Birmingham derby
 |
|
| Other names | Birmingham Derby |
|---|---|
| Locale | Birmingham |
| Teams |
Aston Villa Birmingham City |
| First meeting | 27 September 1879 |
| Latest meeting | 30 October 2016 Birmingham City 1–1 Aston Villa |
| Statistics | |
| Most wins | Aston Villa (52) |
| Top scorer | Billy Walker (11) |
| All-time series | Aston Villa: 52 Drawn: 31 Birmingham City: 38 |
| Largest victory | Aston Villa 6–0 Birmingham (1988) |
In English football, the Second City Derby or Birmingham Derby, is the local derby between the two major clubs in the city of Birmingham, England – Aston Villa and Birmingham City. It is known as the Second City Derby based on Birmingham being referred to as the second city of the United Kingdom. The two clubs are generally regarded as each other's most fierce rivals.
The clubs first met on 27 September 1879, when Birmingham City were called Small Heath Alliance. The game, on a pitch at Small Heath's Muntz Street ground described by the Villa players as "only suitable for pot-holing", finished 1–0 – recorded as "one goal and a disputed goal to nil" – to the home side. Villa won the first competitive game between the clubs, in the Second Round of the FA Cup at Wellington Road in 1887, by four goals to nil, and their first league encounter, in the First Division in the 1894–95 season, 2–1.
The two teams have engaged in several hotly contested matches. In the 1925 league game at Villa Park, with the home side 3–0 ahead with eleven minutes to go, Blues scored three times in a dramatic final spell to draw the match. The following year, Aston Villa made headlines with the signing of Tom 'Pongo' Waring, and his first appearance was for the reserves against Birmingham City's reserves, which famously drew a crowd of 23,000. Waring scored three times in the match.
The most significant clash was the final of the 1963 League Cup, which was staged not long after Aston Villa had beaten Birmingham City 4–0 in the league. Blues won 3–1 on aggregate over the two-legged final to claim their first major domestic honour.
During the late 1970s to early 1980s both Villa and Blues met regularly in the First Division and both teams had some memorable successes in the fixture. In 1980-81 Villa did the double over Blues and went on to win the First Division title. Blues scored a memorable 3-0 victory at St Andrew's in the first meeting following Villa's European Cup triumph in 1982. Both teams promptly went into decline. Blues racked up a 3-0 win in a relegation battle at Villa Park in March 1986 but were relegated at the end of that season. Villa would be demoted the following campaign. The next time Villa met Blues in a league fixture at Villa Park again was in the Second Division and saw a 2–1 Blues victory. The reverse fixture at St Andrew's was a 2-1 Villa victory with both goals coming from Garry Thompson. The two sides would only meet again in the 1980s in cup competitions. Villa won 7-0 on aggregate when they clashed twice in the 1988-89 League Cup. The same season Villa also won a Full Members Cup clash 6-0.
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