THE GHOST GOAL OF FILBERT STREET...
April 4th 1970:
LEICESTER CITY 1-0 ASTON VILLA…
Setting the scene…
It was Saturday 4th April 1970 during the Easter break of my first year studying PE at Bulmershe College in Reading and my friend Ian Comerford who lived opposite me in Shard End, Birmingham and was a Bluenose, would be going to watch his beloved Birmingham City entertain Hull City at St Andrews. Villa, for some reason were playing away at Leicester City at 7pm on that evening…
I had often watched Blues one week and Villa the next as I ventured through my teens although during that particular season I had watched some Reading, Aldershot, Brentford, even Arsenal and Spurs home games whilst at Bulmershe.
I went along with Ian on that Saturday afternoon but it was what happened after the finish of the Blues v Hull encounter which will remain permanently in my memory…
Aston Villa’s demise…
Villa had suffered a shocking season in Division 2 and on that Saturday they were rock bottom of the league table with only 25 points from 39 matches, having won only 6 times, whilst scoring a meagre 33 goals. Preston were two points above Villa, Charlton and Watford were three points ahead and all four teams had three games left to play. Of course in those days it was two points for a win, so draws could be quite useful for struggling teams in attempting to avoid relegation.
Villa though had the best crowd average of 27,297 in the division by the 4th April, with a best attendance of 54,470, which had been for the 0-0 draw v Birmingham. Blues’ best league attendance of 41,696 had been of course v Villa, although a crowd of 45,038 had witnessed Chelsea’s 0-3 FA Cup tie victory at St Andrews.
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Hitch-hiking to support Villa in London…
Whilst at college I had made two difficult journeys just a few days apart, from my digs in Bracknell to watch Villa struggle at both Charlton on 14th March, then Millwall on 16th March. I hitch-hiked both times, somehow managing to negotiate the South Circular Road across London twice in three days from my Great Hollands lodgings.
A sad 1-0 defeat at The Valley, courtesy of a Keith Peacock strike was followed by a 2-0 defeat at The Den, where goals by Derek Possee and a George Curtis own-goal virtually opened up the trapdoor to Division 3 for the Midland club. I don’t actually know how I managed to cadge lifts on that Monday (must have been the college scarf of purple, green and yellow) but at least the night of misery was made slightly more entertaining by a solid, bullish chap who may or may not have been a docker and who stood in front of me. About half-an-hour into the contest he turned on me and demanded in a strong Cockney accent: “Who they f…..’ playin’ today then?”
I was taken aback by this rather robust behaviour and wondered whether I might end up on my back with a black eye if I didn’t reply. So I responded: “Aston Villa…” He snorted, then possibly thoughtfully, more likely lacking communication skills snarled back: “I didn’t know they woz in this f…..’ division…”
Scared? Me? Nah…
I was unable to get a lift back towards Reading post-game however, after standing and thumbing for lifts in vain outside Harrods for some time and so I decided to go to the nearest police station and state my predicament, as a girl in the PE department had done earlier in the term. The police had apparently responded positively and driven her back to Reading, so I thought it was worth a try for myself.
No chance… I was shown some sympathy though and as all the trains from London to Reading had already ceased and it was by then the early hours of the morning, I was offered an interview room to sleep in.
I moved two wooden chairs to face each other, fairly close together, put my feet up and attempted to get some kip. This was surprisingly bearable and I was undisturbed until suddenly the door burst open and an arrested chap was bundled into the room with some force by a couple of coppers. It was all very unpleasant for a few wrestling moments until someone called the trio out of the room rather desperately, probably the officer who had offered me the room in the first place…
Scared? Me? Nah…
I thanked the officer on desk duty early the next morning and walked off to find a train back to Reading, walking from the station and arriving just in time in the college building for a lecture, with none of my fellow students any the wiser.
The fateful 4th April…
So, back to 4th April when Blues were smacked hard by mid-table guests Hull, 2-4, with Ken Houghton snaffling a hat-trick to take him to 14 goals for the season and Ken Wagstaff netting his 19th goal of the season, one ahead of his team-mate, Chris Chilton, who remained on 18. Interestingly, Frank Worthington, then of league leaders Huddersfield, was also on 18 goals…
Blues’ goals were scored by Bob Latchford and Ray Martin, whilst Bob’s brother Dave kept goal for the Small Heathens. Interesting though that in the Birmingham line-up on that day were ex-Villa youth player Martin, plus Trevor Hockey, John Sleeuwenhoek, Malcom Beard and Geoff Vowden, all of whom appeared for Villa in their soccer careers.
My neighbour Ian’s first job was working for a company in Leicester and during the Blues v Hull match he began to encourage me to travel straight from St Andrews to Leicester and take in the Villa match. He pulled a train timetable from his inside pocket, used by him of course for journeys to and from work and assured me that I could make it in time.
It was raining but my interest in his idea was nagging at me, so at the final whistle, around 4.40pm, I dashed from the ground and jogged towards Birmingham’s town centre to catch a train, I think at around 5.30pm. Other Villa fans were assembled at New Street station too and so we packed into the scheduled train and were railed off to Leicester.
It was easy to find Filbert Street with so many others about me and I took my place in the ground to see how Villa would fare, despite their precarious league position. Leicester lay 5th in the league and fielded Peter Shilton, David Nish and Ali Brown, whilst Villa were represented by the likes of Bruce Rioch, Chico Hamilton, Willie Anderson, Andy Lochhead, Pat McMahon, Brian Tiler, George Curtis and Charlie Aitken. There was only one substitute allowed at that time and both were called Brown, Graham for City, Jimmy for Villa, whose first appearance for the team was when he was 15 years and 349 days of age…
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At half-time Villa were level at 0-0 and had performed rather well but after the break, the game hinged on a very strange incident. The pitch was muddy, the ball was thus also muddy and when McMahon fired in a rising shot from distance and the ball flew past Shilton into the right corner of the net, Villa’s fans leapt as one in a cacophony of noise to celebrate a fine strike.
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However, the ball had travelled quickly and had struck the metal stanchion supporting the net, before rebounding into the 6 yard box, where Shilton grabbed it on the heavy surface. The ‘keeper, just starting his full England career at that time motioned to the main official that the ball had struck his left upright and so referee John Osbourne from Ipswich signalled for the game to carry on and then apparently refused to consult his assistants…
I, along with other Villa fans screamed that if the ball had a struck a post, there would have been a muddy mark upon it and of course there wasn’t one but the arguments were in vain.
Soon, with Villa’s players still complaining, Ali Brown got away, beat Villa’s goalie John Dunn and won the game for the Foxes with the only goal.
Quotes after the game…
Shilton:
“I didn’t see the shot but our skipper David Nish tells me the ball definitely went in and it was a goal.”
Villa manager Vic Crowe…
“It would be better if I said nothing about this incident. But I think 27,000 saw a good Villa goal disallowed.”
Annoyed? Me? Oh, yeah…
And then…
Villa were relegated, finishing above Preston but below Charlton, who won their final match to confirm their place in Division 2.
Villa’s tremendous support would subsequently provide the team with some special moments during their two seasons in Division 3, plus a League Cup Final v Spurs…
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