[NoSkillz]

Tue. September 17, 2024

UEFA Champions League - Group C
Dover (England Premier League) vs. Hibernian (Scotland Premier League)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 4-7 (Favourites) Draw: 5-2 Hibernian: 4-1
Past Meetings: 0W 0D 0L

Hibernian have always been a solid club but surprised many by winning the Clydesdale Bank Premier League in Scotland last year to qualify for Champions League play. While they dominated last year, they are on a shocking run of poor form to start this season, with no wins at all, even in preseason friendly play. They are 0-2-2 in league play, sitting 11th in the 12 team league and perhaps their attention is focused on this competition. They spent a paltry £625,00 in the July transfer market, bringing two players in on loan while selling eight. Their leading scorer last year was Alberto Libertazzi with 31 but the 32 year old is scoreless so far this season. They have a large squad and I don’t recognize any of their names.

We can’t be complacent today but in reality, this team doesn’t have the class to match up against us and we should be easy winners today. That said, I’m starting a pretty full-strength lineup: Andy Broomes will spell the excellent Chiquinho today and line up alongside Paul Moses. Our regular midfield is in today with the exception of Scottish international Graham Allan, who will start in place of Gianluca Bolis. On defence, we’ll give a start to Saber Nasri in the middle and give a breather to Claudio Contreras. Manuel Perez gets his second start of the year and hopes to bounce back after taking the loss against Newcastle.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - Renato Gaucho, S. Nasri, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Allan
S - P. Moses, A. Broomes
Bench - Rafinha, C. Contreras, A. Rocca, B. Raab, G. Bolis, M. Pedersen, Chiquinho

Hibs will play a conservative 4-1-4-1 with a DMC. Adam Morgan is alone up front and Roman Chovan is their goalkeeper. Thankfully, overconfidence is NOT an issue today and I tell the team to play attractive football for the fans today.

30’ - We’ve been absolutely dominating this game thus far but Hibernian are doing a good job of defending and forcing us into longer shots. We get a corner and Jose’s cross is headed out to Neil Cairney, who is lurking outside the area. He passes back into the area to Rayane Hamon and his quick turnaround effort deflects off a Hibs defender and is past Chovan and in! We finally break them down! DOVER GOAL 1-0

32’ - Hibs kick off and we take possession back in our end and work up field with Graham Allan. He sends a pass through to Jose and his low rocket is saved very well by Chovan. Jose has his hands on his head but there is a rebound and Jose recovers and shoots hard again, this time getting it past the keeper and it’s in! Jose’s first of the year! DOVER GOAL 2-0

42’ - Jose with a corner kick sent to the near post and it’s Hamon AGAIN, this time heading it home. Hamon has two and we have a big lead! DOVER GOAL 3-0

HALFTIME - Pure domination, as we had at least three other incredible shots that were saved in spectacular fashion by their keeper just to keep the scoreline respectable. 59% of possession and a 22-3 (7-2 on target) shot advantage? Yeah, that’s solid!

69’ - We’re doing fine but just can’t get enough shots on goal. I take out Jose, who was excellent again, and bring in Andrea Rocca, as we start thinking of our next game.

80’ - Renato Gaucho is out and Rafinha is in.

87’ - UNREAL. He’s not having a great game but Paul Moses gets taken down and needs to come off. That did NOT look good. I move Rayane Hamon up to striker to try to get him his hat trick and bring in Claudio Contreras.

I wish we scored more but we thoroughly dominated them.

Dover 3 - 0 Hibernian
Goals - Rayane Hamon 2 (9.3), Jose (8.7)
Assists - Jose, Neil Cairney (7.3)
Man of the Match - Rayane Hamon
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.4), Saber Nasri (7.5), Renato Gaucho (7.3), Graham Allan (7.0), Arsene Bamba (7.1)
Attendance - 21,780

We held 57% of the ball and an outlandish 35-4 (11-2 on target) shot advantage. Our strikers were both non-existent: Moses had some good chances thwarted by the Hibs keeper in the first half but Broomes was largely invisible on the big stage. Please don’t be hurt Moses!!!

-- And WE ARE FUCKED. Paul Moses suffers a torn calf muscle on a challenge and will miss 3-4 MONTHS. Oh dear God - I think I’m going to be sick. DOVER INJURY: Paul Moses (torn calf muscle: 3-4 months)

-- We’re given £696,000 for the win. Don’t care…

-- In other Group C action, Hoffenheim upsets Palermo in Italy 2-1! That’s a nice turn of events. In Group A, OM shocks Man City 1-0 in Manchester while in Group B, Club Brugge wins 1-0 over Bayern Munich in Germany in a MONSTER upset. That’s nuts! Juventus also beats Real Madrid on a night of shocking upsets. The next night is much more straight forward, with only Sevilla’s 3-0 win over Sampdoria qualifying as a bit nutty.



Dover Reserves Update

-- We knock off Chelsea’s reserves 3-0, getting goals from Alberto Velazquez, Adam Hyde and Emmerson Harvey. We lose another striker in this one, as young Ben Patterson suffers a torn hamstring and will miss 2-3 months as well. Sheesh.



Next Up

-- We head on the road to face another recently promoted club in Burnley in Premier League action.