Birmingham 0 - 3 Wycombe (392611593)

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 23000 to Birmingham Dump. Cai Ching Hwa was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Nedim Baysal and Emil Rosca. A 5-4-1 alignment was the formation of choice for Birmingham. They fielded: Aprea - Niitty, Velička, Argentesi, Moser, Bastide - Papież, Reinhardt, Schmidthaler, Byckling - Lukáš.

Wycombe had chosen a strategic 2-5-3 formation. Lineup: Chontos - Wellens, Staab - Rosal, Castela, Luu, Cvejanov, Callegati - Mullenders, Gachet, Holland.

Using their counter-attacking abilities was the strategy of choice for Birmingham. 0 - 1 was the score with 10 minutes played, after S. Rosal cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Wycombe. After 15 minutes Wycombe nearly put themselves up another goal from a penalty taken by E. Staab, but the keeper made an unbelievable save. 23 minutes into the game, A. Castela had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came W. Sgouros. 31 minutes into the game, Wycombe worked the left side industriously creating several opportunities to add to their lead, but just couldn't apply the finishing touch. With their counter attack move halted 32 minutes into the game, Birmingham were left with a free kick. The ball is passed straight through to the other end of the penalty area, with hopes for it to reach M. Argentesi. However, he didn't have his wits about him and the ball went out. Wycombe's G. Callegati set up a perfect opportunity for S. Rosal, but the latter failed to score. Wycombe came close to extending their lead as V. Wellens delivered a low effort on goal from the right after 40 minutes, but the angle was too narrow and the shot went harmlessly into the side netting. 0 - 1 was the score after the first half. Wycombe enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 70 percent of possession.

A defender managed to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line after a curling shot coming in from the right from V. Wellens after 47 minutes, and prevented Wycombe from going up another goal. The Wycombe players could smell victory in the air. S. Rosal wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for A. Palermo after 63 minutes. M. Argentesi was just a finger's breadth away from an equaliser for Birmingham with a strike from the left, but L. Chontos managed to ward the shot off for a corner. The coach of Wycombe was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 64 minutes, Č. Kukuruzović came on for W. Gachet. A drive down the left side allowed D. Mullenders to get in close and score another goal for Wycombe after 68 minutes, taking the score to 0 - 2. Although the whole team were struggling to impress, Birmingham's J. Lukáš was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 70 minutes. J. Chapman was given a chance to change things around. T. Holland received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 72 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 3. The Wycombe fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Wycombe lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. Wycombe claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 70 percent.

D. Schmidthaler performed admirably for Birmingham. S. Velička turned in a dismal performance, however. Wycombe's best player was Č. Kukuruzović. M. Cvejanov was a disappointment, however. The match ends 0 - 3.