[NoSkillz]

Sun. January 1, 2023

FA Cup - 3rd Round
Dover (2nd in Premier League) vs. Wolves (15th in Premier League)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 1-3 (Favourites) Draw: 3-1 Wolves: 7-1
Past Meetings: 5W 2D 1L

We just throttled Wolves 6-1 two weeks ago at home and face them again. We're even bigger favourites and I'm starting a pretty full strength side today.

I'll rest Salim Loucif, Claudio Contreras and Gianluca Bolis today. Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz gets a rare start with Daniel Traore on the long-term injury lost.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, M. Yilmaz, R. Hamon, K. Zagos
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, G. Fanfoni, G. Allan
S - S. Andrea, Chiquinho
Bench - C. Guzman, S. Reed, S. Spall, E. Harvey, G. Bolis, S. Henni, Z. Bardi

Pretty similar look from Wolves today and it's Guy Luckett and Emanuele Testardi up front again, along with Wayne Hennessey in goal. Once again, I tell the team I expect a win today.

3' - A pretty sparse crowd today. I'm guessing only 12,000 or so. But we start quick once again, as Fanfoni moves the ball up to Graham Allan and the in-form winger finds Chiquinho on the edge of the area. He turns and fires a blast right at Hennessey but he can't corral the bullet and it's off his hands and into the net! Another great start! DOVER GOAL 1-0

7' - Wolves work possession in our territory and it's midfielder Darron Gibson lacing a rocket at goal but Wilke makes the splendid stop!

13' - Shanon Andrea embellishes on a potential foul and is called for diving. Deserved yellow card.

16' - Now it's Kostas Zagos with a takedown and he's given a yellow as well.

25' - WOW. Shanon Andrea dives AGAIN and he's given a second yellow card. HE'S GONE! We're down to ten men. Oh boy.

We'll just go with a flat 4-4-1 for now.

28' - We have possession and Gian Marco Fanfoni, again showing poise beyond his years, sends a lovely touch pass into the area to Graham Allan and he rounds the keeper and deposits a left foot shot into the empty goal and we lead by two! DOVER GOAL 2-0

HALFTIME - We only hold 46% of possession but outshot them 9-5 (3-1 on target). A good half but we need to be careful with only 10 men on the pitch. I tell the team I'm pleased. I stay in a control mentality and the 4-4-1 formation.

Wolves start the half in a 4-3-1-2 with an AMC.

46' - Wolves kick off but Renato Gaucho tackles a ball away and sends it up field to Chiquinho. He cuts in toward goal and shoots low to the far post and it curls IN! Chiquinho has two and we now lead comfortably! A dagger as we start the second half! DOVER GOAL 3-0

50' - Chiquinho is inspired today, taking a Bamba feed and drilling one at goal that Hennessey does well to stop.

56' - We are all over them despite being down to ten men. Allan and Cairney both get glorious chances but Hennessey makes a couple brilliant stops.

61' - In one of the worst defensive displays I've seen, Hennessey kicks the ball up field and Neil Cairney takes it off his chest. For some reason, the Wolves defence are all way up on the play and Cairney simply dribbles right through the middle from the centre half line and in on goal, shooting past Hennessey and IN! Astonishing goal by Cairney but equally bad defence by Wolves. They are no match even up a man on us. DOVER GOAL 4-0

64' - I start thinking ahead, taking out Cairney and Bamba and bringing in Emmerson Harvey and Said Henni.

67' - Harvey with a great pass up to Chiquinho and our striker, looking for the hat trick, speeds in on goal but Hennessey stops his hard blast.

78' - One final substitution, as we bring on little used Steve Reed and take out Renato Gaucho. Reed moves to right fullback and Zagos moves to the left side.

86' - Testardi steals the ball from Yilmaz in our area and shoots but Wilke is there for the fantastic stop.

Good show boys!

Dover 4 - 0 Wolves
Goals - Chiquinho 2 (9.3), Graham Allan (8.9), Neil Cairney (8.1)
Assists - Renato Gaucho (8.2), Graham Allan, Gian Marco Fanfoni (8.2)
Man of the Match - Chiquinho
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.4), Kostas Zagos (7.7), Rayane Hamon (7.6), Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz (7.5), Arsene Bamba (7.1)
Attendance - 13,479

Wolves held 54% of overall possession with their man advantage but that was it, as we dominated the shots 20-9 (10-2 on target). We move on to the fourth round!

-- We are given £69,000 for the victory.

-- Shanon Andrea is suspended for one match for the double dive and two yellow cards and I fine him a week's wages for the display. He is VERY unhappy and maybe I shouldn't have done that to my leading scorer but after we go back and forth a bit, he finally backs off and admits he was in the wrong. Whew.



January Board Confidence Update

-- The board are very pleased with my overall leadership of the team. Our stature increase is the highlight and the departure of GK Youssouf Sylla, the negative.

-- We lost £415,000 last month.



Transfer Window Anguish

-- Not good. Manchester United come calling for Said Henni, offering £15.5 million for him, which meets his minimum release clause so the offer is auto accepted. Henni is currently a "floater" player for us as he acclimates himself to English football. I could certainly live without him but I'd prefer to keep him here. I immediately offer him a new deal and also offer a new deal to Chiquinho - he's MUCH more important to our club and his minimum release clause of around £19 million needs to be increased before a bigger club comes calling for him.



FA Cup - 4th Round Draw

-- We will play the winner of a replay between Premier League side Sheffield Wednesday or Championship side Charlton in an away contest.



Premier League Team of the Week

-- We see FIVE of our players named to the team of the week, including Salim Loucif, Kostas Zagos, Said Henni, Neil Cairney and Paul Moses.



Next Up

-- We try to complete an undefeated five game home stand as we host Sunderland in Premier League action.