Freddie Goodwin.
Well-known member
We need to lift the gloom folks....as promised, back to the glory days of 1971/72.
It was a four horse race for the 2 promotion spots. Villa were top, still a big side after double relegations then one full season in the 3rd. They were pulling in big crowds.
Then there was the star studded Bournemouth under john bond and with mcDougal & Boyer up front. They were aiming for back to back promotions as were Notts County who had Tony Hateley, Willie Carlin and dave Needham in their team.
Hanging in there were Albion but 2 defeats in a week, to lowly opposition, had many doubting our outside chance. And now we faced Villa at the Goldstone infront of the MoTD cameras.
Albion manager Pat Saward was a genius. There was little team news before the game and our mood was down, even the crowd at the all ticket game didn't reach the expected 30,000, but close.
But things were different. Albion took the field with a modified kit (teams didn't chop & change like they do now) and ditched the white shorts 7 socks for blue. the blue shorts were like atheletes used to wear, very mini with white piping and sort of split up the sids, pretty radical & flair.
But that was just cosmetic because Saward, having kept very much the same team all season, dropped stalwarts, Stuart Henderson & John Napier, moving right winger Bert Murray to right back and bring Ian 'Reggie' Goodwin to the centre of defence.
The game was tense, the crowd rocking. Albion won 2-1 with cracking goal from Willie Irvine which came 2nd in the Goal of the Season. hopefully somebody will post a link. Kit Napier scored the other.
After the game, Villa were still top. Bournemouth were in 2nd, 3 pts ahead of Albion who had 2 games in hand. Notts co were 2 points behind albion but with a game in hand. it was 2 points for a wine. the strain was beginning to show!
It was a four horse race for the 2 promotion spots. Villa were top, still a big side after double relegations then one full season in the 3rd. They were pulling in big crowds.
Then there was the star studded Bournemouth under john bond and with mcDougal & Boyer up front. They were aiming for back to back promotions as were Notts County who had Tony Hateley, Willie Carlin and dave Needham in their team.
Hanging in there were Albion but 2 defeats in a week, to lowly opposition, had many doubting our outside chance. And now we faced Villa at the Goldstone infront of the MoTD cameras.
Albion manager Pat Saward was a genius. There was little team news before the game and our mood was down, even the crowd at the all ticket game didn't reach the expected 30,000, but close.
But things were different. Albion took the field with a modified kit (teams didn't chop & change like they do now) and ditched the white shorts 7 socks for blue. the blue shorts were like atheletes used to wear, very mini with white piping and sort of split up the sids, pretty radical & flair.
But that was just cosmetic because Saward, having kept very much the same team all season, dropped stalwarts, Stuart Henderson & John Napier, moving right winger Bert Murray to right back and bring Ian 'Reggie' Goodwin to the centre of defence.
The game was tense, the crowd rocking. Albion won 2-1 with cracking goal from Willie Irvine which came 2nd in the Goal of the Season. hopefully somebody will post a link. Kit Napier scored the other.
After the game, Villa were still top. Bournemouth were in 2nd, 3 pts ahead of Albion who had 2 games in hand. Notts co were 2 points behind albion but with a game in hand. it was 2 points for a wine. the strain was beginning to show!
