Credit: Imago

James Barker

Thu 14 May 2026 7:40, UK

Tammy Abraham forever wrote himself into Aston Villa folklore seven years ago during a play-off penalty shoot-out at The Hawthorns.

Where has the time gone Villa fans? Indeed, 14 May 2019 is a date that will live long in the memory of Villans everywhere.

After Dean Smith took over from Steve Bruce in early October 2018 after a run of one win in nine Championship games, Smith had a major Villa Park challenge on his hands.

However, with 17 wins from 34 games in charge in that 2018-19 campaign, he would guide Villa to a fifth-placed finish in the second tier, setting up a two-legged play-off semi-final against bitter rivals, West Brom.

That semi-final finished 2-2 on aggregate after Albion won the second leg 1-0 at The Hawthorns, and with nothing separating them after extra-time, penalties were required to secure a ticket to Wembley.

How good was Tammy Abraham for Aston Villa in 2018-19?

We’ll come back to that later, but first, let’s take a look back on Abraham’s 2018-19 season with Aston Villa.

Signed on a season-long loan deal from Chelsea in late August 2018, Abraham rocked up in B6 as a fresh-faced 20-year-old with a big reputation.

He’d spent the previous two seasons out on loan, first with Championship outfit Bristol City, and then enjoying a term in the Premier League with Swansea City respectively.

Abraham scored a combined 34 goals in all competitions across those two spells, and having played 31 times in the top flight for the Swans and scored over 20 goals for the Robins in the Championship, this instantly had the feel of being a major coup for Villa.

And a major coup he would indeed be, as he bagged 25 goals and three assists from 37 second-tier outings at Villa Park, with only Norwich City’s Teemu Pukki’s 29 goals pipping him to the golden boot.

Per FotMob, Abraham took 109 shots in the Championship for Aston Villa in 2018-19, whilst also averaging 0.71 goals per 90 and 1.71 shots on target per game too.

He also created 26 chances, completed 30 successful dribbles, won 109 aerial duels, took 164 touches in the opposition box and won 56 fouls.

Linking up with the likes of Conor Hourihane, John McGinn, Ahmed El Mohamady, Anwar El-Ghazi and Jack Grealish respectively, Abraham was the tip of an extremely sharp Villa spear that year.

Abraham enjoys crowning Aston Villa moment vs West Brom

Now, where were we? Ah yes, the Championship play-off semi-final penalty shoot-out in B71.

Mason Holgate missed West Brom’s first penalty of the shoot-out, before Hourihane made it 1-0 to Aston Villa with the Villans’ first spot-kick.

Villa were quickly in dreamland after Ahmed Hegazy missed Albion’s second penalty, as Mile Jedinak converted to make it 2-0 to Smith’s side.

Tosin Adarabioyo finally got the Baggies on the board with their third, but Grealish countered as he made it 3-1 to Villa, before Kieran Gibbs brought it back to 3-2.

Albert Adomah’s miss threatened to unravel things for Aston Villa, as the now-West Brom head coach James Morrison kept his cool to level the scores at 3-3.

That put the winning kick on the shoulders of young Abraham, but he calmly side-footed the ball past Sam Johnstone in the Albion net, sending him the wrong way and Aston Villa to Wembley for the play-off final.

Under the arch, it was there that Villa reclaimed their spot in the Premier League with a 2-1 win over Derby County, and have never been back in the Championship since.

So, whilst Abraham hasn’t enjoyed a productive return to Villa in the second half of this season, the big striker will always hold a special place in the hearts of Villans for his unforgettable 2018-19 campaign in the West Midlands.