[NoSkillz]

Wed. February 14, 2024

Barclays Premier League
Sheffield Wednesday (7-5-14, 26 points, 15th) vs. Dover (20-5-1, 65 points, 1st)
Hillsborough, Sheffield, UK

Betting Odds: Sheffield Wednesday: 3-1 Draw: 2-1 Dover: 4-5 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 8W 3D 4L

Here’s a game I won’t be taking for granted, as we finally play Sheffield Wednesday for the first time all year in a long-delayed fixture. Sheffield are coming off their finest league season in decades, finishing in 6th and earning Europa League qualification. They’ve done very well in Europe and have made it through the group stage and into the Knockout Rounds, where they are scheduled to face Schalke. Those efforts in Europe have adversely affected their domestic results and they are only 8 points from the relegation zone. Their leading scorer is striker Darijo Jukic with 12 goals from 36 matches but their most dangerous player is fellow striker Steve Pates. Pates has battled injury this year but is back healthy and has 11 goals in 21 matches. These guys are dangerous and I won’t take them lightly. They just added defensive midfielder Mark Lawrence in a £4.9 million deal with Blackburn.

Sheffield Wednesday’s manager was smart enough to call out Paul Moses in the press as our biggest threat and as a result, I’m going to give him the night off! That tactic always seems to ensure that our player falls flat under the spotlight so I’ll be giving starts to Shanon Andrea and Chiquinho tonight. Neil Cairney is back in and Andrea Rocca gets a second consecutive start after a great performance against Wolves. Graham Allan is in at right midfield, Rafinha starts for Renato Gaucho at left fullback and Saber Nasri will suit up against his former club, taking the place of Rayane Hamon, as we continue to rotate our squad this week.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Rafinha, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Allan
S - S. Andrea, Chiquinho
Bench - C. Guzman, M. Yilmaz, Jose, G. Fanfoni, L. Kunchev, Z. Bardi, A. Broomes

Sheffield start Pates and Jukic up front in their flat 4-4-2, as expected. Newcomer Mark Lawrence starts at midfield and Fernando Cardoso is in goal. I tell the team they can win this game and pull aside Wilke to tell him to pick up where he left off last game.

1’ - We have the opening kick and move up the pitch. Arsene Bamba feeds Chiquinho inside the area and he wins a battle with a Sheffield defender before feeding Graham Allan right beside him. Allan immediately shoots and it’s in the far corner, past Cardoso and IN! We score 23 seconds into the game!!! DOVER GOAL 1-0

14’ - We’re looking very tidy so far and controlling a lot of possession, as Shanon Andrea gets off a rocket from just outside the area but it’s stopped by Cardoso.

15’ - Sheffield hit us on the counter and feed it up to a streaking Pates. His rocket is bumped over the net by Ingo Wilke.

18’ - Andrea has the ball down the left and feeds Arsene Bamba inside the area but he’s fouled by Sheffield defender Martyn Bristow. It looked like a dive but the ref points to the spot! PENALTY! Up steps Neil Cairney and he goes low and right and Cardoso doesn’t even move! It’s IN! DOVER GOAL 2-0

23’ - We keep pushing, as Andrea feeds a ball up to Chiquinho but his shot is weak and right at Cardoso.

30’ - Sheffield with a nice move to spring left midfielder Said Adan but Wilke is in great position to make the stop. We move quickly back up field and Cairney gets another rocket off and Cardoso does well to make the stop. Great end to end action!

38’ - After a pretty extensive period of dominance by Sheffield over the last ten minutes, we strike on a long ball up field to Chiquinho. He gets into the area and flops and the referee rightfully gives him the yellow for the dive. Chiquinho does that way too often for my liking.

HALFTIME - The last fifteen minutes were essentially all Sheffield, as they try to fight their way back into the game. They end up holding 52% of possession but we outshoot them slightly 12-11 (5-5 on target). We’ll need to be careful here and I may need to move to a counter attacking mentality at some point. For now, we’ll stick with the control mentality.

53’ - Neil Cairney gets fed just outside the area and delivers a ROCKET that almost tears the goalposts down! It bounces out and Cairney attempts to head it but he’s knocked over by former Dover loanee Simon Woodman. That’s ANOTHER PENALTY! Cairney brushes himself off and takes the kick and it’s IN! Two penalties for Cairney and we now lead comfortably!!! DOVER GOAL 3-0

57’ - Chiquinho continues his struggles, getting off another weak shot after a nice sequence of passes and Cardoso easily saves.

64’ - Chiquinho is out and Andy Broomes is in.

67’ - On an innocent looking rush, Shanon Andrea gets into the area but is on his weaker left side and he’s absolutely throttled by Bristow! Andrea goes down in a heap and the referee points to the spot AGAIN! That’s a third PENALTY! Bristow doesn’t get a card and up steps Cairney, looking to convert a third penalty today and he goes left this time and it’s IN!!! A SUPERB HAT TRICK FOR NEIL CAIRNEY…and all penalties! WOW! DOVER GOAL 4-0

There’s no reason to keep Cairney in and I substitute him off for Gian Marco Fanfoni.

75’ - We make our last substitution, bringing in Carlos Guzman to play for Rafinha.

82’ - Sheffield attack and it’s Adan getting in past Loucif and Wilke makes a brilliant save to maintain his shutout bid!

90’+1 - Pates with a great cross into Adan and Wilke again with a spectacular save! The ref blows the whistle right afterwards.

Great result!

Sheffield Wednesday 0 - 4 Dover
Goals - Neil Cairney 3 (9.5), Graham Allan (8.1)
Assists - Arsene Bamba (8.0), Chiquinho (7.1), Shanon Andrea (7.9)
Man of the Match - Neil Cairney
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.6), Salim Loucif (7.4), Saber Nasri (7.5), Claudio Contreras (8.0), Rafinha (7.4), Andrea Rocca (7.6)
Attendance - 24,066

We only held 47% of possession but outshoot them 18-17 (9-7 on target). I definitely haven’t had a game with three successful penalties before but we’ll take it! Again, all of our starters come through with ratings over 7.0.

-- This was our makeup game and in the other fixture, it’s Chelsea knocking off suddenly slumping Manchester United and it’s the Blues moving all the way up into second place! We now have a commanding 12 point lead with 11 games to go!

-- The Graham Allan goal 23 seconds into the game is the third fastest goal in team history, behind only Chiquinho's goal 13 seconds in last year and a Kofi Poyser goal 20 seconds into a game back in my first year of management (2010/11).


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 27 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Dover - 68 points
2. Chelsea - 56 points
3. Tottenham - 55 points
4. Manchester United - 54 points
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5. Manchester City - 54 points
6. Liverpool - 52 points
7. Middlesbrough - 48 points
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Next Up

-- We continue to play some of the league’s lesser lights, as we face relegation candidates Birmingham City on the road.