[NoSkillz]

Tue. July 10, 2018

Preseason Friendly
Queen’s Park vs. Heart of Midlothian (Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership)
Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland

Hearts are yet another Premiership mainstay, having spent 33 of the last 34 seasons in Scotland’s top flight. They finished sixth last season and the media predict a 5th place finish in 2018/19. Their captain, DC Christophe Berra, is considered their top player.

This has certainly been a very difficult preseason schedule and we’re in tough again today. That said, I plan on starting a number our prospective starting eleven today, including DC Izhaak Ahmed, DL Ciaran Summers, MC Jamie McKernon and AMC Kurtis Roberts. One of my recent finds, 16 year old AMR Brian Donaldson, will also start – he’s got great talent (3.5/4.5) but I need to see if the youngster can handle a starting job at such a tender age. Top striker Josh Peters is banged up but will come off the bench and hopefully put in 30 minutes to aid his fitness. Same tactics and mentality – again, I’m not overly concerned with results this preseason, especially against top flight opponents and simply want to work on our main tactics and our fitness

Queen’s Park: 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress (Positive Mentality)
GK – J. McGovern
D – C. Summers, C. Foy, I. Ahmed, R. Gilmour (trialist)
M – J. McKernon, D. Young (trialist)
AM – A. Martin, K. Roberts, B. Donaldson
S – B. Mortimer

Queen’s Park 1 - 3 Hearts
Goals – Brian Donaldson (7.2)
Assists – Ross Gilmour (6.9)
Player of the Match – Steven MacLean (Hearts – 9.4)
Other Dover Notables –
Attendance – 3542 (1683 away)

-- The score doesn’t tell the whole story here, as their striker Steven MacLean scored all three goals, with two of them off set pieces and the other on a penalty. We acquitted ourselves well otherwise, with young Donaldson scoring on a screamer from the edge of the area and our team winning the possession battle 52% to 48%. We also outshot our more pedigreed opponents 14-12 (5-7 on target). Another decent display.

-- Our top midfielder, Jamie McKernon, suffered a twisted knee and will miss up to a week of action. We have one more friendly coming up and start Betfred Cup play in seven days so McKernon will be questionable for that contest.



Loan IN

-- Our parent club Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership agrees to loan us 18 year old midfielder Kyle MacDonald for the balance of the season. He’s a very versatile player and can slot in anywhere in defense or midfield and will likely be a bench player for us. He’s a 2.5/4.0 talent.



Offers Come in for Ahmed

-- The perils of being an amateur club rear their ugly head once again. Just a week after signing DC Izhaak Ahmed, we get word that three Swedish teams have offered him a contract. Ahmed is Swedish so I fully expect that he’s a goner too, just like our former captain Scott Gibson. Ugh…I immediately bring in a couple more central defenders on trial.



The Press “Press” Me About Nimmo

-- A news story starts circulating about DC Daniel Nimmo and his unhappiness with me about Izhaak Ahmed possibly taking his starting spot. Of course, with Ahmed likely heading out the door after only a week or so with our club, I’m going to need Nimmo. I tell the press I expect Nimmo to be an important part of our team and hope he’ll show he’s equally committed to our team. That elicits a positive reaction, thankfully.



Transfers IN

DL – Kyle McDowell (from Ross County) – 19 years old, Northern Ireland
DL – Sam Lidington (from Stranraer) – 21 years old, Scotland
DR – Ian Stokes (from Partick Thistle) – 19 years old, Scotland
MR – Conor Langton (from Falkirk) – 19 years old, Scotland
AMC – Dominic McMeekin – 19 years old, Scotland

-- These are mostly depth signings at this point. Lidington has the best chance to get some first-team action out of this group.



Transfers IN – U18 Team

DL – Ross Fleming (from Partick Thistle) – 18 years old, Scotland
DM – Kyle Devlin (Free) – 16 years old, Scotland

-- Some depth for our U18s, with Fleming having some decent potential.



Next Up -

-- We head to Northern Ireland to face Bluefin Sport Championship side Knockbreda FC in our last preseason friendly before we begin Cup play.