[NoSkillz]

Sun. September 9, 2018

Irn-Bru Cup – Second Round
Queen’s Park vs. Crusaders FC (NIFL Premiership)
Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland

Betting Odds: Queen’s Park: 6-4 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Crusaders: 13-8
Past Meetings: 0W 0D 0L

This competition is pretty interesting, as we now face Crusaders FC, who are coming off a championship winning season in the NIFL Premiership (Northern Ireland), their third title in the last four years. That title earned them a spot in the Champions League first qualifying phase, where they matched up against Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda in a two leg tie. Unfortunately for the Northern Ireland side, they were squashed in both matches, losing 10-0 on aggregate and were dropped into the Europa League second qualifying round. There, they’d face Suduva, a Lithuanian side and again, they’d drop both games and be eliminated from the competition. Despite their exposure to European competition, we are favoured here, which boggles my mind. Their key player is their keeper, 18 year old Rory Brown.

I’m only making one change to our side that’s won four straight games, bringing in backup goalkeeper Joe McGovern. Otherwise, we’ll stick with our balanced mentality for this contest and our narrow diamond 4-4-2.

Queen’s Park: 4-4-2 Diamond Narrow – Balanced Mentality
GK – Joe McGovern
D – Sam Lidington, Daniel Nimmo, Kesi Omolokun, James Grant
DM – Ross Finnie
M – Dylan Thomas, Jamie McKernon
AM – Kurtis Roberts
S – Ewan MacPherson, Josh Peters
Bench – Kyle MacDonald, Cammy Foy, Sam Robertson, Gregor Fotheringham, Derek Young, Dominic McMeekin, Connor Higgins

Crusaders are in an Attacking 4-2-1-3 DM, with a lone striker in Matthew Johnston. They are going with goalkeeper Ian Scott today instead of their normal starter Rory Brown. I tell the team I expect them to keep our positive streak going and the lads seem motivated.

It’s raining pretty hard at kickoff but off we go!

HALFTIME – Nada. We are completely dominating in every facet but can’t break them down yet. We held 61% of possession and a 9-1 (6-0 on target) shot advantage. I don’t feel the need to make sweeping tactical changes but I’m going to engage our fullbacks a bit more and attack a bit more.

50’ – Their goalkeeper continues to impress but we finally break through. Our fullbacks are fully engaged in the offense now and it’s James Grant up the right flank, crossing low into the area and it’s Josh Peters knocking it home. QUEEN’S PARK GOAL 1-0

71’ – The Crusaders have turned it on here and I pull back with my tactics, as they’ve had a couple of solid chances go to waste in the last ten minutes. I pull out Kesi Omolokun and bring in Cammy Foy, as Omolokun had a yellow.

72’ – We have a throw in deep down the right side and Grant throws it to Peters. He threads a perfect ball into Dylan Thomas and he left foots home a blast for his second goal in as many games! We’re comfortably ahead now! QUEEN’S PARK GOAL 2-0

78’ – James Grant, who was excellent again today, comes off for Sam Robertson.

82’ – I take out Dylan Thomas and bring in Derek Young.

Super duper.

Queen’s Park 2 - 0 Crusaders
Goals – Josh Peters (8.0), Dylan Thomas (7.5)
Assists – James Grant (8.6), Josh Peters
Man of the Match – James Grant
Other Dover Notables – Daniel Nimmo (7.8), Sam Lidington (7.8), Jamie McKernon (7.1)
Attendance - 799 (105 away)

Two clean sheets in a row and we secure a win over a club that tasted European football this year. Not bad! We ended up with 59% of possession and a 14-3 (9-1 on target) shot advantage. This formation really allows our fullbacks to get involved in the offense and that facilitates some pretty impressive ratings when things go well. Grant was player of the game and deserved the honour.



Donaldson Impresses in Training

-- A name you don’t see often is that of 16 year old AMR Brian Donaldson, who is earning praise from my assistant manager due to his diligent training. He’s a 3.5/4.0 player already but due to the fact he’s essentially my only solid winger, I’m not using a formation where I can utilize his talents and thus, he’s not featured on the side. He’s doing well with our reserves and I’m sure there will be a point when I bring out the 4-2-3-1 formation.



Irn-Bru Cup Third Round Draw

-- There are only 16 teams being drawn for this round and there are still some minnows available as opponents. Our name is drawn third, giving us another home tie but unfortunately, we draw Championship side Partick Thistle as opponents. That will be a toughie.



Transfer OUT

-- I get word from our captain that left midfielder Smart Osadolar isn’t himself and I meet up with him to discuss it. He’s adamant he deserves a first-team opportunity but when I tell him he’s going to have to wait his turn, he says he may have to leave the team for first-team football. I release him right after our meeting – too bad, I liked him but I can’t have anyone disrupting our chemistry right now.



Reserves Team Update

-- Our reserves drop a 2-1 game to Albion Rovers reserves team in the SPFL Reserve Challenge Cup. Connor Higgins continues his fine recent play with a goal and young midfielder Malky Breen is named player of the match despite the loss.

-- We get news after that game that AML Adam Martin suffered a hamstring strain and will miss 4-5 weeks. We release Smart Osadolar yesterday and now we lose our only healthy AML. Not the biggest deal in the world, since we’re exclusively using a winger-less formation at the moment but that could change at any time. Tough loss. QUEEN’S PARK INJURY – ADAM MARTIN (4-5 WEEKS)



U18 Team Update

-- Dundee United’s U18s defeat us 3-1, with Lewis Hutchison scoring our only goal.



Next Up -

-- We travel to Forthbank Stadium to take on Stirling Albion in Ladbrokes League Two action.