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Old 05-03-2014, 03:35 PM   #363
NoSkillz
College Benchwarmer
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
Sat. May 13, 2023

Barclays Premier League
Dover (22-8-6, 74 points, 5th) vs. Birmingham (9-3-24, 30 points, 17th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 1-4 (Favourites) Draw: 4-1 Birmingham: 9-1
Past Meetings: 3W 0D 1L

Birmingham are just above the drop zone but with a five point lead on Derby with two games to go, and with Derby facing Everton and Tottenham in their final matches, I'd say Birmingham will survive for another year. This club doesn't score an awful lot and veteran striker Sam Vokes leads the club with only 10 goals. Former Dover midfielder Arron Williams has been decent for them this year too.

Chiquinho will be back in the lineup today and Paul Moses will get one more start as well. I plan on starting Shanon Andrea in our last match against City. Gianluca Bolis is back today as well.

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, Chiquinho
Bench - D. Traore, K. Zagos, Mancini, H. Cruz, G. Allan, Z. Bardi, S. Andrea

Birmingham will be playing SUPER TIGHT today, with a very defensive 4-2-1-2-1 look, with 2 DMCs. Ugly. They could be tough to break down today. Sam Vokes is alone up front and Edwin Leferink is in goal. Lets put a good game together for our supporters!

2' - Umm, okay. Birmingham control after kick off and a long ball is sent up the left. Salim Loucif misjudges the header and Joe Mason is past him. He chases the ball down and Ingo Wilke charges out but can't get there in time, as Mason boots it into the open net and Birmingham SHOCKINGLY score right off the bat on our pitch! BIRMINGHAM GOAL 0-1

11' - Boy, we're not doing well so far. Salim Loucif with a yellow. Terrible stuff.

14' - Rocca with a corner and Contreras' header is stopped on the goal line by Leferink.

16' - Rocca with a free kick and his curling blast is off the goal post!

29' - Off a failed corner, Cairney sends the ball back out wide to Andrea Rocca and his cross into the box is headed by Gianluca Bolis and it's past Leferink and IN. Big goal. DOVER GOAL 1-1

36' - Man. Birmingham with a free kick and it's sent into our area and headed into the net by Tony Maher, the Birmingham captain. However, the assistant's flag is up and Maher is offsides. NO GOAL!

42' - Bolis with a yellow card.

HALFTIME - Well, they scored their fluke goal and have parked the bus all half, as we have 60% possession and a 15-1 (3-1 on target) shot advantage. I hem and haw about going with a positive approach or just go with anger and I decide on the anger! Paint peeling time! Moses has been invisible so far, a rarity for him.

65' - This is a complete embarrassment. Gianluca Bolis flagrantly dives and is given a second yellow card and he is OUT OF THE GAME! We're down to 10 men. DOVER DISMISSAL - Gianluca Bolis Red Card

Birmingham go aggressive and switch to a 4-4-2, which may help us.

66' - Incredible. What a brutal mistake by Birmingham to switch tactics from their defensive shell to a more offensive structure. We immediately move up field and Moses is in on goal. His shot is stopped but there is a big rebound and there is Neil Cairney to clean up the mess and he puts it into the open net! DOVER GOAL 2-1

72' - Moses with a soft shot off the cross bar!

75' - We make a double switch, with Mancini and Zoltan Bardi coming in for Arsene Bamba and Chiquinho.

82' - We steal the ball at midfield and Rocca delivers a beauty through the middle and there is substitute Zoltan Bardi. He rounds the keeper and he's got the open net to shoot at. He doesn't miss and we now have a two goal lead with only 10 men! DOVER GOAL 3-1

I bring in Kostas Zagos for the yellow carded Salim Loucif.

85' - Rocca with a rocket off the cross bar!

We hold them off the rest of the way.

Dover 3 - 1 Birmingham
Goals - Gianluca Bolis (7.4), Neil Cairney (7.9), Zoltan Bardi (7.3)
Assists - Andrea Rocca 2 (8.8), Chiquinho (6.9)
Man of the Match - Andrea Rocca
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.0), Claudio Contreras (7.2)
Attendance - 18,737

We hold 61% of the ball and outshot them by a huge margin: 32-2 (8-1 on target). They couldn't generate anything even when we went down to ten men.

-- Gianluca Bolis will miss our next game due to the two yellow cards, getting a one game suspension. I give him an official warning for the dive and he accepts it with understanding.

-- Well, we have a huge fight on our hands in our last match. First placed Chelsea lose but Arsenal and Manchester United both win. City can only manage a draw against Stoke so we move ahead of them into fourth. That said, with our final match coming up against Man City, we'll need a draw at worst to qualify for Champions League football next year. Anything less and we're in the Europa League next year For some reason, I don't like my chances. Remember, City are the four time consecutive Champions League winners and it's hard to fathom that a four-time defending champ won't be back next year but it's possible, as they are obviously eliminated from the competition this year and will need a win against us to do it. It's all but official at the top too - Chelsea lead by three points over Arsenal but have a GD of +49 while Arsenal are only at +31. I don't envision a 20-0 Arsenal win next week so Chelsea are incredibly going to win the Premier League title this year after going without ANY European football this year. We can still move as high as second with a win next week, as unlikely as that is.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 37 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Chelsea - 82 points
2. Arsenal - 79 points
3. Manchester City - 78 points
4. Dover - 77 points
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5. Manchester City - 76 points
6. Sheffield Wednesday - 69 points
7. Sunderland - 57 points
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8. Liverpool - 55 points
9. Reading - 54 points
10. Aston Villa - 54 points
11. Tottenham - 53 points
12. Everton - 43 points
13. Wolves - 42 points
14. Newcastle - 41 points
15. Middlesbrough - 39 points
16. Huddersfield - 37 points
17. Birmingham - 30 points
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18. Derby - 26 points
19. Burnley - 20 points
20. Stoke - 15 points



Premier League Team of the Week

--Andrea Rocca makes the Barclays Premier League team of the week.



Injury Update

-- Keeper Manuel Perez returns to full training. He won't be playing in our last game against Man City so it's not monumental news for us.



International Update

-- International games will start in earnest soon and Neil Cairney and Graham Allan are the first to get the call, as they'll suit up for Scotland.



Next Up

-- We have a HUGE match against Manchester City at their stadium - a win or draw sees us return to the Champions League next year. A loss and we're destined for the Europa League. It's as simple as that!
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