[NoSkillz]

Tue. April 2, 2024

UEFA Champions League - Quarter Final First Leg
Dover (1st in English Premier League) vs. Ajax (2nd in Dutch Eredivisie)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Ajax: 11-5
Past Meetings: 0W 1D 0L

We face our second consecutive Dutch opponent, as we now face second placed Ajax after knocking off Holland league leaders AZ in the round of 16. Ajax is only a point out of first now and they are a team that thrives on balanced scoring. Team leader Nicolas Lodeiro has 18 in 43 games and is an attacking midfielder. Wide midfielder Carlos and striker Kingsley Lawal have 13 each and striker Jorge de la Torre has 10 goals. This club is a similar size as us and their top valued player is Carlao, a central midfielder who was bought in July for £12 million from Internacional.

We’re going to make some changes from the lineup that produced a lacklustre effort against Man City. Out today will be Ingo Wilke, Chiquinho, Neil Cairney and Gianluca Bolis. Coming in are Manuel Perez, Zoltan Bardi, Andrea Rocca and Graham Allan. I want a much better performance at home today! We’ll stick with the control mentality.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, Jose, A. Rocca, G. Allan
S - P. Moses, Z. Bardi
Bench - C. Guzman, S. Nasri, N. Cairney, G. Fanfoni, G. Bolis, Rafinha, Chiquinho

Ajax come out in a flat 4-4-2 just like us and de la Torre is up front with Kingsley Lawal. Their keeper is Stephen Brown, a Scottish international. Lets put in a better performance in front of our supporters today!

4’ - After some nice passing, Andrea Rocca gets a reasonable chance in the area but his weak shot is right at Brown. Easy stop.

5’ - We send a long ball up field and the chase is on. Brown comes out to try to snag it but Zoltan Bardi beats him to it. Brown is down and way out of the net so Bardi sends a quick pass to an oncoming Rocca and he shoots into the open net for the early stunner! Beauty! DOVER GOAL 1-0

11’ - Graham Allan just speeds by an Ajax defender and is running up the right sideline. He crosses into the box and Arsene Bamba hits it on the volley but Brown makes a SPECTACULAR save! WOW.

12’ - We are absolutely FLYING right now to the ball and there is a mad sequence that sees Allan steal the ball away half way in Ajax’s end and run toward the area. He’s tackled down just as he’s about to enter and our players are incensed that the ref allows play to continue but Paul Moses smartly keeps running, picks up the loose ball and deposits it past a stunned Brown and we are off to the races now! DOVER GOAL 2-0

21’ - Claudio Contreras with a yellow card. Off the ensuing free kick, a ball is sent up to Lawal and he makes a move around Rayane Hamon and shoots hard and low past Perez and it’s in. Ugh. Not good. AJAX GOAL 2-1

44’ - Graham Allan has been everywhere today and he has the ball again half way into Ajax territory. It’s tackled away by the left fullback but right to Zoltan Bardi, who turns on his defender, dribbles into the area and delivers a low, precise shot into the far corner past Brown and in! Sensational! DOVER GOAL 3-1

HALFTIME - Ajax have the slight possession edge (51%) but we outshoot them 12-5 (5-2 on target). The guys we brought into the lineup today are leading the charge: Rocca, Bardi and Allan have all been tremendous through the first 45 minutes. Great stuff. I wish we hadn’t given up that key away goal but overall, I’m pleased!

52’ - A yellow card for Renato Gaucho and a key one at that, as he’ll now be suspended for the second leg due to yellow card accumulation.

66’ - Bamba jets past a defender down the left and crosses into the area. Bardi fights with Ajax defender Acosta and the ball pops right to Moses, who hits it with venom on the half volley and it streaks past Brown into the net! That’s two for Moses and we’re up three! DOVER GOAL 4-1

70’ - Ajax give the ball away at midfield and we storm up on the counter. Rocca with a breathtaking pass through the defence to Bamba and his shot is saved by a diving Brown. There is a rebound and it’s Moses but he shoots WIDE! Hat Trick chance missed!

72’ - I take no chances with the yellow carded Contreras and pull him out in favour of Saber Nasri.

75’ - There’s Moses again, streaking down the middle and letting off a rocket that hits the crossbar and bounces out! Wow.

81’ - Rafinha comes on for Arsene Bamba.

85’ - Right away, the youngster gets a chance, as Bardi sends in Rafinha but his shot is JUST turned beside the goalpost by Brown! We get a corner and it’s headed out but for some reason, an Ajax defender takes down Bardi and it’s a PENALTY! Up steps Paul Moses, looking for his hat trick, and he goes low to the left post and IN! SPECTACULAR game from Moses! DOVER GOAL 5-1

Awesome.

Dover 5 - 1 Ajax
Goals - Paul Moses 3 (9.6), Andrea Rocca (8.2), Zoltan Bardi (9.2)
Assists - Zoltan Bardi 2, Arsene Bamba (7.8)
Man of the Match - Paul Moses
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.7), Rayane Hamon (7.7), Claudio Contreras (7.0), Renato Gaucho (7.2), Graham Allan (7.4), Jose (7.2)
Attendance - 23,000

We held 51% of possession and a 24-8 (11-2 on target) shot advantage in a dominating performance! Great to see our backups come in and play so well! They’ll all get more chances and Allan especially may continue to get reps in place of Bolis - it’s ridiculous that he doesn’t get credit for at least one assist here. By the way, their keeper, Stephen Brown, got a 3.6 rating, easily the lowest I’ve EVER seen in this dynasty! That’s crazy! He was blamed for the first two goals and looked flustered all game.

-- We set a team record for gate receipts in this one, bringing in £725,000 to break our old record by £25k.

-- In the other Champions League matches, Real Madrid knocks off Atletico Madrid 3-0, Barcelona and Juventus battle to a 0-0 draw and United eke past OM 3-2.



Random Rumour

-- Our midfielder Jose is being tipped as a possible contender for the coveted English Footballer of the Year award. Wow…cool.



Next Up

-- We head on the road to face red-hot Reading in Premier League play.