1888–89 Aston Villa F.C. season

Aston Villa

1888–89 season
Manager	George Ramsay
Football League	2nd
FA Cup	Round 3
Top goalscorer	League: All: Albert Allen (19)
← 1887–88 1889–90 →

The 1888-89 season was the first season of the Football League. Aston Villa were one of the new league's 12 founding members and finished as runners-up of the Football League, behind double winners Preston North End. The 'Invincibles' from Lancashire also ended Villa's bid to win every single home game, with a 2–0 win at Wellington Road in Villa's last home fixture.

Villa's cup season ended with an 8–1 defeat by Blackburn Rovers that remained a club record until 2012.

Final league table

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Preston North End	22	18	4	0	74	15	4.933	40
2	Aston Villa	22	12	5	5	61	43	1.419	29
3	Wolverhampton Wanderers	22	12	4	6	50	37	1.351	28
4	Blackburn Rovers	22	10	6	6	66	45	1.467	26
5	Bolton Wanderers	22	10	2	10	63	59	1.068	22
6	West Bromwich Albion	22	10	2	10	40	46	0.870	22
7	Accrington	22	6	8	8	48	48	1.000	20
8	Everton	22	9	2	11	35	46	0.761	20
9	Burnley	22	7	3	12	42	62	0.677	17
10	Derby County	22	7	2	13	41	61	0.672	16
11	Notts County	22	5	2	15	40	73	0.548	12
12	Stoke	22	4	4	14	26	51	0.510	12

Key: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

Results

Aston Villa's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League

Main article: 1888–89 Football League

Match	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
1	8 September 1888	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1 – 1	2,500	Green
2	15 September 1888	Stoke	H	5 – 1	4,000	Dixon, Brown, Green, Hunter, Allen
3	22 September 1888	Everton	H	2 – 1	4,000	Hodgetts (2)
4	29 September 1888	Notts County	H	9 – 1	4,000	Green (3), Allen (3), Hunter (2), Hodgetts
5	6 October 1888	Everton	A	0 – 2	10,000
6	13 October 1888	Blackburn Rovers	H	6 – 1	5,000	Goodall, Green, Brown, Allen (2), Hunter
7	20 October 1888	Bolton Wanderers	A	3 – 2	8,000	Hodgetts, Hunter, Allen
8	27 October 1888	Accrington	H	4 – 3	6,000	Allen, Brown (2), Hodgetts
9	3 November 1888	Stoke	A	1 – 1	4,000	Allen
10	10 November 1888	Preston North End	A	1 – 1	10,000	Green
11	17 November 1888	Blackburn Rovers	A	1 – 5	9,500	Allen
12	24 November 1888	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	2 – 1	6,000	Goodall (2)
13	8 December 1888	Notts County	A	4 – 2	2,000	Goodall (2), Brown, Green
14	15 December 1888	Accrington	A	1 – 1	2,000	Brown
15	22 December 1888	Burnley	H	4 – 2	2,000	Green, Goodall, Allen, Hunter
16	29 December 1888	Derby County	H	4 – 2	4,000	Green (2), Allen, Goodall
17	5 January 1889	Burnley	A	0 – 4	6,000
18	12 January 1889	Bolton Wanderers	H	6 – 2	2,000	Brown, Allen, Hodgetts, Hunter, Green (2)
19	19 January 1889	West Bromwich Albion	H	2 – 0	10,000	Allen, Hodgetts
20	26 January 1889	West Bromwich Albion	A	3 – 3	8,515	Allen (2), Green
21	9 February 1889	Preston North End	H	0 – 2	10,000
22	9 March 1889	Derby County	A	2 – 5	3,000	Allen (2)

FA Cup

Main article: 1888–89 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R1	2 February 1889	Witton	H	3 – 2	1,500	Allen, Hunter, Green
R2	16 February 1889	Derby County	H	5 – 3	2,000	Hunter (2), Hodgetts (2), Brown
R3	2 March 1889	Blackburn Rovers	A	1 – 8	12,000	Hodgetts

Appearances

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
FW	Albert Allen	21	18	3	1	24	19
GK	Walter Ashmore	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	Arthur Brown	22	7	3	1	25	8
HB	John Burton	16	0	3	0	19	0
FB	Frank Coulton	19	0	2	0	21	0
FB	Gershom Cox	22	0	3	0	25	0
HB	Frankie Dawson	3	0	0	0	3	0
HB	Harry Devey	21	0	3	0	24	0
HB	Arthur Dixon	3	1	0	0	3	1
FW	Batty Garvey	2	0	0	0	2	0
FW	Archie Goodall	14	7	0	0	14	7
FW	Tommy Green	22	15	3	1	25	16
FW	Thomas Harrison	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	Dennis Hodgetts	17	7	3	3	20	10
FW	Archie Hunter	19	6	3	3	22	9
GK	Jimmy Warner	21	0	3	0	24	0
HB	Arthur Wollaston	4	0	1	0	5	0
HB	Harry Yates	13	0	2	0	15	0

See also

• Aston Villa F.C. in the 1880s