A bit of a grudge game tomorrow as Bournemouth, our conquerors in last year's Auto Windshield Southern Final, come to town. The return visit from Dean Court following last March's glorious failure will live with me for a long time. Three hours of tarmac, 150 odd miles of trees, country lanes and the three lads in the car who never spoke a word during the drive home. Even a European exit for Villa failed to raise a whimper of delight.
We didn’t deserve to go out like that. The problem was the 2-0 reverse in the home leg and for a poor away side we were always going to struggle to overcome that.
However the Bournemouth fans' on pitch celebrations following our Dean Court defeat were so over the top it was untrue. Celebrating a debut trip to Wembley is understandably obligatory but celebrating by delighting in our misery was a step too far.
No doubt that many of the revellers were probably making their first visit to Dean Court that night. Glory boys with chips on their shoulders. Perhaps they should be renamed Born mouthy. Oh and Roger Boli plays for them.