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Old 01-12-2014, 10:00 PM   #125
NoSkillz
College Benchwarmer
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
Sat. March 13, 2021

FA Cup - 6th Round (Quarterfinals)
Dover vs. Huddersfield
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 5-4 (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Huddersfield: 7-4
Past Meetings: 3W 0D 2L

We start a four game home stretch with a FA Cup quarterfinals matchup against Huddersfield, who are comfortably in the mid-table in the Premier League. They are coming off a 1-0 loss at Liverpool but are on a decent run of form, with only two losses in their last 12 matches across all competitions. We defeated them earlier this season 2-1 away and will play them again in Premier League action in the next few weeks. They have three players already in double digits in scoring: striker Paul Lumsden, AM/ST Lorenzo Sion (on loan from Man City) and striker Nelson Oliveira. Lumsden has 13 goals while Sion and Oliveira have 12 apiece. Another striker, David Caldwell, has eight goals - I assume they'll utilize a two striker formation to take advantage of their talent up front but we'll see.

I've had success against Huddersfield using a one striker formation and being at home, I'll utilize my Control 4-4-2DM (4-2-3-1), usually a pretty effective attacking tactic. Despite a solid game from reserve right midfielder Petr Kostal, I will insert Gianluca Bolis back into the lineup. I'll be putting out-of-form left midfielder Arsene Bamba on the bench in favour of Scottish international Cameron Murray

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif
M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney
AM - C. Murray, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis
S - G. Gesios
Bench - J. Varga, J. Kuciak, D. Pratley, Mancini, A. Bamba, P. Kostal, P. Simek

Huddersfield start in a defensive 4-1-3-2 formation, with Caldwell and Oliveira up front and Dennis Lotters at DMC. My assistant thinks I should use the fans as motivation so I tell the lads to go out there and put on a show for the supporters, pulling aside Gesios, Bardi and Murray for personal chats ("Pick up where you left off").

20' - What a dull opening half, with a few long range chances but very few real chances. Paulus Tjiuoro makes a tackle and gets a weak yellow card. My assistant says he's looking "Ill-disciplined" so I instruct him to dial down his tackling.

23' - We get our first great chance off a failed corner. The ball is headed out to Cairney and he passes back into the area to Claudio Contreras. He turns and sends a hard shot to the far corner but goalkeeper Smithies is there for the fine diving stop.

41' - Nelson Oliveira makes a run through the middle and gets a hard low shot off that is saved and held by a diving Ingo Wilke.

HALFTIME - Among the duller halves of football I've seen us play in years. We hold 51% of possession and are being outshot 7-6 (1-2 on target). I change tactics, moving to a flat 4-4-2 Control in hopes of generating more pressure and I tell the team we only need one goal…now go out and get it! I pull aside struggling Gesios, Tjiuoro and Rocca and tell them I have faith in their abilities.

47' - A great start to the half sees Bolis running down the right and sending a high cross into the box. The Huddersfield defender outjumps Gesios to send it to safety but Andrea Rocca gets the ball and sends a curling blast that ricochets off the post! The keeper is way out of position as the ball deflects right to the foot of Zoltan Bardi, who calmly puts it into the net! But wait…OFFSIDES!?! Crap! The replays confirm he was way behind the defensive line on the initial Rocca shot.

51' - Gesios and Bardi head up field on a two-on-two counter attack. Gesios moves to the left and strikes a hard shot that the keeper dives and turns away. The ball comes back to Cairney but his shot toward the open goal is blocked behind the net by Huddersfield's defence. The corner is cleared with ease. My assistant notes that both Renato Gaucho and Claudio Contreras are looking "disinterested". Not good.

53' - Rocca has a free kick way outside the area and he goes short to Cairney. His blast is sent over by the diving Smithies. Nothing much comes of the corner.

57' - Oliveira beats a charging Contreras down the field to get a great chance but Wilke turns aside his low shot.

66' - Off an extended period of possession, Cameron Murray sends a low cross into the box and Bolis latches onto it but his shot just goes wide.

67' - I bring in Arsene Bamba for Cameron Murray.

75' - Caldwell runs down the left side, makes a nice move on Salim Loucif to cut into the middle and passes to Dennis Lotters. He shoots for the far corner and it's past Wilke but JUST over the bar. Close.

I make a change in back, taking out the ineffective Tjiuoro and bringing in Jozef Kuciak. Kuciak moves to right fullback and I move Salim Loucif inside. We also change to an attacking mode - I want a goal here and would strongly prefer to avoid a replay if I can.

85' - Wow - Rocca and Cairney lose the ball at midfield and they send a lovely through ball past Contreras to Oliveira - he's in alone but Wilke makes the brilliant save!

86' - We almost immediately start working the ball upfield and Bolis makes a great play to get away from the right fullback. He storms down the right side and we have numbers heading into the box. Bolis' cross is gorgeous, right to the foot of substitute Arsene Bamba and with the net at his mercy, he shoots but Smithies makes an INCREDIBLE diving save. However, there is a rebound and Bamba backs up and one-times it past the superlative keeper to give us the lead! Big goal! DOVER GOAL 1-0

We immediately switch to a counter attack.

88' - Off the ensuing kick off, we steal possession and Cairney sends the ball up to Zoltan Bardi. He runs through the defence and gets a nice low shot that Smithies dives and turns aside. There is another huge rebound though and it's Giorgos Gesios who is there and unmarked and as usual, he clinically finishes for his 20th goal overall this season. Dagger! DOVER GOAL 2-0

We close it out.

Dover 2 - 0 Huddersfield
Goals - Arsene Bamba (7.5), Giorgos Gesios (7.4)
Assists - Zoltan Bardi (7.0)
Man of the Match - Arsene Bamba
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.1), Salim Loucif (7.2), Renato Gaucho (7.0), Andrea Rocca (7.0), Paulus Tjiuoro (5.9)
Attendance - 15.075

We were definitely much better after the break but still could have lost the game on a couple of their chances but overall, we were the better team and deservedly move onto the semi-finals. We held 52% of possession and outshot them 19-11 (8-3 on target). Tough game from Tjiuoro if you're looking at his rating - I didn't really notice any poor plays but obviously there were some miscues at some point.

-- We are given £367,000 for the win

-- We also get a notice that we've set a gate receipts record in this game, earning £375,000 which breaks our old record of 325K set earlier this year in a Premier League game against Fulham, which happened to be the game where we re-opened our newly expanded stadium.

-- Another note comes in, saying that Italy's boss was at our match in order to assess Andrea Rocca and Gianluca Bolis for potential international call-ups. Cool.



Dover U18 Update

-- The kids win 5-0 over Wycombe, with Carlo Cerbone scoring twice and Gregoire Lambert and Johnny Mardenborough notching singles in addition to a Wycombe own-goal. Cerbone got hurt in the game but will only miss a week of action. GK Gary Cook also sustained an injury and will miss a couple weeks.



-- With at least one Championship side left in the draw and possibly two, as Reading and Portsmouth are heading for a replay match, I draw Premier League side Tottenham in the FA Cup Semi-Finals, with the match taking place at Wembley Stadium on April 17th.


-- I re-sign my assistant manager, Stuart Coburn, to a three-year contract extension. He's been with me since my first year at Dover and has proven to be a loyal guy and solid evaluator.



Dover Reserve Team Update

-- This year, more than any other, I'm riding my best players almost exclusively in league and cup play and with very few reserve league games lately, many of my second choice players are struggling with their fitness. Therefore, I field a much stronger than normal reserve league team in a 3-1 win over Reading. Petr Simek scores twice and substitute Roberto scores the other goal.

-- The reserve team win is enough to win us the Reserve League title for a third consecutive year. Fans celebrate in the street (really?) and the board is pleased with my efforts.



International Call-ups

-- I have twelve players called up for international duty: Thomas Andersen (Denmark U21), Emmanuel Agbo & Jonathan Adam (England U21), Claudio Contreras (Argentina U20), Renato Gaucho (Brazil U20), Neil Cairney & Cameron Murray (Scotland), Salim Loucif (Algeria), Oliver Nicholas (Eritrea), Arsene Bamba (Ivory Coast}, Giorgos Gesios (Greece) and Zoltan Bardi (Hungary). There are a couple of notable things about these call-ups. First of all, this is the first time young Jonathan Adam has been called up by England so he could get his first international youth cap if he plays. The other notable call up is Bamba - he has 23 youth caps for France but has never been called up for senior team action. He holds Ivory Coast secondary nationality and with this call up, he is obviously going to tie himself permanently to Ivory Coast. Great development for Bamba! Unfortunately, Italy wasn't impressed enough with Gianluca Bolis or Andrea Rocca to call them up at this time.



Champions League Update

-- The Champions League has reached the quarterfinals and teams remaining from England are Man United and Man City. United face Dortmund and City, the defending champs, face Benfica. Hopefully, we hold our position in this year's Premier League race and if so, we'll be taking part in continental play for the first time in 2022!



Next Up

-- We face 10th placed Middlesbrough at Crabble Athletic Ground in Premier League play.

Last edited by NoSkillz : 01-12-2014 at 10:03 PM.
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