WEDNESDAY 20TH JANUARY, 1960
F.A. YOUTH CUP (FOURTH ROUND) AT VILLA PARK, BIRMINGHAM
ASTON VILLA YOUTH 2 (McMorran, Brown) MANCHESTER CITY 0
Pratt; Thompson, Briggs; Lumsden, Sleeuwenhoek, Deakin (capt);
Ashe, Baker, Brown, McMorran, Jones (A);
Guinn; Thurnham, Gomersall; Hill, Harold, Oakes (capt);
Fletcher, Pearson, Eccles, Aimson, Wagstaffe;
Referee:- J.K. Taylor, Wolverhampton
Aston Villa became favourites for the F.A. Youth Cup when they beat the powerful Wolves side 5-1 in the previous round. They have certainly acquired the pick of the Midland schoolboys of last season and the youth side is proving just as successful as the first team, which is top of the Second Division.
Villa included two players with first team experience in left half Alan Deakin and sixteen year old Norman Ashe who became Villa's youngest ever league player when he played against Swansea three weeks ago.
Partnering Ashe was fifteen year old Alan Baker. These two played together for both Brierley Hill and England boys last season. Manchester City had only one player with league experience in Alan Oakes, whose build and ability has caused him to be labelled as a second Duncan Edwards.
Villa had just the better of the play in a very close first half and it seemed as though their younger and smaller side would perhaps wilt under the heavy going, particularly when the snow started to fall just before half time.
However three minutes before the interval the home side took the lead. Baker pushed the ball forward as if intending to shoot, but McMorran intervened and his shot on the turn with his left foot cracked in a grand goal. City's best effort during this half was a brilliant run by left winger Wagstaffe which took him past four men. Half time 1-0.
After the interval Villa were even more on top and their defence played immaculately. Centre half Sleeuwenhoek, right back Thompson and right half Lumsden were particularly impressive but skipper Deakin had rather a poor game. In attack the tiny right wing pair came into their own with Baker managing to avoid the attentions of the powerful Oakes on numerous occasions to slip perfect passes inside the full back.
From one such move Ashes's powerful shot was brilliantly saved by Guinn. Two free kicks, both taken by Oakes caused some concern to Villa, the first was headed against the bar by Pearson and rebounded into the surprised goalkeeper's hands and from the second Oakes hit the side netting with a powerful shot.
Villa's second goal came five minutes from the end. A through ball from Baker was chased by the energetic Brown and Thurnham in trying to pass back turned it past his goalkeeper for Brown to chase and tap into the net just before it crossed the line.
Unfortunately Villa came unstuck in the next round of the competition losing away at Chelsea, the eventual winners, at Stamford Bridge by 3-0. Chelsea went on to win the two-legged final with Preston North End 5-2, with Bobby Tambling scoring a hat trick in the second leg. Also in the Chelsea team were Peter Bonetti and Terry Venables.
FRIDAY 29TH JANUARY 1960 Attendance 6,945
LEAGUE DIVISION FOUR AT FELLOWS PARK, WALSALL
WALSALL 2 (Davies, Faulkner) BARROW 1 (Bannan pen)
Christie; Haddington, Guttridge (capt); Dudley, McPherson, Rawlings;
Davies, Faulkner, Richards, Hodgkisson, Taylor;
Hardwick; Staniforth (capt), Robinson; Clarke, Marsden, McGlennon;
Lowes, Bannan, Robertson, Murdoch, Kemp;
Referee:- Major C.H. Dennis, Surrey
Walsall played this match on Friday night to avoid clashing with cup ties at West Bromwich and Wolverhampton tomorrow. However the atrocious weather conditions spoilt hopes of a bumper gate. The ground was completely waterlogged and the groundstaff were forking it right up to the start. Barrow field a very experienced side. The player manager Ron Staniforth is the former Huddersfield Town and England full back, Dick Robinson, his full back partner, played for the Football League whilst at Middlesboroough and goalkeeper Ken Hardwick, formerly with Doncaster, was once picked for England Under 23s despite being over thirty at the time!
Both teams played good football considering the conditions but Walsall were on top. However they did not manage to open the scoring until the thirty seventh minute. Rawlings, who had a fine game, sent Taylor away and his high centre found Davies in his now customary position in the centre to score with a fine header. Walsall were prevented from going further ahead by several fine saves by Hardwick. He showed remarkable anticipation and was well supported by his experienced defence who played with the utmost coolness, particularly Staniforth, in difficult conditions. Half time 1-0.
Barrow's forward line rarely got going and the Walsall half back, all in good form, saw that they did not get far. Robertson a bustling centre forward, got little change out of McPherson. Walsall's second goal, by then long overdue, came in the seventy first minute. A splendid through pass from Hodgkisson found Faulkner, who ran on inside the penalty area to crack the ball past Hardwick as he came out. This was the inside right's twentieth goal of the season.
With the game almost safe Walsall eased up and Barrow got in their most dangerous attacks of the game. In one of these, former Liverpool forward Bobby Murdoch seemed to throw himself over Haddington's outstretched leg. The referee however had not doubt about awarding a penalty and Tommy Bannan crashed the ball into the corner of the net to Christie's left as the goalkeeper swayed to the right.
SATURDAY 6TH FEBRUARY, 1960
LEAGUE DIVISION TWO AT VILLA PARK, BIRMINGHAM Attendance 40,000
ASTON VILLA 4 (Thomson 3, Hitchens) HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 0
Sims; Lynn, Neal; Crowe, Dugdale, Saward;
McEwan, Thomson, Hitchens, Wylie, McParland;
Wood; Gibson, Wilson; McGarry (capt), Coddington, Low;
McHale, Law, Connor, Massie, Hawksworth;
Referee:- Major C.H. Dennis, Surrey
Villa, top of the league, were unchanged from the side which knocked First Division Chelsea out of the cup last week at Stamford Bridge. Huddersfield were without Yorkshire cricketer Ken Taylor and brought in Low at left half. The town included former Manchester United goalkeeper Ray Wood and the wonder boy of British football, Dennis Law.
Huddersfield's right wing looked dangerous with McHale making good use of his excellent service from Law, however Neal, who is reckoned to be the Villa player who has made most progress this season, showed that his reputation for speedy recovery is quite justified. McEwan, not getting much change out of Wilson, wandered to the inside left position, slipped past McGarry and pushed the ball across to the unmarked Thomson who promptly slammed a low shot past Wood.
Villa went further ahead after thirty six minutes and again Thomson was the scorer. Crowe lobbed a free kick into the goal are, McParland headed it backwards over Coddington and there was Thomson to fling himself full length and head a beautiful goal. Half time 2-0.
Law had shown some brilliant touches but on the whole his display was much below the standard expected of him and the Huddersfield team were hardly in the same form which they showed when beating West Ham 5-1 away from home in a cup replay recently. Connor sent a cleverly angled header into the Villa net but was ruled offside.
Then in the fifty ninth minute Bobby Thomson completed his hat trick when he chased a long ball from McParland down the centre, outpacing Low and crashing a low shot past Wood. Huddersfield were not finished yet and urged on by Law and Massie they brought the best out of Villa's defence. McHale and Hawksworth made Sims bring off two really outstanding saves. The one in which he dived at Hawksworth's feet and as the winger lobbed the ball over him, flung up an arm to flip the ball clear was magnificent.
Hitchens failed to find the net when it seemed impossible to miss, but in the seventy fifth minute a long goal kick from Sims gave him the chance to gallop clear down the middle to draw Wood out of goal, side step him in his own clumsy way and place the ball into the empty net for goal number four.
SATURDAY 12TH MARCH, 1960
F.A. CUP (SIXTH ROUND) AT VILLA PARK, BIRMINGHAM
ASTON VILLA 2 (Hitchens, McParland) PRESTON NORTH END 0 Attendance 69,732
Sims; Lynn, Neal; Crowe, Dugdale, Saward (capt);
McEwan, Thomson, Hitchens, Wylie, McParland;
Else; Wilson, Walton; Milne, Richardson, Smith;
Dagger, Thompson, Finney (capt), Sneddon, Taylor;
Referee:- R.J. Leafe, Nottingham
Villa who are already heading for promotion from the Second Division took on Preston, who without any league worries, were concentrating on the cup in the hope that Tom Finney would at long last get a cup winners medal before retiring.
In front of a huge capacity crowd, possibly a record for a second division club, Preston suffered a setback soon after the start when former Villa player Tommy Thompson received a knee injury which slowed him down considerably. Villa did all the early attacking an came nearest to scoring when McParland, who had moved into the middle, had a powerful shot saved by goalkeeper Fred Else. The home side did take the lead in the tenth minute with rather a lucky goal.
A long pass from Lynn found Hitchens in the centre. The centre forward rounded reserve centre half Richardson and veered towards the left. The whole defence obviously expected him to pass to the onrushing McParland, but he suddenly turned back the other way and crashed in a shot which was deflected by Walton into the far corner of the net as Else dived the other way to cover the original line of Hitchen's shot.
After this the first half was riddled with missed chances by both side, Hitchens should have scored easily from four yards out and then a brilliant Finney run on the left, in which he lobbed the ball into the goalmouth over Sims' head, saw first Dagger and then Sneddon miss glorious openings. Half time 1-0.
Preston, despite their clever midfield play, were getting nowhere. There was no fight or enthusiasm in any of their forwards who seemed to give up as soon as it became obvious that Dugdale had got Finney bottled up. Villa's fighting spirit, even if sometimes their football was rather crude, was much more suited to the cup tie atmosphere. The best Preston effort came from Dagger who sent in a fierce drive only for Sims to bring off a brilliant diving save.
As the game drew towards its undistinguished close and Villa's superiority became more evident, McParland came into his element. He ranged the entire width of the field with his long striding runs, barged defenders out of the way and generally played havoc with the struggling North End defence, weakened considerably by the absence of Cunningham and Dunne.
McParland's moment of glory came in the seventy eighth minute, McEwan dribbled in from the right, lobbed the ball into the middle and there was the Irishman racing in to chest the ball down, brush aside Wilson as if he did not exist and blasted the ball into the roof of the net. Villa march on to the semi-finals.
On the 26th March Villa played Wolves in the Cup semi final in front of 55,000 at the Hawthorns, West Bromwich. Wolves won the game 1-0 with a goal from Norman Deeley and went on to beat Blackburn Rovers 3-0 in the final at Wembley.
However Villa did go on to win the Second Division title with 59 points and were promoted back to the First Division together with Cardiff City who finished just one point behind them.
TUESDAY 22ND MARCH, 1960
LEAGUE DIVISION FOUR AT FELLOWS PARK, WALSALL
WALSALL 2 (Hodgkisson, Askey) EXETER CITY 2 (Calland 2)
Christie; Haddington, Guttridge (capt); Dudley, McPherson, Rawlings;
Askey, Faulkner, Richards, Hodgkisson, Taylor;
Jones; Foley MacDonald; Mitchell (capt), Oliver, Thompson;
Stiffle, Rees, Wilkinson, Calland, Dale;
Referee:- R.J. Leafe, Nottingham
Walsall still with a comfortable lead at the top of the table have been slipping lately. The crowning insult came last Saturday when they lost at home to Northampton 2-1. To make things worse Northampton had been without inside forward Tebbutt, who broke a leg, for more than half the game. Bill Moore, Walsall's manager, said that he did not intend to make sweeping changes as he felt that the tension of being at the top was beginning to tell on his players. However outside right Davies, who had a particularly poor game, asked to be dropped and Colin Askey took his place.
Roy Faulkner missed a great chance to put Walsall ahead soon after the start when he broke through the middle on his own. With only the goalkeeper to beat he lobbed it over his head but just over the bar as well.
Walsall continued in the same vein as Saturday and their attack could make little progress against the very solid Exeter half back line, which dominated the game.
Half way through the first half, Hodgkisson appeared to make a theatrical fall when fairly tackled inside the area, but experienced referee Reg Leafe had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. However justice was done when McPherson shot straight at Jones who saved the kick easily. A defensive mix up between McPherson and Christie led to the ball running loose in front of goal and Calland had a simple task to roll the ball home.
Half time 0-1.
Exeter continued to play far superior football while Walsall went from bad to worse. The whole team seemed affected and every pass went straight to an Exeter player. The visitors went further ahead when Calland broke away on the right and beat Christie with a fine shot from the edge of the penalty area.
The last quarter of an hour brought about a belated Walsall revival. Ken Hodgkisson got their first goal with a shot from close range which passed underneath the goalkeeper's body and shortly afterwards Colin Askey scored the equaliser. After a scramble in the goalmouth the ball came out to the outside right whose shot hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down into the net despite the frantic efforts of the packed defence. The Saddlers went all out for the winning goal in the closing minutes but try as they did, they had left their effort too late and were fortunate indeed to take even one point.
Despite a few setbacks along the way Walsall did eventually clinch the Division Four title and were promoted to the Third Division along with Notts County, Torquay United and Watford.
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