John

So it's another ding-dong Derby. We are left with just local pride to play for on Saturday at 3 o'clock. We really owe them one. They stole a point at The Hawthorns in December with a late equaliser that the match officials somehow failed to notice had twice been handled by their scorer. That game left Jack injured and proved to be the turning point in our season. The Baggies are ten points above us and unlike us still have realistic promotion hopes. What a pity it would be if we were to dent their automatic promotion chances by getting a rare home win this weekend. Albion won on their last league visit to Villa Park in 2015. We last beat them at home twice within a week earlier that same year. Overall we have won 65 and have drawn 33 of the 145 league games between the two clubs. Let's make it 66 wins on Saturday!

They think it's all over.... it is now! Boro are still catchable, but not by us. We may still be 7 points off the final play off place and I still think that 75 points would be enough, but games are running out. We would also need to put a winning run together and we're not going to do that are we? Let's face it 31 points from our last 14 games is beyond us. Too many draws, far too many goals conceded and too many slack performances have done for us. At least we're not Leeds!

Gordon Banks has passed away. He was our keeper in the 1966 World Cup and made that unbelievable save from Pele in the 1970 World Cup finals. He was the best goalkeeper that I have ever seen play by a country mile. Gordon also made a brilliant save from a Geoff Hurst penalty in a League Cup semi-final in the early 70s at Upton Park among others too frequent to mention He was in goal for Leicester for my first ever Villa game and not surprisingly kept a clean sheet. He also had a connection with our club having had a spell as goalkeeping coach at Villa Park. He gave a defence such confidence and was known as being as safe as The Bank of England. He had such a smile and I’m proud to say that he gave me one of them when I couldn’t resist shouting “Hallo Gordon” to him as he took his seat in the stand before one of our games at Coventry. He had time for fans. What a player he was and what a nice man. Thanks for the memories Gordon! My thoughts are with his family and with his fellow World Cup winners who have lost someone very special to them and to us.

We have lost on our last two visits to Griffin Park. That rot needs to be stopped on Wednesday night! We last won at Brentford in 1953 and prior to 2017 we had never lost to them. That 1953 FA Cup victory was our third successive away win there. In all we have won 6 and have drawn 5 of the 13 league & cup games between the two clubs. They recorded their first ever win against us 2 years ago and since then they have stretched their unbeaten run against us to 4 games. This represents an opportunity to again find the form that we showed at the end of Friday night's game, rather than to return to the sort of inept away performances that we produced at Wigan and Reading. Dean's old club, their supporters (including those who visit this site) and most neutrals will be looking for any lingering promotion hopes that we might still entertain to be ended by another defeat at Griffin Park. Let's win it Villa!!!

Yes, you have spotted the crucial flaw in that cunning plan.

We now need 31 points from our last 15 games to hit 75 points which I think would put us into the play off places. Wins rather than draws are now needed, let's aim for say 10 of them. I would target 5 wins from our home games against WBA, Derby, Boro, Blackburn, Bristol City, Millwall and Norwich along with away wins at Brentford, Small Heath, Sheffield Weds, Rotherham and Bolton . Not asking for too much am we?

I wasn't. I was on the terraces watching him do it. One of the bonuses of being ancient.

I think he will get better with more games, more training and in the longer term with a more confident defence ahead of him.

I can't think that they didn't rate him when they signed him or why would they bring him in? I would guess it is match fitness that he lacks, unless he was signed as an insurance policy in case we had not managed to bring Mings in? I also wonder whether (when everyone is fit) we have all these central defenders to have the option of playing three at the back at least occasionally, rather than to only provide cover?

This was an unbelievable, outstanding, incredible, amazing, astonishing, sensational, surprising, unexpected, remarkable, dramatic and thrilling comeback! With eight minutes of normal time remaining Sheffield United were temporarily on top of the league and were a seemingly comfortable three goals ahead. By the end of the game that lead had disappeared before their very eyes, their promotion hopes had been blunted, and they found themselves shell shocked and sitting back in third place where they had been at the start of this astounding game. Our visitors bossed the first half on our own patch. They picked up where they had left off at Bramall Lane 5 months earlier and showed how much they wanted to finish the game in top spot by dominating the early stages of the game. We were caught on the back foot and had looked a very poor second best. This extraordinary result was achieved despite the match officials showing that they could match Mr Magoo and Arsene Wenger by not seeing that Sharp was offside when Dowell hit the ball in the build up to their second goal before compounding that error by not noticing that he had gone on to kick the ball out of Kalinic’s hands. That goal had been allowed when we were threatening to get back into the game and looked to have extinguished our hopes as did later decisions to ignore late penalty appeals by Mings and McGinn, but we were determined not to be denied by inept officiating. This exhilarating late, late show admittedly only earned us a point, but this outstanding comeback showed both resilience and character. We might yet look back on this night, on which we snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat as a turning point in our season. It could possibly have as positive an impact on our remaining games as it threatens to have a negative effect on our visitor’s promotion chances. Stranger things have happened, this comeback being just one example. We just need to play for the whole of each game like we did at the end of this one from now onwards! My player ratings from a game that took us within one win off the final play-off spot are: Lovre Kalinic – 5 – Dived to his left on 5 minutes to block a Baldock shot from the edge of the box. Could only parry Dowell’s 53rd minute shot from outside of the area onto Madine’s head. His header struck the far post and Sharp kicked the ball into the net and out of Lovre’s grasp for his second. Gathered a 77th minute McGoldrick shot from just inside the left edge of the box at the second attempt. Alan Hutton – 5 – Picked up a loose attempted headed clearance just outside the box on 56 minutes but his shot went harmlessly over the bar. Sharp peeled off Hutton to head home a 62nd minute Dowell cross but sometimes a hat-trick is not quite enough! Tommy Elphick - 6 – Made a good challenge on Madine as he looked to turn in a 51st minute Baldock cross. Solid alongside Tyrone. Tyrone Mings – 8 – MOTM – Silenced his vocal critics from South Yorkshire with a towering performance and what had appeared to have been a late nicely headed consolation goal from an 82nd minute Hourihane corner. Pulled down by Basham as he made ground inside the box to reach the ball, but his penalty appeal was ignored by the referee. Comfortable on the ball and played the ball out of defence very well. Neil Taylor – 4 – Made Baldock look like the Brazilian Cafu at times on a night for him to forget. Not a great exhibition of defending again. Mile Jedinak – 4 – Unsurprisingly looked short of pace on his return to the starting line-up. John McGinn – 6 – Screwed a shot wide from the edge of the area on 83 minutes. Held by Stevens on 93 minutes as he looked to reach a ball played into the box by Hourihane, but his penalty appeals fell on deaf ears. Worked hard as usual. Conor Hourihane – 5 – Hit a 71st minute free kick from the edge of the box that Henderson parried away. Not contributing much other than his undoubted dead ball prowess. Anwar El Ghazi – 5 – Nice to see him tracking back a bit. Still lacking the end product that he produced at WBA though. Jonathan Kodjia – 5 – Some nice touches and looked keen to be involved at times prior to his substitution. Tammy Abraham – 7 – He had drifted well behind the goal line as the corner came over for their first, so he was unable to prevent the ball going over the line when Sharp put in Madine’s far post header back across goal. Elphick hit a shot from the left of the area that Henderson didn’t hold and instead pushed into Tammy’s path at the far post with the inevitable consequences on 86 minutes (goal number 20!). Didn’t enjoy a lot of service but worked hard and his late goal sparked what had seemed fanciful hopes of a draw. Substitutes: Andre Green - 6 – Replaced Kodjia on 65 minutes and completed our remarkable comeback with a sweet far post header from a McGinn cross on 94 minutes. Worth a start in my opinion. Glenn Whelan – 6 - Came on for Jedinak on 66 minutes and made a difference to the game. Up the Villa! John Lewis

This was an unbelievable, outstanding, incredible, amazing, astonishing, sensational, surprising, unexpected, remarkable, dramatic and thrilling comeback! With eight minutes of normal time remaining Sheffield United were temporarily on top of the league and were a seemingly comfortable three goals ahead. By the end of the game that lead had disappeared before their very eyes, their promotion hopes had been blunted, and they found themselves shell shocked and sitting back in third place where they had been at the start of this astounding game. Our visitors bossed the first half on our own patch. They picked up where they had left off at Bramall Lane 5 months earlier and showed how much they wanted to finish the game in top spot by dominating the early stages of the game. We were caught on the back foot and had looked a very poor second best. This extraordinary result was achieved despite the match officials showing that they could match Mr Magoo and Arsene Wenger by not seeing that Sharp was offside when Dowell hit the ball in the build up to their second goal before compounding that error by not noticing that he had gone on to kick the ball out of Kalinic’s hands. That goal had been allowed when we were threatening to get back into the game and looked to have extinguished our hopes as did later decisions to ignore late penalty appeals by Mings and McGinn, but we were determined not to be denied by inept officiating. This exhilarating late, late show admittedly only earned us a point, but this outstanding comeback showed both resilience and character. We might yet look back on this night, on which we snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat as a turning point in our season. It could possibly have as positive an impact on our remaining games as it threatens to have a negative effect on our visitor’s promotion chances. Stranger things have happened, this comeback being just one example. We just need to play for the whole of each game like we did at the end of this one from now onwards! My player ratings from a game that took us within one win off the final play-off spot are: Lovre Kalinic – 5 – Dived to his left on 5 minutes to block a Baldock shot from the edge of the box. Could only parry Dowell’s 53rd minute shot from outside of the area onto Madine’s head. His header struck the far post and Sharp kicked the ball into the net and out of Lovre’s grasp for his second. Gathered a 77th minute McGoldrick shot from just inside the left edge of the box at the second attempt. Alan Hutton – 5 – Picked up a loose attempted headed clearance just outside the box on 56 minutes but his shot went harmlessly over the bar. Sharp peeled off Hutton to head home a 62nd minute Dowell cross but sometimes a hat-trick is not quite enough! Tommy Elphick - 6 – Made a good challenge on Madine as he looked to turn in a 51st minute Baldock cross. Solid alongside Tyrone. Tyrone Mings – 8 – MOTM – Silenced his vocal critics from South Yorkshire with a towering performance and what had appeared to have been a late nicely headed consolation goal from an 82nd minute Hourihane corner. Pulled down by Basham as he made ground inside the box to reach the ball, but his penalty appeal was ignored by the referee. Comfortable on the ball and played the ball out of defence very well. Neil Taylor – 4 – Made Baldock look like the Brazilian Cafu at times on a night for him to forget. Not a great exhibition of defending again. Mile Jedinak – 4 – Unsurprisingly looked short of pace on his return to the starting line-up. John McGinn – 6 – Screwed a shot wide from the edge of the area on 83 minutes. Held by Stevens on 93 minutes as he looked to reach a ball played into the box by Hourihane, but his penalty appeals fell on deaf ears. Worked hard as usual. Conor Hourihane – 5 – Hit a 71st minute free kick from the edge of the box that Henderson parried away. Not contributing much other than his undoubted dead ball prowess. Anwar El Ghazi – 5 – Nice to see him tracking back a bit. Still lacking the end product that he produced at WBA though. Jonathan Kodjia – 5 – Some nice touches and looked keen to be involved at times prior to his substitution. Tammy Abraham – 7 – He had drifted well behind the goal line as the corner came over for their first, so he was unable to prevent the ball going over the line when Sharp put in Madine’s far post header back across goal. Elphick hit a shot from the left of the area that Henderson didn’t hold and instead pushed into Tammy’s path at the far post with the inevitable consequences on 86 minutes (goal number 20!). Didn’t enjoy a lot of service but worked hard and his late goal sparked what had seemed fanciful hopes of a draw. Substitutes: Andre Green - 6 – Replaced Kodjia on 65 minutes and completed our remarkable comeback with a sweet far post header from a McGinn cross on 94 minutes. Worth a start in my opinion. Glenn Whelan – 6 - Came on for Jedinak on 66 minutes and made a difference to the game. Up the Villa! John Lewis

Perhaps he's just got big feet that tend to get in the way?

Unlike his brother, he's also one of our own. He was a real prospect until injury robbed him of a career in football and he ended up on the wrong side of town shovelling sh** for a bunch of sh**s. Let's remember him for that goal and for those celebrations, rather than vilify him as we rightly would Robert Hopkins, Steve Hodge or his brother for example.

I think our man should be given the benefit of any doubt. Disappointing that Reading are playing this out in the media rather than concentrating on their relegation struggle. You have to wonder why they don't just let it lie. Who appointed them as judge and jury?

Spurs would only offer around half of that if anything, in my opinion. Jack may now appear to be injury prone to potential buyers. They have a new ground to pay for and I doubt they will be back in for Jack, that's great news for us. With McGinn (who I think we may be in more danger of losing) and Jack staying injury free for a season I think we might give promotion a serious shot next season, if we have not managed it this season...

Agree 100%. The only good news about this injury is that we are likely to keep Jack for another season and that greatly increases our hopes of having a successful season next year. Jack has had two types of luck over last and this season, bad and no. His long term injuries have also holed our promotion hopes below decks on both occasions. With him in the team on a regular basis, we would have been in serious contention for automatic promotion both seasons in my opinion. So I think that both Jack and Villa are owed a bit of luck next season.

That would be better than more than a few of them!

It has been 12 years since we last beat Sheffield United at Villa Park. We have played them twice since that 3-0 win in 2007 (prior to which, we had greeted our returning European Cup winners 25 years after they were crowned Champions of Europe). We lost 1-2 in a 2014 FA Cup tie and then drew 2-2 last season having been 2-0 up within the first 10 minutes. Overall we have won 59 and drawn 30 of the 125 league games between the two clubs. The Blades are founder members of the Football League and have been champions once in 1897-98. They have won the FA Cup 4 times in 1899, 1902, 1915 and in 1925. They have been outside of the top flight since 2007 and were in League One from 2011 until 2017. They are currently 11 points above us and a point nearer to the automatic promotion places (3) than we are to the play off spots (4). We really need to win this one, if only as pay back for the embarrassing 1-4 defeat we suffered at Bramall Lane 4 months ago. A win would see them on top of the league at the end of the game. A win for us would see us move within a point of sixth place. Let's make it a comfortable win and another clean sheet for us, so that we can begin the weekend in style and with a wide smile.

Given Chris had no signs, I thought that I would share my own "warnings" before my stroke happened in case it might possibly help anyone. I was having a couple of beers with mates in Warwick a couple of days before it happened and I felt strange when sitting in a chair in a pub and then again when walking back a couple of miles to the railway station. My legs felt a little "shaky" is the only way that I could describe it. A couple of days later, I went into the garden to do a job and had difficulty raising my foot to get over the step and back into the conservatory afterwards, this time the leg "trembled" and was unresponsive. A couple of hours later that day, I was in a supermarket and found myself veering left with my trolley and my left leg was "dragging" along. I was only able to continue by using the trolley as support, my left hand was shaking when I got to the checkout and I had difficulty in packing and paying for my shopping as my co-ordination was then impaired. Each of these events lasted 15-30 minutes and I really should have known something was badly wrong straight away but I returned to normal or near normal each time and I can only think that the illness was contributing to me not thinking straight and acting urgently following these events/warnings to get myself checked up by the GP/hospital. Later that night, I had become unsteady on my feet and fell to the floor on making my way to the bedroom. I made several attempts to get back up but was unable to do so. Like a fool, I continued these attempts for a couple of hours, rather than shout for help and it was not until my wife found me still on the floor unable to move my left leg and arm as well as with a dropped face that the penny dropped. With hindsight, I really should have done something or made more of these incidents or told my wife seriously how I had felt earlier. Instead I tried to shrug it/shake it off. All that I can suggest, is that if at any point you or anyone you know feels strange for no known reason then get it checked out rather than ignore it! It is better to be safe than sorry! I hope that sharing this might help someone in the future.

We did rather better than we had anticipated the last time we had a tough run of games let's hope for a similar outcome this time. I said before today's game that I thought 75 points would be enough for a play off place. That was 33 points from a possible 51 before we drew today. That has now become 32 from a possible 48. We need to win games to get near that figure and each result like this one makes the figure look increasingly unattainable.

75 points should be enough for the play offs. 33 points from a possible 51 shouldn't be beyond us if we can start playing like we were when we won at Derby, Boro and took a point at WBA. It will be if we continue our form of late.

I would play both Mings and Carroll. No Bacuna on their side this time, unfortunately. Does he think that playing for Cardiff represents playing European football perhaps?

I hear that he was concerned about getting into our first team when he was told that Cafu is currently playing for us in his position.

A few months at Cambridge can only help with his footballing education.

Graham Turner, Billy McNeill and Jozef Venglos say hi!