[NoSkillz]

Tue. September 23, 2025

League Cup - Third Round
Dover (2nd in Barclays Premier League) vs. Carlisle (13th in npower League 1)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, England

Betting Odds: Dover: 1-8 (Favourites) Draw: N/A Carlisle: 12-1
Past Meetings: 3W 2D 1L

Carlisle are way over their heads today but we’ll need to be sharp, especially starting a lineup filled with mostly second teamers. Carlisle have bounced between League 1 and League 2 in this world and just got promoted back to League 1 this past season after a 3rd place finish and a playoff win. Their leading scorer is striker Mark Stevenson with 4 goals from nine matches.

The only holdovers from our Reading win are goalkeeper Chris Davies, who gets a second consecutive start and left midfielder Mads Pedersen Everyone else is new to the lineup and most are backups. We do have Paul Moses starting up front, as I hope this game serves as a confidence boost. Getting their first ever starts for Dover are Paolo Secchi, Rodolfo Lopez and Adrian Torres. I also have a few U18 players on the bench today. Back to a flat 4-4-2 today and we are HUGE favourites so I expect a big win today.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - C. Davies
D - Rafinha, A. Torres, M. Mutesa, R. Lopez
M - M. Pedersen, N. Cairney, P. Secchi, S. De la Vega
S - P. Moses, M. Lugo
Bench - E. Remirez, D. Hope, R. Kramer, Jose, G. Bolis, Z. Bardi, B. Kone

As expected, Carlisle are in a very defensive formation, a 4-1-4-1, with Stevenson up front alone. Lee Derry is their keeper. I want a big win today!

6’ - We are all over them early and win a corner. Paul Moses takes it and his cross meets the head of young defender Adrian Torres, who heads it past Derry and it’s IN! TORRES SCORES ON HIS DEBUT!!! DOVER GOAL 1-0

22’ - A long ball is sent up to Manuel Lugo and he tries a shot but it is deflected out of the area by a Carlisle defender. Neil Cairney approaches the ball and from 25 yards, hits an absolute piledriver into the back of the goal. Beauty shot! DOVER GOAL 2-0

32’ - We have another corner and again, Moses delivers the ball to Torres, who heads it to the far post, off a Carlisle defender and it’s IN. That counts as an own goal but we’re comfortably ahead now. DOVER GOAL 3-0

34’ - The rout is on. Rafinha feeds a little ball to Mads Pedersen, who jukes a defender and sends a shot past Derry into the short side. DOVER GOAL 4-0

43’ - Now it’s just getting ugly, as Pedersen feeds one into Moses and our out-of-form striker hits a very weak left footed shot that Derry can’t corral and it’s in too. Yeesh. DOVER GOAL 5-0

HALFTIME - 62% possession sounds decent but how about a 29-0 (8-0 on target) shot advantage? Yeah, this is an ass kicking of the highest order. I make one change at half, taking out Mads Pedersen and bringing in U18 player Ralf Kramer for his first senior level appearance. Rafinha moves up to left midfield and Kramer is at fullback.

47’ - The massacre continues, as Moses delivers another perfect corner, this time to the near post and Mwemere Mutesa and he heads it in for his first of the year. Goals for everyone tonight! DOVER GOAL 6-0

76’ - Sergio De la Vega comes off and I bring in U18 fullback Eneko Remirez. Rodolfo Lopez moves up into De la Vega’s right midfield position.

81’ - Neil Cairney passes to Moses, who makes a little juke to get free in the area and his low blast is past Derry and in! “Vintage performance from Moses!” bellows the announcer and I would have to agree. DOVER GOAL 7-0

84’ - Ugh. Carlisle have a corner and the ball is headed in by one of their defenders. I can’t believe we gave up a goal to these guys but credit to them for not quitting. CARLISLE GOAL 7-1

90’+1 - We score another goal but it’s called back due to offsides.

We move on easily.

Dover 7 - 1 Carlisle
Goals - Paul Moses 2 (9.6), Adrian Torres (9.3), Neil Cairney (9.3), Tony Moffat OG, Mads Pedersen (8.6), Mwemere Mutesa (9.3)
Assists - Paul Moses 2, Mwemere Mutesa, Adrian Torres, Rafinha (8.5), Neil Cairney, Mads Pedersen
Man of the Match - Paul Moses
Other Dover Notables - Chris Davies (7.0), Rodolfo Lopez (8.2), Sergio De la Vega (7.7), Paolo Secchi (8.0), Manuel Lugo (7.7)
Attendance - 22,067

Moses with four points and he was all over the place just like old times. He still hasn’t shown that extra gear that he had before his injuries and even his shot doesn’t have the same velocity but I’m hoping it will come. Still, a very promising performance. We held 58% of the ball and a 41-4 (11-1 on target) shot advantage.



Dover Reserves Update

-- We essentially start a team of U18s only one day after our League Cup match. The game is close when we bring on U18 strikers Marcus Sowter and Fernando Estrada in the 67th minute and incredibly, both players score two goals in their 23 minutes of action, with Sowter picking up two assists as well as we romp 5-0 over Burnley. Cheikh Gueye notches the other goal.



League Cup - Fourth Round Draw

-- We get another favourable draw for round four, getting a home tie against Championship side Leeds.



Next Up

-- Back to Premier League play, as we host newly promoted Hull City.