[NoSkillz]

Tue. December 2, 2025

League Cup - Quarterfinals
Dover (1st in Premier League) vs. Queens Park Rangers (19th in Championship)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, England

Betting Odds: Dover: 1-6 (Favourites) Draw: N/A QPR: 10-1
Past Meetings: 3W 0D 1L

QPR have spent the last 12 years in the Championship and haven’t been in the Premier League since 1996 in this dynasty. They usually finish near the middle-to-bottom of the table and here they are again with only seven wins to show for their 21 games. Striker Tom Purewal leads the team with 12 goals.

All eleven positions have different starters after our disappointing game against Wolves on the weekend. All second teamers today and we also call up three U18 players for our bench today. We should easily handle these guys even with backups.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - C. Davies
D - Rafinha, A. Torres, M. Mutesa, R. Lopez
M - M. Pedersen, E. Harvey, N. Cairney, S. De la Vega
S - A. Broomes, M. Lugo
Bench - L. Garcia, E. Remirez, J. Culebras, P. Secchi, A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, P. Moses

Flat 4-4-2 for QPR today and Purewal is up front with Simon Thomas. Jack Butland is their keeper. Lets play well for our supporters today!

28’ - Another poor start, as we’re generating very little against the minnows. We finally break through, when Manuel Lugo sends in Andy Broomes and our in-form striker slots a hard shot past Butland and in! DOVER GOAL 1-0

31’ - We work a counter attack with Mads Pedersen through the middle of the pitch. He sends a lovely ball through to Lugo and he left foots the ball into the short side of the goal. Very nice! DOVER GOAL 2-0

35’ - We have a corner cleared out but Emmerson Harvey rips a bullet back in and it’s stopped by Butland. There’s a big rebound and it’s right on the foot of Sergio De la Vega and he easily slips it in and we’re comfortably ahead! DOVER GOAL 3-0

HALFTIME - We started off slow but that was a sensational last 20 minutes. We hold 58% of possession and a 10-2 (7-0 on target) shot advantage. Happy manager here.

50’ - Our skill is simply too much for QPR, as Broomes dribbles down the left flank, reaches the byline then cuts back to his stronger right foot. He sends a pass to the middle to Lugo and he slams the ball off Butland and in! That’s two goals for Lugo and he’s officially having a stormer! DOVER GOAL 4-0

52’ - We continue to push forward as Broomes dribbles down the middle. A QPR defender tackles the ball away and it’s slowly rolling toward the keeper but there is that man MANUEL LUGO, getting there first and tapping the ball past Butland and IN!!! That’s a hat trick for Lugo and our 19 million pound man from last year is having the best game of his life! Wooo!! DOVER GOAL 5-0

58’ - Since Rayane Hamon is injured and I’m going to need his services for the next number of weeks, I pull out Mwemere Mutesa as a precaution and bring in U18 player Luis Miguel Garcia for his first ever senior level appearance.

87’ - UGH. Emmerson Harvey fouls a man in our area and that’s a PENALTY. Up steps Chris McCann and he rifles a shot past Davies and it’s in. QPR GOAL 5-1

That mistake aside, a pretty thorough victory.

Dover 5 - 1 Queens Park Rangers
Goals - Manuel Lugo 3 (9.7), Andy Broomes (9.1), Sergio De la Vega (8.1)
Assists - Emmerson Harvey (7.1), Mads Pedersen (8.7), Andy Broomes, Manuel Lugo
Man of the Match - Manuel Lugo
Other Dover Notables - Chris Davies (7.1), Rodolfo Lopez (7.4), Mwemere Mutesa (7.9), Adrian Torres (7.3), Rafinha (7.9), Neil Cairney (7.2)
Attendance - 23,000 (Sell-Out)

We held 56% of possession and a 24-4 (11-1 on target) shot advantage. It’s GREAT to see Lugo perform like that and he has shown great improvement this year. He’s moved ahead of Zoltan Bardi on our depth chart and that bodes well for his future here.



Dover Reserves Update

-- We play Burnley’s reserves the next day so starting a lineup filled with U18’ers, we are still able to destroy them 6-0. One of the few senior team players, Zoltan Bardi, scores four goals and we get singles from Giuseppe Forti and Neil Evans. Young striker Marcus Sowter contributes three assists in the win.



League Cup - Semi Final Draw

-- We’ve been super fortunate the whole competition to get the best draws and it continues as we reach the final four, drawing Hull City. We’ll play both home and away legs to determine who moves onto the final. Southampton and Tottenham are on the other side of the draw.



Next Up

-- We are big favourites at home as we get ready to host Huddersfield in Premier League play.