[NoSkillz]

Sat. August 22 2020

League Cup - 2nd Round
Dover vs. Rochdale
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

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

We have what should be a routine matchup against League 1 side Rochdale. They've moved between three divisions during this dynasty, spending five years in League 1, four years in League 2 and one year in the Championship, where they were last year before finishing last and being relegated back to League 1. We will be going with a full set of backups in this game with one exception: we will play wonderkid Neil Cairney again in an attempt to get him settled in and perhaps a jolt of confidence playing a lower league side. We will go to a flat 4-4-2 Control game as opposed to our 4-4-2 DM look (4-2-3-1) that we've played in the past two games.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - L. Fabianski
D - J. Varga, T. Andersen, O. Nicholas, R. McLaughlin
M - L. Craig, D. Pratley, N. Cairney, M. Prochazka
S - P. Simek, G. Escobar
Bench - L. Koscielny, J. Kuciak, C. Murray, A. Rocca, Z. Bardi, P. Kostal, Roberto

Rochdale are lining up in a flat 4-4-2. I tell the lads I expect a win tonight and tell Cairney I expect a great performance.

11' - We've controlled play for the first ten minutes and had a few decent chances. We get a corner that's taken by loanee Prochazka and he lobs a soft ball to the top of the box. Liam Craig takes it with his weaker right foot and shoots for the far corner. It ends up hitting the back of the head of striker Petr Simek and bounces into the net. Weird sequence but we'll take it! DOVER GOAL 1-0

15' - There's another extended sequence of possession that sees the ball switch flanks to the right side and our fullback Ross McLaughlin. He sends a pass right into the middle of the field to Neil Cairney and from about 20 yards outside the box, delivers an incredible curling rocket of a shot into the right corner of the net. A sensational strike and Cairney's first ever Dover goal! The Wonderkid strikes!!! DOVER 2-0

25' - Rochdale gets the ball out wide and sends in a cross. The ball is won by their striker but he left foots a ball just wide. Poor defending there and we're fortunate to escape.

29' - Cairney sends in a long free kick that's hits Liam Craig but his shot is blocked. On the ensuing counter attack, Oliver Nicholas goes in hard with studs up and takes down their man. I'm expecting a straight red card but am relieved to see the ref pull a yellow. Ugly, ugly challenge.

HALFTIME - A pretty solid half, with us leading possession 54%-46% and a 7-1 shot advantage. I encourage the team to keep working and tell Gerardo Escobar I have faith in his abilities.

58' - Simek steals the ball at midfield and charges down the length of the field, only to miss wide with his left foot. He has a couple more chances in the next minute or two as well that go by the wayside.

62' - Darren Pratley with a yellow card.

64' - Roberto comes in at striker in place of Simek and Koscielny comes in for Nicholas on defence.

86' - They've had a lot of possession over the past ten minutes but no real chances.

87' - I bring in Petr Kostal for Darren Pratley

90' - Cairney one-touches a lob into the keeper's area to Prochazka and he heads it in but he's clearly offside on the play.

Two minutes of injury time.

We close it out.

Dover 2 - 0 Rochdale
Goals - Petr Simek (7.3), Neil Cairney (8.3)
Assists - Ross McLaughlin (8.0), Liam Craig (7.1)
Man of the Match - Neil Cairney
Other Dover Notables - Thomas Andersen (7.2), Jozef Varga (7.1)
Attendance - 6865

We didn't play well in the second half and ended up losing possession 48% to 52%. We had a lot of weak shots from distance, hence a 21-5 shot advantage (4-0 on target). I tell the lads the result was good but the performance wasn't good enough. I do pull Cairney and McLaughlin aside individually and tell them they did well.



Reserve Team Update

-- We beat up on Chelsea's reserves in London 4-1, using a whole bunch of our U18 team as well. Substitute Carlo Cerbone replaced an injured Gregoire Lambert and bagged a brace, with Petr Kostal and Roberto notching the other goals.

-- Lambert tore a calf muscle and will be out for close to four months. That's unfortunate - hopefully the kid bounces back - he seems like he has a lot of talent and while it's a long shot that he makes an impact at Dover, I'm sure he'll make an impact sometime in the future.



Dover Youth Academy Established

-- We now have a youth academy! Our £450,000 construction project is completed and we also see our youth facilities upgraded to "Basic" from "Minimal". We're still in the planning stages of improving our youth recruitment network so if you couple that with this new academy, I'm hoping that means we might have some better prospects coming out of our youth system in the future.



-- All of this transfer talk surrounding Gianluca Bolis has him unhappy and saying he wants to pursue opportunities with bigger clubs. It doesn't help when a big club from his home country come calling in Genoa. I have a chat with him, saying that I think we're well on our way to playing relevant football and he's happy with the talk. He's only 21 years old and I hope I can keep him as long as possible.



League Cup - Round Three Draw

-- We are the last name out of the hat for round three and we will have to climb a mountain in order to stay in the competition, as we head to Emirates Stadium to face division rival Arsenal. The match will be played on Wednesday September 23rd.



Next Up

-- A Premier League home matchup against Bolton Wanderers