[NoSkillz]

Wed. July 25, 2018

Betfred Cup – Group E
Queen’s Park (1-1-0-0, 5 points, 2nd) vs. Dumbarton (1-0-0-1, 3 points, 3rd)
Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland

Betting Odds: Queen’s Park: 7-2 Draw: 9-4 Dumbarton: 4-6 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 0W 0D 0L

Dumbarton are coming off a six year run in the Championship but a 9th place finish in 17/18, followed by a playoff loss, meant relegation to League One for this coming season. They have an interesting history and are one of only two teams who have won a league title in all four of the top tiers in Scottish football. Their key player is attacking midfielder Dom Thomas, who played for Premiership side Kilmarnock last year and their top goalkeeper is Grant Adam.

I contemplate making some changes to our lineup but we’re playing well and the lads seem up for it from a fitness perspective so I’ll stick with the exact same starting eleven and the same tactical framework.

Queen’s Park: 4-4-2 Diamond Narrow – Balanced Mentality
GK – Jordan Hart
D – Ciaran Summers, Daniel Nimmo, Izhaak Ahmed, James Grant
DM – Gregor Fotheringham
M – Derek Young, Jamie McKernon
AM – Kurtis Roberts
S – Josh Peters, Ewan MacPherson
Bench – Sam Lidington, Cammy Foy, Gavin Lachlan, Malky Breen, Dylan Thomas, Dominic McMeekin, Billy Mortimer

We’re underdogs so I play that fact up in my pregame chat with the players and tell them to go out and show them our abilities. Dumbarton come out in a flat 4-4-1-1.

11’ – Dumbarton are controlling play early and work the ball towards the top of our area. Their left winger Bobby Barr, a right footed player, hits a curling stunner into the far corner of the goal past a diving Jordan Hart and we’re down early. DUMBARTON GOAL 0-1

14’ – Our opponents continue to dominate the early goings and have a throw in deep down our left side. Jamie McKernon attempts to head the ball away but it’s intercepted and passed to their key man Dom Thomas, whose left footed blast is sent past Hart and we’re in big trouble already. DUMBARTON GOAL 0-2

HALFTIME – Not good. We have zero highlights in that first half and despite possession being dead even, Dumbarton have outshot us 8-2 (4-0 on target) and are causing all sorts of problems. I tell the team I expect much better in the second half.

58’ – Nothing is happening so I make a couple changes, taking out a tired James Grant and Derek Young, bringing on Gavin Lachlan and Malky Breen as replacements.

69’ – There’s a bizarre sequence that sees Lachlan send a long ball up the right flank to no one in particular but their defender Willie Dyer heads the ball right into the scoring area. It’s a 50/50 ball and a diving Dyer wins the ball but it is sent right onto the foot of Josh Peters and he calmly left foots the ball past their keeper and we’re back in this thing! Brutal sequence for their defender. QUEEN’S PARK GOAL 1-2

76’ – We lose possession in their end and Dom Thomas hoofs a long ball over our defense to a streaking Calum Gallagher, who makes no mistake punching one past Hart and we’re done. DUMBARTON GOAL 1-3

77’ – I make one more change after the goal, bringing on Cammy Foy, who moves to DC while Izhaak Ahmed moves up to defensive mid, replacing Gregor Fotheringham.

Lackluster.

Queen’s Park 1 - 3 Dumbarton
Goals – Josh Peters (7.3)
Assists –
Man of the Match – Dom Thomas (Dumbarton – 9.0)
Other Dover Notables –
Attendance - 528 (130 away)

Well, we’re not quite ready for the big boys yet but the final stats were respectable, with us edging them on possession with 51% of the ball and a 13-12 (4-7 on target) shot advantage. We pressed hard in the second half and controlled play while they sat back.

-- If we had any aspirations of moving on in this competition, they just were dealt a huge blow. Kilmarnock has already locked up the group and sits with a perfect nine points and the Premiership club will next host us in our final group match. We’ll need them to rest their starters if we’re to have any chance by the looks of it. That said, Dumbarton is now a point ahead of us as well and face the cellar-dwelling Spartans so we don’t even control our own destiny at this point. Not a big deal either way…I’ll likely do a bit of squad rotating for that Kilmarnock game just to aid the fitness of those who haven’t suited up yet.

-- I get word that star striker Josh Peters sustained a tight thigh while being tackled late in the game. He’ll miss a few days of training but should be okay for our season opening game in league play.



Transfer IN

-- We welcome 20 year old DC Kesi Omolokun to the senior team. Omolokun was out of football last year after coming up through Aberdeen’s youth setup. He’s a 2.5/4.0 talent and will likely move into our rotation at some point.



Transfers OUT

DC – Dom McLaren (Released)
DR – Gavin Lachlan (Released)
DR – Ian Stokes (Released)
MR – James Stokes (Released)
MR – Ali Miller (Released)
MR – Scott McLean (Released)

-- We release a number of players to get our senior squad number down to 31, still a high number. But we aren’t paying any of them so I don’t see this presenting much of a problem, at least for now. Of the cuts, Lachlan may be a surprise, as he’s already seen some time coming off the bench but we have some younger players with more potential that can step in at right fullback.



U18 Update

-- Our youth team plays to a 1-1 draw against the Kilmarnock U18s, a solid result. Striker David Fraser scores our goal and right fullback Rhys Scullion is player of the match.



Next Up -

-- We are massive underdogs, as we complete group stage play in the Betfred Cup by travelling to Premiership side Kilmarnock.