[NoSkillz]

Sat. March 19, 2022

Barclays Premier League
Dover (16-8-6, 56 points, 5th) vs. Huddersfield (12-5-12, 41 points, 11th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 6-4 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Huddersfield: 13-8
Past Meetings: 6W 0D 2L

Huddersfield just won the League Cup over Wolves and wins qualification to the Europa League for next year. They are on a good run of form lately, having won four consecutive games in all competitions. They have major injury issues for today's game, with their three top goal scorers, David Caldwell, Nelson Oliveira and Martin Shearer all injured. Paul Lumsden will be their danger man today and he has only three goals while Dennis Lotters is a solid midfielder.

We're now winless in three games and I'm going back to Paul Moses and Wayne Rooney up front. Gesios won't even be on the bench today. Otherwise, we'll go with our regular starting lineup. Control mentality today at home.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, W. Rooney
Bench - J. Varga, J. Kuciak, P. Tjiuoro, Mancini, A. Zubizarreta, C. Murray, Z. Bardi

Huddersfield are in a flat 4-4-2 as well. I tell the team we can win today - Bamba has only "okay" morale so I tell him I have faith in his abilities.

10' - We're controlling possession and get a great chance when Rooney feeds Bolis cutting into the area. Huddersfield keeper Alan Smithies charges out and Bolis attempts to lob him but it's JUST over the net.

20' - Two of our defenders miss tackles on Paul Lumsden and he gets a hard shot off that Wilke does well to stop.

28' - Loucif is hurt and needs medical attention. He can continue but he's got the cross above his name and may miss some time.

35' - Huddersfield are dominating play over the last 20 minutes but we force a turnover and Rooney passes to Moses at midfield. It's harmless enough but Moses simply turns on the jets and bursts past the Huddersfield defence and in toward goal. He slows and shoots and the ball is past Smithies and into the net. Moses is FAST! DOVER GOAL 1-0

36' - Off the ensuing kick, Sergey Gusev dribbles down the right, reaches the byline and sends a cross that hits Claudio Contreras and deflects off the post. Geez, almost an own goal there.

HALFTIME - It's rare for us to lose on possession but this is ridiculous, as Huddersfield hold 60% (!!) of possession in the first half but we outshoot them 7-5 (2-2 on target). I encourage the players in the dressing room.

56' - We're doing much better with possession but all of our shots are off target.

71' - So many wasteful efforts, especially from Andrea Rocca today but he makes up for it. We win a corner and Rocca sends in a perfect cross to Rayane Hamon and he heads the ball into the net and we're up two! DOVER GOAL 2-0

74' - Zoltan Bardi is in for Wayne Rooney.

82' - Mancini in for Rocca.

Not our best but it's a win..

Dover 2 - 0 Arsenal
Goals - Paul Moses (8.3), Rayane Hamon (7.8)
Assists - Wayne Rooney (7.0), Andrea Rocca (6.9)
Man of the Match - Paul Moses
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.3), Renato Gaucho (7.3)
Attendance - 12,995

Huddersfield controlled 54% of overall possession but we outshoot them 20-11 (4-3 on target). A boring game but we needed the three points.

-- Salim Loucif pulled his hamstring and will miss about three weeks. Jozef Kuciak will step in.

-- There are some shock results in other Premier League play, as Chelsea destroy Man United 4-0 and Arsenal lose to Tottenham. Liverpool do squeak past Southampton and maintain third place while we move up into fourth.

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE 7 GAMES REMAINING UNLESS NOTED)

1. Manchester City - 70 points
2. Manchester United - 62 points
3. Liverpool - 61 points
4. Dover - 59 points
----------------------------------------------------
5. Arsenal - 57 points (8 games left)
6. Chelsea - 53 points
7. Reading - 52 points
----------------------------------------------------



Dover U18 Update

-- Gregoire Lambert is a man amongst boys, scoring SIX GOALS in a 10-1 win over Oxford. Eddie Robinson scores two and Pete Smith and Emmerson Harvey score singles. Lambert has 39 goals now on the year in non-competitive play.



International Update

-- Youssouf Sylla, Arsene Bamba and Paulus Tjiuoro are called up for international duty. The game takes place on March 27th, which is only one day after my upcoming match against Blackburn so I'm guessing they'll be travelling that day.



Shanon Andrea is Back!

-- Shanon Andrea returns after three months on the sidelines with a torn hamstring. It will take some time before he's match fit but incredibly, he's still leading our goal scoring chart by a mile.



Next Up

-- We head on the road to face relegation candidates Blackburn.