Villa 2 Manchester United 1

League Cup semi-final second leg, 16th December 1970.

If you were there then you'll no doubt regard this as the best game ever. It wasn't so much a match, more a turning point in the club's history. We'd suffered the bad times, the humiliation of relegation to the third division, but here was a night that proved to the world that the Villa were on their way back. The first leg had resulted in a 1-1 draw and United, European champions just three years earlier, were determined to put matters right. This was the United of Charlton, Law and Best, and if they were showing signs of growing old, they would surely be good enough to cope with a team who, after all, were still only in the third division.

They never had a chance. Even though Brian Kidd opened the scoring after 14 minutes the night belonged to Villa and the 62,500 crowd. Spurred on by a backing likened in one match report to that of Brazil in the World Cup final, the Villa got over the early setback and deservedly equalised in the 37th minute when Brian Godfrey's cross was too high for everyone except Andy Lochhead, who slammed the ball into the Holte End goal.

From then on there was only one team who were ever going to win. The noise on the Holte gave each Villa player an extra yard and suddenly United seemed a team of old men. Inevitably the Villa winner came, after 72 minutes. Godfrey hit over another cross, Willie Anderson knocked the ball back into the box and Pat McMahon headed past a helpless Jimmy Rimmer, who a few years later would have many happier memories of great Villa Park occasions.

Villa's lead was never in danger and as United left the field at the end of the game they were taunted by chants of 'easy, easy' from the Holte End supporters who were so influential in deciding the outcome of this match. In the past 120 years there have been many great days in the club's history. This was the day when we said to the world; we're back in the big time. We were a big club again, and anything was possible.