CITY 3 ASTON VILLA 1
FA Premiership
8th November 1986
Attendance 22,875
Scorers
City Moulden(24 & 81), Varadi(59)
Villa Daley(44)
Ref K Redfern
City Suckling, Gidman, Wilson, Clements, McCarthy, Grealish, Baker, McNab, Varadi, Moulden, Simpson Sub – White(unused)
Aston Villa Spink, Norton, Dorigo, Evans, Keown, Hunt, Birch, Stainrod, Waiters, Hodge, Daley – sub Elliott(used)
From LETHAL, THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF PAUL MOULDEN
… I kept my place for the next game against Aston Villa in the League. Villa were Billy McNeill’s team now, of course, but on their journey to Maine Road that day their coach was in a fatal collision. I remember that clearly.
I scored twice more. The first was a mistake by the Villa defence that gave me a chance to close in that I tapped or headed home, I can’t recall which, and as I ran back to the halfway line, I realised that it wasn’t that different from reserve football. People still made mistakes and I just felt a bit of weight lifted off me because I was thinking I might do alright at this level. The second goal was a turn and shot into the top left corner from 20 yards and we went on to win 3-1. I was starting to feel part of everything, and that things were heading in the right direction.
A GOAL FROM IMRE VARADI
…The visitors suffered a real stroke of bad luck before the game. The coach they were travelling on was involved in a fatal accident on Princess Parkway, something which would obviously upset the entire Villa party. As for the match, Lady Luck had decided to smile on the Blues. A case might have been made out for all three goals to have been disallowed, but happily the referee, Mr Redfern, saw nothing to which he could take exception. It was former Bolton Boys hotshot Paul Moulden who opened the account after 24 minutes following the first hint of controversy. Fairly recent newcomer Imre Varadi appeared, from some angles, to shove Martin Keown out of the way before whipping in a fierce shot. Nigel Spink only managed to parry the ball which ran loose to Moulden and the young striker took advantage of the situation by sliding the ball in. Tony Daley was in dazzling form on the left wing for Villa, and he levelled the scores a minute before the break. This was a solo effort, and had not Clive Wilson been on top form to contain Daley at later stages in the game, then the outcome might have been different. The much-travelled Varadi gained the second City goal after 59 minutes, an easy one with the Villa defenders all over the place as they appealed unsuccessfully for off-side. Neil McNab threaded the ball through for Varadi to nip in and give Spink no chance. Moulden was awarded the third City goal of the day after 81 minutes when he rose to head a centre from Paul Simpson (voted Fiat Uno Player of the Month for October). The ball curved over Spink before a Villa defender headed it to what he mistakenly thought was safety. Moulden’s goals put him at the top of the City chart, as he’d scored two more a few days earlier against Wimbledon in the Full Members’ Cup. The modest youngster gave a large amount of credit to the work of Varadi. “It’s great to play alongside him,” enthused Paul. “He can teach me a lot about being a striker – some of the runs he makes and the positions he takes up are brilliant… ADAPTED FROM AN ARTICLE BY JOHN MADDOCKS IN THE CITY PROGRAMME 25TH NOVEMBER 1995