1894–95 Aston Villa F.C. season

Second City Derby
	2--0--1
	← 1887-88 1895–96 →

1895 FA Cup final
	Match programme
Event	1894–95 FA Cup
Date	20 April 1895
Venue	Crystal Palace, London
Referee	John Lewis
Attendance	42,560

Aston Villa
1894–95 season
Manager	George Ramsay
Ground	Wellington Road
Football League	3rd
FA Cup	Winners
	← 1893–94 1895–96 →

The 1894–95 Football League season fell in what was to be called Villa's golden era.^[1] Under George Ramsay's management committee Villa won the FA Cup for the second time.^[2] The 1894–95 Division 1 season was the first season of the First league Second City Derby with Aston Villa beating local rivals Small Heath 2–1 on 1 September 1894.

A league match in November 1894 against Sheffield United at Perry Barr was played in driving freezing rain. Villa's players had dry clothes available,^[3] and were given hot drinks, a courtesy apparently not extended to the visitors.^[4]^[5] The Sheffield players were worse affected, several needing treatment for exposure, and by the end of the match only six were still on the field.^[5]^[6] Villa's Jack Devey put on an overcoat, and Charlie Athersmith played under an umbrella borrowed from a spectator^[7]^[6] before collapsing in the dressing-room afterwards.^[5]

Villa registered the biggest away win in the League when they defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers 0–4 on 22 December 1894, and beat Small Heath in the final of the Mayor of Birmingham's Charity Cup.

Twenty thousand people saw Sunderland win the championship with a 2–1 scoreline and rendered Everton's final game meaningless. As it was, Everton could only draw that game at Aston Villa 2–2, a result which would have taken the title to Sunderland regardless.

The 1895 FA Cup Final was contested by Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion at Crystal Palace. Aston Villa won 1–0, with Bob Chatt being credited with scoring the fastest goal in FA Cup Final history, scored after just 30 seconds. This record would stand for 114 years before being broken by Louis Saha of Everton in the 2009 FA Cup Final with a goal after 25 seconds.

There were debut appearances for Harry Wilkes, Billy Dorrell, George Kinsey, Howard Spencer, Tom Purslow, Billy Podmore and Bob Gordon.^[8]

First Division final table

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Sunderland	30	21	5	4	80	37	2.162	47
2	Everton	30	18	6	6	82	50	1.640	42
3	Aston Villa	30	17	5	8	82	43	1.907	39
4	Preston North End	30	15	5	10	62	46	1.348	35
5	Blackburn Rovers	30	11	10	9	59	49	1.204	32

Second City Derby

Small Heath's First Division campaign began on Saturday 1 September with a visit to local rivals and League champions Aston Villa. The match turned out rather closer than predicted. Small Heath's Jack Hallam opened the scoring from a Tommy Hands cross with the first League goal of the season, "for the match was started punctually, and it would have been a sheer impossibility to score faster than the Small Heath player did."^[9] Steve Smith equalised for Villa some 20 minutes later, and a Bob Gordon goal meant they took the lead immediately afterwards, and retained that lead to the end. The Birmingham Daily Post picked out Hallam and Caesar Jenkyns for praise, was disappointed by Fred Wheldon, "usually the bright particular star of the front rank", and suggested that Jack Oliver would be a success "when he has lost a little superfluous flesh".^[9]^[10]

The reverse fixture resulted in a 2-2 draw on 20 October 1894 with Bob Gordon and Denny Hodgetts scoring for Villa.(2-0-1)^[11]

Small Heath took on Aston Villa in their last match of the season, the final of the Birmingham Charity Cup. Unfortunately for the charities, the weather was poor and the attendance low, but those spectators present saw an exciting game. Wheldon scored first with a fierce shot that entered the net off the goalkeeper and the underside of the bar, then Bob Chatt equalised from a free kick and Charlie Athersmith outpaced Oliver and his parried shot was forced over the line. Mobley tied the scores with a long shot, but in the second half with the wind behind them, Villa scored three times to Jack Hallam's one to take the match 5–3.^[12]

References

^ "Aston Villa Club History 1900 – 1939". AVFC.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 28 October 2007.
^ AVFC History:1894–95 season
^ "Ernest Needham's story". Sports Special. Sheffield. 28 December 1912. p. 5.
^ "Football". Burnley Express. 14 November 1894. p. 4.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Football Fancies". Evening Telegraph and Star. Sheffield. 16 November 1894. p. 4.
^ ^a ^b "Aston Villa v. Sheffield United. A farcical performance. United finish with six men. Serious illness of the players". Sheffield Daily Telegraph. 13 November 1894. p. 8.
^ Murray, Scott (2017). The Title: The Story of the First Division. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-4729-3662-2.
^ "Aston Villa's Seasons". AVFC History.
^ ^a ^b "Notes on Sport". Birmingham Daily Post. 3 September 1894. p. 5.
^ "Aston Villa (Champions) 2-1 Small Heath, 1894-95 Division One , 1 Sep 1894". AVFC History. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
^ "Small Heath 2-2 Aston Villa (Champions), 1894-95 Division One , 20 Oct 1894". AVFC History. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
^ "Notes on Sport". Birmingham Daily Post. 29 April 1895. p. 7.