Onto a Wimmer

Central defender Kevin Wimmer on avoiding cup upsets,bitter enemies turned best friends and how he hopes to stake a regular place in the starting line-up.

- Billy Shaw

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Kevin Wimmer got a real fright from lower-league opponents in the German Cup back in 2014-15, meaning he goes into this afternoon’s clash with Wycombe Wanderers with eyes wide open.

In the midst of his final season with 1. FC Köln, Kevin played in defence as the Bundesliga side found themselves pitted against third-tier MSV Duisburg in the second round of the DFB-Pokal, with the weight of expectation very much on their shoulders.

A comfortable win for the higher-ranked visitors was widely expected but the plucky underdogs kept them at bay over the 90 minutes, plus half-an-hour of extra-time. Thankfully for the Austrian centre-back, his side scraped through on penalties with Kevin himself among the scorers, but the hardworking 24-year-old is determined not to let things get that far this time as we prepare for our first ever competitive meeting with League Two Wycombe, with a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup at stake.

“I remember that match – it was 0-0 all the way through, extra time was goalless as well, we had a red card and it was a very difficult game,” said the defender, who has been everpresent for us in domestic cup competitions this season. “We won in the end but it’s true – all the people expect you to go through easily. It’s never easy to play lower-league teams because they fight for their lives.

“This match against Wycombe is a totally different test to what we usually have because everybody expects us to win and most people expect us to win well. You always know in games like this that it’s the match of the year for the opponents so they will fight from the first minute, they’ll defend with 10 or 11 men behind the ball and for us it will be difficult to play because they’ll be so deep.