The fixture[discuss] was organised by Llewelyn Kenrick, who had founded the Football Association of Wales (FAW) only a few weeks earlier in response to a letter published in The Field.

Scotland added a fourth through Henry McNeil and claimed a victory in front of a crowd of over 17,000 people, a record for an international game at the time.

This had been preceded by a series of "unofficial" matches between the two sides in the previous two years, played at The Oval, a cricket ground in South London.

In January 1876, a London-based Welshman, G. A. Clay-Thomas,[11] placed an advertisement in The Field magazine, a sports and country publication, proposing that a team be formed from Welsh men residing in London to play Scotland or Ireland at rugby.

[12][13][14] Llewelyn Kenrick of the Druids club saw the advertisement but decided that the international match should be association football and the field of players be drawn from all of Wales.

[17] Kenrick told The Field that the footballers of North Wales accepted the challenge and he advertised for players: "Test matches will take place at the ground of the Denbighshire County Cricket Club at Wrexham for the purpose of choosing the Cambrian Eleven.

[20] The venue chosen for the tie was Hamilton Crescent in Partick which was owned by the West of Scotland Cricket Club and had been used for the first official international fixture previously.

[22] Although Kenrick corresponded with several Welsh clubs and the nation's universities to raise a team, he was criticised for allegedly overlooking players from the South.

One of the main criticisms was the decision to publish most of his notices in English sports journals such as The Field and Bell's Life, which were not widely circulated in Wales.

[11][23] C. C. Chambers, captain of Swansea Rugby Club, wrote a letter to the Western Mail newspaper in which he commented "... there must be some sort of error, and that the team to play Scotland is to be selected from North Wales only.

[21][24] The second was held a week later,[25] while a third trial match was organised on 26 February 1876 against a combined Oswestry team, made up of players from the town's football clubs.

[28] For the final squad, Kenrick appointed himself as captain and selected six players from his own club, Druids, including Daniel Grey who was born in Scotland but had moved to Wales after obtaining his medical licence to open a practice in Ruabon.

[31] The Thomson brothers, goalkeeper David and forward George were also born in England but resided in Wales, the former was a captain in the Royal Denbighshire Militia.

[18][32] In Scotland, there was considerable interest in the team that would be arriving to play in the match, newspapers reporting that Beaumont Jarrett and Thomas Bridges Hughes may feature for the Welsh side.

[33] All eleven players selected for Wales were amateurs, comprising "two lawyers, a timber merchant, a student, a soldier, a stonemason, a physician, a miner, a chimney sweep, an office worker and an insurance company employee".

[23][40] Scotland captain Charles Campbell won the coin toss and choose to play "downhill" as the ground featured a slight incline.

[38] They had a goal disallowed after Joseph Taylor scored directly from a corner without another player gaining a touch, while Evans again denied a goalscoring opportunity by blocking a goal-bound shot before David Thomson gathered the Scots' second attempt.

[20] After the half-time interval, the Welsh team looked to utilise the "downhill" advantage and mounted early forays into the Scottish half of the pitch.

Scotland regained possession and, after playing several passes around the encamped Welsh defence, the ball was crossed towards Lang who headed in a goal on his debut.

[20][38][42] Suffering a three-goal deficit, Wales were unable to threaten any answer in return,[33] while Campbell forced a save when he advanced on the Welsh goal almost immediately after the kick-off.

[20] The Welsh goal survived further scares until Henry McNeil completed the scoring after a combined move upfield by Ferguson and Kennedy won a corner kick.

MacKinnon made a final attempt on goal near the end of the game, going on a mazy individual dribble through the Welsh defence before being stopped by Kenrick.

[2] The two countries continued to meet each other in friendly matches once each year in February or March until 1884 when the British Home Championship, which also involved England and Ireland, was inaugurated.