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Sat. January 11, 2025
FA Cup - 3rd Round
Dover (3rd in Barclays Premier League) vs. Norwich (5th in Championship)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK
Betting Odds: Dover: 1-3 (Favourites) Draw: 3-1 Norwich: 7-1
Past Meetings: 8W 1D 1L
Norwich finished 19th in the Premier League last year and got relegated back to the Championship and this is the third year in four that they’ve spent in the second tier division. They are in a playoff position right now but it’s a very close battle and they’ll need to keep winning to have a chance at promotion once again. Former Dover U18 player Carlo Cerbone is their leading scorer with 8 goals but their best player is Manchester City loanee Kevin Martin, a stellar central defender. He’s not eligible to play in this competition, however.
We’ll get the chance to play most of our backups today but we’ll give a start to Paul Moses, his first start since returning from his four month injury. He’s still trying to regain match fitness but I’m guessing that if he plays 90 minutes today, or close to it, he’ll be fully fit very soon. This match shouldn’t be too difficult.
Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - C. Guzman, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, Emerson
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Allan
S - P. Moses, Z. Bardi
Bench - Rafinha, M. Yilmaz, E. Harvey, B. Raab, M. Pedersen, L. Kunchev, A. Broomes
Norwich are in a 4-4-2 narrow diamond formation with Cerbone and veteran striker Paul Bryce up front. Matt Payne is their keeper. Lets play well for the fans today.
27’ - A bit of a lackadaisical start for us but we finally strike off a corner. Rocca’s cross is to the near post and Saber Nasri heads it towards goal. The ball is loose and there to put away the garbage is Paul Moses! DOVER GOAL 1-0
45’ - We win a free kick down the left flank and Rocca passes to Neil Cairney, unmarked outside the box. He rifles a shot that hits the crossbar and bounces down and into the net! “Pure inspiration from Cairney!” bellows the announcer and I tend to agree! DOVER GOAL 2-0
HALFTIME - Rocca was sensational that half and we lead comfortably. We hold 58% of possession and a 13-3 (3-2 on target) shot advantage. I’m happy.
66’ - Lots of chances for us here but we can’t put the ball into the net. We take out the excellent Rocca and bring in Emmerson Harvey.
73’ - GRRR. Arsene Bamba is tackled hard and needs to come off. Ugh. I bring in Rafinha. DOVER INJURY: Arsene Bamba
79’ - Seriously?!?!. We just bring Rafinha in for the injured Bamba and now Rafinha is tackled and has the cross of doom above his name as well! OMG. He can stay in for now but man…not good!
80’ - We switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Not very impressive at all.
Dover 2 - 0 Norwich
Goals - Paul Moses (7.3), Neil Cairney (8.3)
Assists - Andrea Rocca 2 (8.7)
Man of the Match - Andrea Rocca
Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (7.3), Emerson (7.3), Saber Nasri (7.4), Claudio Contreras (7.4), Carlos Guzman (7.3)
Attendance - 19,411
We held 63% of possession and a 30-4 (6-2 on target) shot advantage. Territorial domination but hardly the same thing on the scoreboard. We move on…
-- We earn £69,000 for the win.
-- Eww. Rafinha re-injures his thigh, his second strain in less than three weeks. Guess I brought him back too soon. He’ll miss a week or two. DOVER INJURY: Rafinha (Thigh Strain - 10 days)
-- Arsene Bamba suffered a gashed arm and will only miss a few days. DOVER INJURY: Arsene Bamba (Gashed Arm - 4 days)
International Update
-- Young U18 star Alberto Velazquez plays well for Mexico in World Cup U20 qualifying.
-- We have four players called up by their respective home countries for the African Nations event: Salim Loucif (Algeria), Arsene Bamba (Ivory Coast) and Saber Nasri (Tunisia) are in familiar territory but getting his first senior level call up is Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz for Morocco!
FA Cup - 4th Round Draw
-- We are the last name out of the hat and we will head on the road to face another Championship side in Bolton in 4th round FA Cup play.
Barclays Premier League Team of the Week
-- Rayane Hamon and Andy Broomes are named to the Premier League team of the week.
Injury Update
-- In addition to the aforementioned injuries to Rafinha and Arsene Bamba, we still have striker Manuel Lugo on the injury list but he’s engaged in light training and he should soon be available for selection. I may look at options to loan him out for the balance of the season.
Transfer News
-- Greek club AS ARis Salonika offers a deal to young DC Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz, who is in the last six months of his contract. I tried to re-up him in late December but his agent played serious hardball with me and walked away from the table early in the process. He won’t listen to my offers and it looks like there is a good chance I’ll lose Yilmaz for nothing. I’ve had him here for many years and while he’ll never play a major role for our club, he’s been developing nicely and always plays great when called upon. Disappointing development.
Next Up
-- The first leg of the League Cup semifinals takes place here at Crabble Athletic Ground, as we welcome Premier League leaders Manchester United.
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