[NoSkillz]

Sat. March 11, 2023

FA Cup - Sixth Round
Dover (4th in Premier League) vs. Chelsea (1st in Premier League)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, England

Betting Odds: Dover: 7-4 Draw: 11-5 Chelsea: 5-4 (Favourites)
Past Meetings: 2W 2D 7L

We had an exciting 3-2 win over Chelsea at home earlier this year with only 10 men and we'll look to build upon that today against the league leaders in FA Cup action. They have one injury and it's to influential winger Luis Carballo but he could play today. As usual, Romelu Lukaku is the danger man up front with 15 goals.

With the exception of midfielder Mancini, we have a full complement of players. Rayane Hamon and Andrea Rocca are both still working to get back to full fitness but I'll be playing both players today. Shanon Andrea is up front with Chiquinho. Basically, with the exception of Manuel Perez in goal, we have a full starting lineup in today.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Bolis
S - S. Andrea, Chiquinho
Bench - K. Zagos, D. Traore, S. Spall, G. Fanfoni, H. Cruz, G. Allan, P. Moses

Chelsea are in their normal 4-4-2 DM with Lukaku up front alone, Miguel Sousa on the right wing and tough keeper Rafael Romo in goal. I tell the team to play well for the home fans and pull aside the struggling Andrea and Chiquinho to tell them I have faith in their goal scoring abilities.

1' - Chelsea make the first move, with Lukaku feeding Sousa coming late into the area but his shot is right at Perez and he saves easily.

11' - Off a free kick, the ball is sent back out and Renato Gaucho gets off a rocket but Romo dives full out to make the save! Wow. Great shot by Renato Gaucho!

16' - We are CLEARLY up for this game and playing well and I'm especially pleased that guys like Bolis and Andrea are looking good in the early goings. We have the ball out wide to the left and Bamba attempts a cross. Romo tries to push it away and does but it's right on the foot of Chiquinho and our leading scorer quickly boots the ball into the net and we have an early lead! DOVER GOAL 1-0

38' - Gianluca Bolis and Chiquinho with a nice give and go and Bolis' hard, low shot is turned aside by Romo.

45' - We send a long ball up field and Andrea latches onto it. He cuts into the area but is forced to his weaker foot as he gets a shot off on Romo. The save is made but there is another rebound and there is Chiquinho AGAIN, in the right place at the right time and he has his second! DOVER GOAL 2-0

HALFTIME - We are playing beautiful football today! 55% of possession is in our favour and a 13-6 (5-4 on target) shot advantage. I tell the lads I'm pleased!

49' - Shanon Andrea with a curling shot from outside the area and it's off the crossbar, then off the back of Romo and back off the crossbar again!!! WOW! Andrea just can't catch a break these days!

53' - Sousa gets through our defence and is in on goal but PEREZ with the splendid save!!!

67' - We work a counter attack and it's Chiquinho headmanning it up to Andrea. He speeds in and shoots and Romo saves but Chiquinho has the rebound. He's looking for his hat trick but Romo recovers, dives and makes the HUGE save!

70' - Rocca is out and Gian Marco Fanfoni is in.

73' - Chelsea work the ball on a counter up the left side and feed it up to Lukaku. Perez comes out to challenge him and Lukaku goes for the lob and just as it's about to go in, Renato Gaucho gets there and boots the ball off the post and OUT! Whew!!

79' - The brilliant Chiquinho has it at midfield and sends a GORGEOUS ball through the defence and Shanon Andrea speeds after it. It's a clear breakaway and our recently snake-bitten striker is in, rounds Romo and shoots into the far corner and IN! That's Andrea's 20th of the year and this game is put to bed! Great pass by Chiquinho, the easy man of the match choice! DOVER GOAL 3-0

Daniel Traore comes in for Rayane Hamon.

81' - We work a QUICK counter and it's Bamba streaking down the left. He crosses through the box and there is Chiquinho, with a completely wide open net for his hat trick and it's HIGH OFF THE CROSS BAR AND OUT! Oh my! Haha!

83' - Helder Cruz is on for the excellent Arsene Bamba.

85' - Well, we can't say Chiquinho isn't getting his chances today! Neil Cairney has a free kick and Chiquinho heads it over the bar. Another glorious chance!

Great game!

Dover 3 - 0 Chelsea
Goals - Chiquinho 2 (9.3), Shanon Andrea (8.3)
Assists - Arsene Bamba (8.2), Chiquinho, Shanon Andrea
Man of the Match - Chiquinho
Other Dover Notables - Manuel Perez (7.6), Salim Loucif (7.3), Rayane Hamon (7.1), Claudio Contreras (7.4), Renato Gaucho (7.4), Gianluca Bolis (7.0), Neil Cairney (7.4)
Attendance - 18,163

Possession was dead even but we outshoot Chelsea 24-10 (10-6 on target). That's about as comprehensive a win as you can get against a league leader and we were definitely the better team today. Great to see Shanon Andrea play with some fire today and Perez was excellent in goal.

-- We are given £367,000 for the victory.



Dover U18 Team Update

-- Our U18 team defeat Oxford 5-0 behind a brace from Eddie Robinson. Lyubomir Kunchev, Ben Patterson and Mwemere Mutesa notch singles.



FA Cup - Semi Final Draw

-- We will face Huddersfield in the FA Cup semi final at Wembley Stadium in mid-April. Manchester City will face the winner of the replay between two-time consecutive champions Reading and Newcastle.



Champions League Update

-- In two more matches, Atletico Madrid beat AZ 3-2 in a thriller to move on while Real Madrid and Sampdoria battle to a scoreless draw. Madrid move on to the next round by one goal on aggregate.



Next Up

-- We welcome Benfica to Crabble Athletic Ground for the second leg of the Champions League First Round Knockout, with the score currently deadlocked at one apiece.