1891–92 Aston Villa F.C. season

Aston Villa
1891–92 season
Chairman
Manager Scotland George Ramsay
Football League 4th
FA Cup Runners-up (1)

Aston Villa made a storming start to the 1891–92 season, winning their first four games and scoring sixteen goals in the process.

They eventually finished a much-improved fourth in The Football League and created history by defeating Accrington 12-2 (still a club record for a league game). Bizarrely, Villa didn't draw a single game all season!

It was the FA Cup, however, which retained the most excitement for supporters. Villa dispatched Heanor Town F.C., Darwen, local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. and Sunderland to reach their second final at The Oval.

Main Article: 1892 FA Cup Final

Villa were matched against their fierce Warwickshire rivals West Bromwich Albion F.C. in a repeat of Villa's triumphant 1887 FA Cup Final. Unlike in 1887, however, Villa started as strong favourites. They had already comfortably beaten Albion home and away in the league.

It was with some consternation then that the large crowd assembled at Birmingham New Street station to hear the result learned that Villa had been defeated 3–0. After the game rumours circulated that Villa's goalkeeper, Jimmy Warner, had thrown the match. Every window in his pub in Spring Hill, Birmingham was smashed by an angry mob. Despite his probable innocence, Warner was scapegoated and never played for Villa again.

Despite the Cup final heart-break Villa had stumbled upon the nucleus of its most dominant side ever. With stars like James Cowan, Charlie Athersmith and John Devey, Villa were now in a much stronger position to challenge for supremacy of English football.

Full results:-

First Division

1891

5 September Blackburn Rovers (H) W 5-1

12 September West Bromwich Albion (H) W 5-1

19 September Preston North End (A) W 1-0

28 September Sunderland (H) W 5-3

3 October Derby County (A) L 2–4

10 October Bolton Wanderers (H) L 1–2

17 October Burnley (A) L 1–4

24 October Stoke City (A) W 3-2

31 October Darwen (A) W 5-1

7 November Notts County (H) W 5-1

14 November West Brom (A) W 3-0

21 November Stoke C (H) W 2-1

28 November Everton (A) L 1–5

5 December Burnley (H) W 6-1

19 December Wolves (A) L 0–2

26 December Darwen (H) W 7-0

28 December Everton (H) L 3–4

1892

2 January Notts Co (A) L 2–5

4 Jan Accrington (A) L 2–3

12 March Accrington (H) W 12-2

26 March Sunderland (A) L 1–2

2 April Bolton W (A) W 2-1

16 April Preston NE (H) W 3-1

18 April Wolves (H) L 3–6

Overall Performance:-

Played 26, Won 15, Drew 0, Lost 11, Goal Average (89/56) = 1.589, Points (2 for a win) 30, Position 4th.

FA Cup

1st Round 16 January Heanor Town (H) W 4-1

2nd Round 30 Jan Darwen (H) W 2-0

3rd Round 13 February Wolves (A) W 3-1

Semi-Final Sunderland (at Sheffield) W 4-1

Final 19 March (at The Oval) West Brom L 0–3

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