In a patently unbalanced move, Villa are forced to play the first leg of the League Cup final just two days after the end of their League season after having become the last club to complete their campaign. Villa, have some players back fit but still the team features more youngsters than would be ideal as they attempt to win the Cup for the second time in three seasons. All things considered, Villa didn't need any more misfortune but that is exactly what they got. In a typically robust encounter Villa 'keeper Nigel Sims was injured early in the second half, ironically in a tangle with his own defender, that left him with an arm injury ahead of Birmingham hitting two goals. There's little doubt though that taking the game in isolation, Birmingham deserve their lead ahead of the second leg.

Joe Mercer's Villa suffer a disappointing reverse against neighbours Birmingham in the first leg of the League Cup final at St Andrew’s to cede the advantage. Villa’s latest fixture is their seventeen in fifty six days and comes just two days after their final League game after their wildly interrupted campaign delivered the inevitable fixture list congestion and required Villa to play once every three days in the final two months of the season. Villa now had it all to do in the return leg at Villa Park to deliver a trophy in an otherwise barren season and win the League Cup for the second time in three seasons since its inauguration.