[NoSkillz]

Sat. May 3, 2025

Barclays Premier League
Wolves (12-6-17, 42 points, 14th) vs. Dover (25-5-5, 80 points, 2nd)
Molineux, Wolverhampton, England

Betting Odds: Wolves: 3-1 Draw: 2-1 Dover: 4-5 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 11W 4D 1L

We’ve traditionally had our way with Wolves but they STUNNED us earlier in the year by battling us to a 3-3 draw at Crabble. We’ll need to be better than that today. They are doing pretty well, sitting in a comfortable 14th spot and have strikers Guy Luckett and Stefano Zeno tied for the team lead with 14 goals. Winger Evgeny Maltsev is a Dover killer.

We continue to rotate the squad a bit, with Jose, Chiquinho, Renato Gaucho, Claudio Contreras, Saber Nasri and Manuel Perez all coming in today. We’ll need a big game from Chiquinho and Andy Broomes, who I considered benching today but will give one more chance to break his mini-slump, as he sits on 29 goals for the year. Arsene Bamba is available to come off the bench today after missing the last four weeks of action.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, S. Nasri, S. Loucif
M - M. Pedersen, B. Raab, Jose, G. Bolis
S - A. Broomes, Chiquinho
Bench - Rafinha, M. Mutesa, E. Harvey, N. Cairney, A. Bamba, G. Allan, M. Lugo

No surprises, as Zeno and Luckett are up front and Bas Hofstra is in goal. No fooling around today - I want a win against these guys but just tell the lads to play well for the fans.

15’ - We’re playing very aggressively but Wolves seemingly strike first on a deflection but the goal is ruled out due to a foul. No goal thankfully!

28’ - Oh my. Claudio Contreras, who has been brutal lately, loses the ball and Guy Luckett walks in alone. He beats Perez and Wolves lead. WOLVES GOAL 0-1

44’ - Oh UGLY. We continue to press and Andy Broomes sends a nice little through ball to Gianluca Bolis. I hope for a quick shot but he tries to cross back into the middle but we have no one there. For some reason, the Wolves defender panics and shoots the ball toward the goal but Hofstra is not in position and the ball goes IN. Own goal. We’ll take it! DOVER GOAL 1-1

45’+2 - We have a free kick at midfield and Renato Gaucho sends it over the defence to Mads Pedersen. He heads it on to Andy Broomes and he takes a desperation shot from a bad angle and it hits a Wolves defender and GOES IN AGAIN! That’s two own goals in three minutes! DOVER GOAL 2-1

Wolves take out Maltsev and move to a 4-3-1-2.

HALFTIME - We hit the woodwork three times that half and it took two own goals to get us into the lead despite territorial domination. We held 58% of the ball and a 15-3 (4-1 on target) shot advantage. I wanted to read the riot act but two late goals kills that idea so I encourage the players in the dressing room.

61’ - Just seconds after Andy Broomes misses a sitter and hits the post, we regain possession and it’s Gianluca Bolis, weaving through three players and finding a wide open Raab, who throttles the ball into the back of the net!! That’s Raab’s 10th goal of the year and we have a bit of a cushion! DOVER GOAL 3-1

69’ - We take out Mads Pedersen and bring in Arsene Bamba.

77’ - I pull out Chiquinho, who has a yellow card and bring in Manuel Lugo.

87’ - FINALLY!!! After hitting two goal posts today himself on absolute sitters, we see yet another gorgeous cross from Gianluca Bolis and it’s FINALLY put into the net by Andy Broomes! That’s Broomes’ 30TH GOAL of the year! Well done lad! DOVER GOAL 4-1

We pull out the yellow carded Contreras and bring in young Mwemere Mutesa.

A bit scary for awhile but a comfortable win in the end.

Wolves 1 - 4 Dover
Goals - Wiljan Sno OG, Stewart Jones OG, Benedikt Raab (8.0), Andy Broomes (7.9)
Assists - Gianluca Bolis 2 (8.1), Mads Pedersen (7.0)
Man of the Match - Gianluca Bolis
Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (7.2), Salim Loucif (7.4), Renato Gaucho (7.2), Jose (7.3)
Attendance - 28,895

An excellent performance sees us hold 60% of possession and a huge 31-6 (11-2 on target) shot advantage. Bolis continues to confound - he can be so brilliant, like he has been the last few weeks but is SO inconsistent. Nice to see Broomes get a goal after coming so close a number of times in the game.

-- Manchester United edge Newcastle 1-0 and that’s enough to lock up the Premier League title for the year, ending our hopes of a repeat. Oh well - we just weren’t good enough this year. Spurs beat Burnley 2-1 and that means Burnley is headed back to the Championship after only one year in the top flight. Chelsea edge Blackpool 2-1 and Man City continue to struggle, drawing Sunderland 0-0 as Jose Mourinho is close to getting the sack from City ownership. Liverpool continue their climb with Tony Mowbray at the helm, moving up to 7th after beating Huddersfield 4-1. They haven’t lost in the league since March 2nd, a seven game stretch. Reading also upset Arsenal 2-1 at Emirates.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 36 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Manchester United - 90 points
2. Dover - 83 points
3. Chelsea - 78 points
4. Manchester City - 68 points
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5. Arsenal - 61 points
6. Tottenham - 60 points
7. Liverpool - 54 points
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Dover Injury News

-- For the first time in months, we get positive news on superstar striker Paul Moses, who is nearing a return from his second torn calf muscle this season. Reserve midfielder Adam Hyde is also out for a couple weeks with a back strain while Zoltan Bardi won’t be back until the preseason.



Premier League Team of the Week

-- Benedikt Raab, Gianluca Bolis and Andy Broomes all make the Premier League team of the week.



Champions League Update

-- In a bit of an upset, Olympique Lyonnais draw Man United 1-1 at Old Trafford and move onto the Champions League finals based on a 3-2 aggregate! And it will be an all French final, as OM win 2-1 over Barcelona in a shocker and win 5-4 on aggregate.



Dover Reserves Update

-- Manuel Lugo and sensational youngster Alberto Velazquez score in our 2-1 win over Derby’s reserves, with Lugo also picking up an assist.



International Update

-- U18 defender Eneko Remirez is called up by Spain’s U19 club - Remirez has no international caps so this is his first call up of any kind.



Dover U18 Update

-- Alberto Velazquez continues to shine, scoring yet another hat trick in a 9-0 whitewash of Sutton United in U18 play. Vlastimil Silhavy also scores three goals and we get singles from Ben Patterson, Felix Hernandez and Matthew Neil. Hernandez also had FOUR assists in the game.



Injury Update

-- Rayane Hamon strains his wrist lifting weights and will miss the next week or so. Not a huge deal, as he should be back for next week’s game against Arsenal and most importantly, our FA Cup final match against Tottenham.



Next Up

-- We have our final home game of the season, as we host Everton in Premier League action.