[NoSkillz]

Tue. August 14, 2018

Irn-Bru Cup – First Round
Falkirk (Scottish Championship) vs. Queen’s Park
The Falkirk Stadium, Falkirk, Scotland

Betting Odds: Falkirk: 1-6 (Favourites) Draw: 5-1 Queen’s Park: 10-1
Past Meetings: 0W 0D 0L

We “face the impossible” in our first round match in Irn-Bru Cup play (Scottish Challenge Cup), facing Championship side Falkirk, who sit two tiers above us on the Scottish pyramid. Like us, they are 1-0-1 in league play thus far and the media predict a mid-table finish for them this year. Falkirk has bounced around between the Premiership and the Championship for the last 40 years or so, with their last appearance in League One all the way back in 1979/80. They finished 8th in the Championship last year but were runners up two consecutive seasons before that. They were also runners up in the William Hill Scottish Cup as recently as 2015. Their key player is Ghanaian midfielder Prince Buaben and we’ll need to be mindful of striker Marcus Haber, who already has four goals this year.

We are huge underdogs here and while I’ll stick with our narrow diamond 4-4-2, I’m moving to a cautious mentality and will give them their side of the pitch, holding off on pressing until they reach our side of midfield. I’m going to rotate the squad heavily today, as league play needs to be my primary focus. Getting starts today include GK Joe McGovern, DC Kyle MacDonald, DR Sam Robertson (very speedy), DM Ross Finnie (his first start with Queen’s Park), MC Derek Young and AMC Dominic McMeekin.

Queen’s Park: 4-4-2 Diamond Narrow – Cautious Mentality
GK – Joe McGovern
D – Ciaran Summers, Daniel Nimmo, Kyle MacDonald, Sam Robertson
DM – Ross Finnie
M – Derek Young, Jamie McKernon
AM – Dominic McMeekin
S – Ewan MacPherson, Josh Peters
Bench – Sam Lidington, Cammy Foy, Ross Gilmour, Gregor Fotheringham, Dylan Thomas, Kurtis Roberts, Connor Higgins

Falkirk are in their standard 4-2-3-1 formation. Haber is their loan striker but Prince Buaben is on the bench today, a welcome sight! Robbie Mutch is their goalkeeper. I tell our boys to pick up where they left off in the Berwick victory.

4’ – McGovern throws a ball out to the right flank to Sam Robertson and he hoofs one over the Falkirk D-line and Ewan MacPherson has a half step. He gets to the top of the area and boots one low into the far corner and it’s IN! WOW!!! QUEEN’S PARK GOAL 1-0

16’ – Falkirk work up the right flank and cross into our area. Marcus Haber jumps higher than Jamie McKernon and heads it to Scott Wright, who blasts one past McGovern and we’re now tied. FALKIRK GOAL 1-1

HALFTIME – Not too bad. They’ve definitely been the better team but considering we’re resting a number of key players, I’m very satisfied with this scoreline. They held 52% of possession and outshot us 13-6 (5-3 on target), one of the rare times we’ve been outpossessed AND outshot this season. I tell the players they are doing well in the half-time team talk.

59’ – I take off a tired Ciaran Summers and bring in Sam Lidington.

69’ – A very measured and careful second half so far, with few highlights. Out comes Ross Finnie and in comes Gregor Fotheringham.

81’ – Sensing we have a chance to get a result, I take out Dominic McMeekin and bring in stalwart AMC Kurtis Roberts.

88’ – We have possession and work a ball up to Roberts and we have numbers. He sends a gorgeous through ball to Josh Peters and he’s in on goal. His rocket is STOPPED by Robbie Mutch but the rebound pops right back to Peters and he slots it IN. Oh my God!!! QUEEN’S PARK GOAL 2-1

I change to a completely defensive formation, pulling Roberts back into central midfield and Derek Young into the defensive midfield, forming a 4-2-2-2. Lets hold them off!!!

AND WE DO IT!

Falkirk 1 - 2 Queen’s Park
Goals – Ewan MacPherson (8.3), Josh Peters (8.0)
Assists – Josh Peters
Man of the Match – Ewan MacPherson
Other Dover Notables – Joe McGovern (7.3), Sam Robertson (7.3)
Attendance - 5219 (315 away)

Obviously, this is the biggest win in my tenure thus far, as we knock off a team two tiers ahead of us. We ended up edging them on possession 51% to 49% but they outshot us 21-11 (9-5 on target). Simply superb and we move on to round two!



Transfers OUT

-- We lose yet another star defender in left fullback Ciaran Summers, who signs with current League Two leaders Clyde and leaves with immediate effect. Summers joined Queen’s Park last year from Stenhousemuir and leaves after 22 games. He already had a goal and two assists for us in only six games this year. This is a very tough loss – we have a couple of decent backups but they will be serious downgrades from Summers. Back to the free transfer market I go!

-- We also lose U18 striker Kieran Moore, who signs with Wick Academy. Thankfully this isn’t a big loss.



Irn-Bru Cup – Second Round Draw

-- After our thrilling victory over Falkirk, our name is pulled out first in the second round draw, locking up a home game. Our opponents? Northern Ireland Premiership champion Crusaders FC, who have already been through Champions League qualifiers (where they were eliminated in devastating fashion) and are now in Europa League qualifiers. Geez…seemingly a very tough draw again!



U18 Update

-- Our U18s drop a 1-0 decision to Greenock Morton U18, where midfielder Taylor Berry was our best player in defeat.



U18 Transfer IN

-- I pull off my first official transfer from another team, getting 18 year old left back Ryan Cairns on a free from Alloa in League One. He’s not very good (ha) but with the loss of Ciaran Summers earlier in the week, I need to add depth.

-- In a related move, I promote Ross Fleming from our U18s to the senior squad. He’s a 2.0/3.5 player and will likely be a rotational player going forward unless I find something better in the transfer market.



Next Up -

-- We head to Galabank in Annan, as we face the undefeated Annan Athletic in Ladbrokes Scottish League Two play.