[NoSkillz]

Sat. January 13, 2024

FA Cup - 3rd Round
Dover (1st in Barclays Premier League) vs. Ipswich Town (15th in npower Championship)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 1-2 (Favourites) Draw: 13-5 Ipswich: 9-2
Past Meetings: 3W 1D 1L

Ipswich is struggling mightily in the Championship this year but they look like they’ll avoid the drop as things stand right now. Their leading scorer is striker Mohammad Basmah. I don’t recognize many names on their roster.

All backups today with the exception of Renato Gaucho, who had the Man United game off. Shanon Andrea and Zoltan Bardi start up front and Manuel Perez is in goal. Emmerson Harvey gets his second start of the year at midfield. Saber Nasri will wear the captain’s armband today. Even with a full compliment of backups, I expect to cruise today but we need to be mindful of complacency being an issue. Control mentality at home as big favourites.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - Renato Gaucho, M. Yilmaz, S. Nasri, Rafinha
M - H. Cruz, E. Harvey, A. Rocca, G. Allan
S - S. Andrea, Z. Bardi
Bench - C. Guzman, S. Reed, G. Fanfoni, R. Ramirez, A. Bamba, L. Kunchev, A. Broomes

Ipswich are in a flat 4-4-2 as well with Basmah and Robbie Clarke up front. Joe Day is in goal. Thankfully, there is no overconfidence among the players, a good sign. I tell the team to play well for the supporters again today.

1’ - Helder Cruz with a takedown and an immediate yellow card in the first minute. It’s raining today.

3’ - Another innocent takedown, this time by Graham Allan and we get another yellow. Yikes!

22’ - We win a corner and Rocca’s cross to the far post is headed by four goal man Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz. This is off the crossbar but the ball comes back out to Saber Nasri and he heads it past Day and it’s IN! We are finally ahead. DOVER GOAL 1-0

36’ - On a loose ball at midfield, Bardi heads it toward the defence then steals it right from one of the Ipswich defenders. He runs in and shoots low past Day and IN! Bardi scores in his return from injury and we’re ahead by two. DOVER GOAL 2-0

44’ - Shanon Andrea has the ball off a throw in and feeds it to Emmerson Harvey. He cuts toward the middle and from about 25 yards away, he fires an absolute HOWITZER into the top corner of the net past a sprawling Joe Day! That’s Harvey’s FIRST EVER DOVER GOAL!!! What a STRIKE! DOVER GOAL 3-0

HALFTIME - Well, it took awhile to get going but we strike for three goals and we’re comfortably ahead. We held 54% of possession and a 11-3 (3-0 on target) shot advantage. I’m pleased!

52’ - Shanon Andrea with a curling shot from the outer edge of the box but Day makes the save. We earn a corner and Rocca’s cross is directed to goal by Allan but an Ipswich defender blocks it out. It deflects out to Emmerson Harvey and the youngster hits the ball ON THE VOLLEY and it’s another BULLET past a diving Day and IN! Holy SHIT! It’s the Emmerson Harvey Show today! “We’ll be seeing that goal for some time”, says the announcer! No doubt! DOVER GOAL 4-0

63’ - We make a double substitution, bringing in Andy Broomes and Gian Marco Fanfoni and taking out Zoltan Bardi and Andrea Rocca.

77’ - We continue to dominate as we pull out Helder Cruz and bring in little used fullback Steve Reed. We move Rafinha up to left midfield to see what the Wonderkid can do in an attacking role.

84’ - Gian Marco Fanfoni cuts unmarked into the area and rips a shot off the crossbar. We get the rebound and it’s to Emmerson Harvey but his shot is JUST HIGH! So close to the hat trick!

Easy does it.

Dover 4 - 0 Ipswich Town
Goals - Emmerson Harvey 2 (9.3), Saber Nasri (8.6), Zoltan Bardi (8.1)
Assists - Manuel Perez (7.7), Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (8.3), Andrea Rocca (7.5), Shanon Andrea (7.5)
Man of the Match - Emmerson Harvey
Other Dover Notables - Rafinha (7.5), Renato Gaucho (7.9), Graham Allan (7.3), Helder Cruz (7.2)
Attendance - 18,708

A thoroughly dominating performance, as all of our starters get ratings over 7.0 and even Manuel Perez gets into the offence with a rare goalkeeper assist! We held 56% of possession and a 32-8 (12-2 on target) shot advantage. Wonderful breakout performance from Emmerson Harvey!

-- We earn £69,000 for the victory.



Dover U18 Team Update

-- Our U18s lose for the first time this season, dropping a 4-2 decision to Reading. Adam Hyde and Steven Miller score our goals.



FA Cup - 4th Round Draw

-- There are still a slew of lower league teams left in the competition but we get a reasonably difficult draw, with a road match against fellow Premier League side Wolves.



Next Up

-- We host another Championship side, as Southampton visit Crabble Athletic Ground for the first leg of the League Cup semifinals.