[NoSkillz]

Wed. July 18, 2018

Betfred Cup – Group E
Queen’s Park (0-0-0-0, 0 points, 3rd) vs. Spartans (0-0-0-1, 0 points, 4th)
Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland

Betting Odds: Queen’s Park: 4-5 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Spartans: 3-1
Past Meetings: 0W 0D 0L

Our season begins with group stage play in the Betfred Cup, which is the Scottish League Cup. We have a decent group, with Kilmarnock the stiffest competition and only Premiership team in our group. We have two League One teams in Dumbarton and Airdrieonians and one Lowlands League club in Spartans, our opponent today. We play each team once and the top point getter moves on to the next round, along with the best four teams who finish in second in their groups.

Spartans are coming off a championship season in the Lowlands League but lost out on possible promotion to League Two in a two-game, aggregate playoff loss to Cove Rangers FC. Interestingly enough, I see that they have signed GK Jack Dunlop, who I just released a couple weeks ago but it looks like he will be a backup in this contest. Spartans lost 2-1 to Kilmarnock in their first Group E game so they are already behind the 8-ball in this competition.

We’re favorites in this match and we really need to take care of business here because the last three games will be against teams in better leagues. We’ll stick with our two striker formation and narrow midfield that was successful in our last game. Ewan MacPherson scored two goals in that one coming off the bench and earns a start here. The disgruntled Daniel Nimmo starts alongside the guy that’s unsettled him in young Izhaak Ahmed. We also decide to start 16 year old MC Malky Breen after a solid preseason. Before the game, we name 26 year old MC Jamie McKernon as team captain. Positive mentality in this one.

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

Spartans come out in a flat 4-5-1 formation, overloading the midfield, which is probably a smart move. Their lone striker up front is Harry Girdwood. I tell the team to go out and give a good performance for our home supporters.

5’ – Spartans have the ball down the right wing and our left fullback Ciaran Summers makes a lovely tackle and strips the ball away. We counter quickly, sending a long ball up to Ewan MacPherson, who settles the ball down and fires a shot from just inside the area past the Spartans keeper. Quick strikel! QUEEN’S PARK GOAL 1-0

24’ – We have a throw in down the left side around midfield and move the ball to captain Jamie McKernon. He delivers a long ball up to a streaking MacPherson and once again, he makes no mistake. MacPherson bags a brace! QUEEN’S PARK GOAL 2-0

HALFTIME – Pretty solid, all things considered. We have a slight possession advantage (51%) and a 13-2 (7-0 on target) shot advantage. Let’s keep it going!

64’ – DM Gregor Fotheringham has a yellow so we pull him off, move Izhaak Ahmed into his slot and bring in DC Cammy Foy.

73’ – Another substitution, as we take out captain McKernon and bring in some veteran presence in Derek Young.

74’ – We cause a turnover almost right away through Young, who sends a ball up to MacPherson near midfield. Spartans are sending men forward and there is only one defender back, allowing MacPherson to feed a pass up to a wide open Josh Peters. He runs up the middle and blasts a shot past keeper Blair Carswell to give us the three goal advantage! QUEEN’S PARK GOAL 3-0

85’ – We make our last substitution, taking out right fullback James Grant and inserting Gavin Lachlan.

That’s it. A solid performance in game one!

Queen’s Park 3 - 0 Spartans
Goals – Ewan MacPherson 2 (8.8), Josh Peters (7.5)
Assists – Ciaran Summers (8.7), Jamie McKernon (7.7), Ewan MacPherson
Man of the Match – Ewan MacPherson
Other Dover Notables – Daniel Nimmo (7.8), Izaak Ahmed (7.2), James Grant (7.3), Kurtis Roberts (7.0)
Attendance - 412 (23 away)

Possession was dead even, as Spartans took advantage of their five-man midfield to hold a lot of the ball but they couldn’t produce anything with it, as we outshoot them 20-2 (12-0 on target).

-- Kilmarnock destroys Airdrie 5-2 and moves to 2-0-0-0 in Group E, not much of a surprise as the only Premiership team in our group.



O’Halloran Departs

-- U18 fullback Danny O’Halloran accepts a contract offer with Civil Service and departs the club. Not a big deal.

-- Another U18 player could be leaving, as Tom McLaren has three contract offers come in. Again, this is just something I’m going to have to get used to on a club that has no players under contract.



Ladbrokes Scottish League Two Promotion Odds

-- Peterhead FC are the overwhelming favourites for promotion this season, with the bookies giving them 1-5 odds to move up. Clyde, Edinburgh City and Stirling are all giving even odds to get the bounce. At odds of 8-5, we’re ranked 6th out of the 10 teams in the league to move up. We’ll look to exceed those expectations. Albion Rovers, at 20-1, are favoured to finish bottom of the table.



Ahmed Elects to Stay (Again)…Bouzaig Departs

-- Izaak Ahmed rejects three more contract offers and elects to stay with Queen’s Park. He’s one of our best players so I’m guessing he’ll continue to be a target. However, only days after signing with our squad, attacking midfielder Amin Bouzaig accepts a contract offer from Racing in Santander, a fourth-tier club in Spain. He was on the bench for our 3-0 win over Spartans but did not feature in the game. Tough loss – he was a very talented player but was behind Kurtis Roberts on our depth chart so we will survive.



Transfer IN

We sign Zldan Akers, a 19 year old right winger. This youngster started in Reading’s youth program before moving to Scotland and into Heart’s youth setup. A very solid 3.5/4.0 player who will definitely get a chance to play if and when we utilize wingers.



Next Up -

-- We face League One Airdrieonians in Betfred Cup Group E play in Airdrie.