[NoSkillz]

Sat. September 20, 2025

Barclays Premier League
Reading (1-0-3, 3 points, 13th) vs. Dover (4-0-0, 12 points, 3rd)
The Madejski Stadium, Reading, England

Betting Odds: Reading: 13-8 Draw: 2-1 Dover: 6-4 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 11W 2D 3L

Reading are in their 15th straight year in the Premier League and have been an incredibly consistent bunch in the last ten years - in fact, they’ve finished in 9th place in 7 of the last 10 years! Incredible. They are off to a rough start this year but their schedule has been tough - Man United, Arsenal and Liverpool have handed them defeats and now they face us. They were decent spenders in the window, splashing £31.5 million on ten players, with Peter Zelenika from Koln being the biggest purchase at £7.75 million. Hani Megahed is their danger man up front and they have a couple of former Dover players in Kostas Zagos and Simon Woodman.

I’m going with a veteran lineup today in hopes of bouncing back after our shutout loss to Madrid. We’re also going with a one striker formation, as Chiquinho will play alone up front and Zoltan Bardi will sit in behind him. Gianluca Bolis, Jose and Claudio Contreras are all back in the lineup today and in goal, we give our first start to Chris Davies, who is facing the team we purchased him from today!

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - C. Davies
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - B. Raab, Jose
AM - M. Pedersen, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis
S - Chiquinho
Bench - R. Lopez, A. Torres, N. Cairney, P. Secchi, Rafinha, S. De la Vega, M. Lugo

Reading are in a flat 4-4-2 with Megahed and Cees Duarte up front. Jan Obermajer is in goal. I tell the players I expect a win today and pull aside Chiquinho, Jose and Davies for individual pep talks.

8’ - Rayane Hamon sends a long ball up field from the halfway line and Chiquinho latches onto it. Obermajer is out too far so Chiquinho goes for the AUDACIOUS LOB and it works! Great start! DOVER GOAL 1-0

20’ - We start a quick counter near midfield and it’s old reliable Zoltan Bardi taking a pass, stepping on the gas and bolting into the area before unleashing a HOWITZER past Obermajer and it’s in. What a rocket! DOVER GOAL 2-0

HALFTIME - Decent half. Reading held 52% of the ball but we outshoot them 7-2 (3-0 on target) in a bit of a snoozefest. Still, I’m pleased.

68’ - We win a corner and Benedikt Raab crosses to the near post and Zoltan Bardi. Bardi heads it to the far post and Mads Pedersen hits it on the volley and it’s in! DOVER GOAL 3-0

Solid.

Reading 0 - 3 Dover
Goals - Chiquinho (7.8), Zoltan Bardi (8.0), Mads Pedersen (8.2)
Assists - Rayane Hamon (8.3), Benedikt Raab (8.1), Mads Pedersen
Man of the Match - Rayane Hamon
Other Dover Notables - Chris Davies (7.3), Salim Loucif (7.3), Claudio Contreras (7.2), Renato Gaucho (7.5), Jose (7.5)
Attendance - 22,427

Very good performance, as we are edged in possession (we held 49% of the ball) but outshoot them 15-7 (6-0 on target). Easy shutout for Davies against his former club and a solid performance from the whole team, as only Gianluca Bolis (6.9) had a rating under 7.0.

-- Manchester City upend Everton 3-2 but United can only manage a home draw against Middlesbrough so we move into second place. Aston Villa throttle Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 and Newcastle hold Liverpool to a 1-1 draw.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 5 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Manchester City - 15 points
2. Dover - 15 points
3. Manchester United - 13 points
4. Liverpool - 11 points
----------------------------------------------------
5. Arsenal - 9 points
6. Aston Villa - 8 points
7. Middlesbrough - 8 points
----------------------------------------------------
8. Tottenham - 7 points
9. Wolves - 7 points
10. Huddersfield - 7 points
11. Hull - 5 points
12. Chelsea - 5 points
13. Sunderland - 5 points
14. Newcastle - 3 points
15. Reading - 3 points
16. Sheffield Wednesday - 3 points
17. Southampton - 2 points
----------------------------------------------------
18. Birmingham - 2 points
19. Sheffield United - 1 points
20. Everton - 1 points



Dover U18 Update

-- Wow - our kids are GOOD! We throttle Fulham TEN TO NOTHING! Freddie Laird and Marcus Sowter both score hat tricks, Nathan Protheroe bags a brace and we get singles from Cheikh Gueye and an own goal. Defender Robert Hoffmann had three assists.



Premier League Team of the Week

-- Rayane Hamon and Benedikt Raab make the Premier League team of the week.



Next Up

-- We host minnows Carlisle in League Cup third round action.