Geordies 3 - 4 Wycombe (393403825)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 59000 at Firs Stadion today. Per Läfblom was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Clement Biery and Mika Inglis. Geordies had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. The following players took the field: Dean - Spenner, MacLern, Jaroszewski, Riordan - Killick, Crawford, Ambrozić, Sores, King - Fitzgerald.

Wycombe decided to use a 2-5-3 set up. The following players had been chosen: Chontos - Wellens, Staab - Rosal, Castela, Sgouros, Luu, Callegati - Holland, Kukuruzović, Mullenders.

Today, Geordies's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. The visiting D. Mullenders was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 23 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 0 - 1 was the score. With the scoreboard showing that 37 minutes had been played, Wycombe nearly put themselves up another goal after S. Rosal came through on the left. Fortunately for the home crowd, the keeper made the save. 0 - 1 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Geordies, with 51 percent of the ball.

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 53 minutes. With 60 minutes played, the Geordies coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. A. Slade came on, P. Spenner had to leave the fray. A. Slade was the new captain of Geordies - handed the armband by the departing player. The coach of Wycombe was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 60 minutes, M. Cvejanov came on for T. Luu. On any other day, D. Sores's free kick would have found the back of the net to tie the game for Geordies, but not today - the visitors' keeper displayed extraordinary reflexes as he blocked the shot harmlessly to the side. With 82 minutes played, D. Mullenders nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. Due to some great work on the right wing Geordies's R. Fitzgerald was able to even the score after 82 minutes to make the score 1 - 1. 84 minutes in, Geordies's D. Sores received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Wycombe were forced into a substitution as D. Mullenders couldn't continue due to some rough treatment, forcing W. Gachet to come in off the bench. Geordies fans held their breath as D. Sores scampered down the left side. He successfully avoided all challenges and cracked home the shot for 2 - 1! Wycombe levelled the score after 88 minutes to make it 2 - 2, as T. Holland struck home after a fine midfield combination through the centre, which left him completely unmarked. 88 minutes into the match and the home team took a 3 - 2 lead after breaking through on the left. The scorer for Geordies was R. Fitzgerald. The visitors didn't give in and, after 88 minutes, W. Gachet got through the home side's central line of defence, rolling in the equaliser to make it 3 - 3. Possession in this half belonged to Geordies, who controlled the ball 51 percent of the time.

As neither team was able to break the deadlock before the end of regular play, the teams took to the field again for extra time. M. Dean looked great 93 minutes into the match after stopping a shot from the middle of the penalty area from the visitors' Č. Kukuruzović. Some quick footwork on the left side of the field 98 minutes into the match left Wycombe's Č. Kukuruzović completely free to score. 3 - 4 for the visitors. With that Wycombe had won the game in extra time. Geordies's top performer was clearly R. Fitzgerald. However, M. King made a disastrous appearance. Most important Wycombe player was Č. Kukuruzović. V. Wellens turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 3 - 4.