the outside of the post and going wide Villa fans thought this could be a sign of a come back.

However, Villa players looked like they had tired legs and were often picked off by some strong defending in mid field by Daichi Kamada and Adam Wharton. The Londoners doubled their lead on 58 minutes when Sarr dispossessed Tielemans and surged forward to power a drive along the ground into the left hand corner of the net. Villa made changes and could have reduced the lead but for their own player, Torres, blocking a powerful shot that looked destined to score.

With the minutes ticking away and the Villa fans drifting out, Sarr raced clear of the Villa defence and made it 3 nil, game well and truly over.

Although Villa had over 70 per cent of possession, it was Palace who outplayed them again this season, their defensive tack ticks and fast breaks, capitalising on Villa mistakes.

Palace had a game plan to disrupt Villa’s flow, they made the referee and Villa wait at the start as they held a long huddle, they made very long celebrations for each goal, Eze strutted back to the half way line after his goal celebrations at a crawl, Place came out in dribs and drabs to start the second half with a pause to wait for their 11th player and Henderson , who had a great game in goal should have been penalised by the referee for his time wasting. But despite this, you could not take it away from Crystal Palalce, who very much deserved to win and make Villa look second best.

Hopefully, the long season has not proved too much for Aston Villa  and they can win the remainder of their games.

Football Food

The food at our magnificent football stadium was less than magnificent.

I was told I couldn’t just have chips to review for my annual chip league unless I had it as a meal deal with a burger. However, the chips were priced separately. Why not sell them separately then. The burger in what I think was supposed to be a Brioche Bun was awful. It was limp tasteless, just warm and made a McDonalds basic burger seem like a gourmet meal.

The chips were the worst I have had all season and sit bottom of my chip league, a score of 40 was generous. They were cold, dry limp, with no taste, and unfortunately, I left most of them under my seat for someone to clear up, sorry. I won’t ever buy anything inside this stadium again.

N.B. The heading to this post has been used before in my blog. However, it doesn’t reflect the enjoyment fun and smiles that Aston Villa have given me.