[NoSkillz]

Sat. August 29 2020

Barclays Premier League
Dover (2-0-0, 6 points, 1st) vs. Bolton (0-1-1, 1 point, 16th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Bolton: 11-5
Past Meetings: 2W 0D 2L

Bolton is back up in the Premier League after finishing 2nd in the Championship last year. They've been up and down between the two leagues during this dynasty, spending four seasons in the Championship and the rest in the Premier League. They finished 7th in the Premier League in 2010-11, my first year of management but haven't finished higher than 16th since then. Their best player is DC Saber Nasri, who they just bought from Sunderland for £5.5 million in the offseason. Nasri was one of my potential targets as well. Bolton went into Emirates Stadium and drew Arsenal 1-1 in their first game back at the top level but are coming off a 3-1 home loss to Reading. We'll go back to our successful 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) formation, as our scouts say they do well against flat 4-4-2's. We're still missing Arsene Bamba but will field a full strength team otherwise.

Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif
M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney
AM - C. Murray, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis
S - G. Gesios
Bench - J. Varga, T. Andersen, L. Craig, D. Pratley, P. Kostal, G. Escobar, P. Simek

Bolton are using the same formation as we are - okay, I like this matchup on paper. I tell the lads I want another win today - we need to take care of business with our relatively easy early season schedule.

1' - Wow, talk about a dream start for Bolton. They take the opening kickoff and send a long ball over our defensive line. Their left midfielder Graham Carey latches onto it and with Wilke indecisive about attacking the ball, Carey lobs it over him and into the empty net. Just an awful sequence. BOLTON GOAL 0-1

2' - My God it almost happens again! Rocca makes a poor pass in midfield that is intercepted and now they direct a long ball up the right side. Wilke again can't decide whether to charge after it or stay in net and is in no-man's land again. This time, the lob barely goes over. Get it together boys!!!

6' - Neil Cairney wins a header at midfield up to Giorgos Gesios. Gesios wins a challenge on the edge of the area and for some reason, their goalkeeper seems to be taking lessons from ours, as he's way too far up in the box and Gesios lobs him for the quick reply! DOVER GOAL 1-1

25' - After a long period without anything happening, Gesios is tackled hard and hurt. Thankfully, he looks like he'll shake it off.

28' - Another wild sequence in a game filled with them so far. Bardi takes the ball upfield and tries to send a long ball down the left to a streaking Cameron Murray. The Bolton right defender heads the ball into the middle of the field where Gesios makes a hard challenge against Saber Nasri, one I think will be called as a foul. However, the ref lets play continue and Gesios is all alone in the area. He makes the clinical finish for his second of the game and we're now ahead! DOVER GOAL 2-1

36' - They bring the ball into the box and Cristian Rodriguez makes a sliding challenge that's close to a foul. The ball comes back into the middle of the box and Wilke barely turns aside a low drive, bringing up a corner. Wilke safely handles the corner and we escape.

44' - We have an extended period of possession in their side of half but we can't get any real scoring opportunities.

HALFTIME - We had a terrible start but took advantage of a couple Bolton breakdowns to take the lead. Possession is dead even and we have an 8-4 (3-2 on target) shot advantage. I decide to encourage the team at half - I'm not entirely sure I like that team talk, as it hasn't really resulted in good second half performances but we'll see what it does here. Renato Gaucho is actually blamed for that first goal against and has a 5.3 rating at half. I tell him I have faith in his ability.

49' - We win a corner and Rocca makes an outswinging kick that DC Paulus Tjiuoro latches onto and propels a vicious header toward the net. The ball hits their defender guarding the post, ricochets off the goalkeeper and into the net. Officially an own-goal but that was a great header by Tjiuoro! We have some breathing room!! DOVER GOAL 3-1

51' - We come close again on another corner setpiece, with a mad scramble in front that sees the ball just cleared off the line before crossing.

57' - Gesios slowly weaves his way into the area but doesn't really have much room on his weaker foot to do damage. However, the Bolton defender makes a poor decision and tackles him, forcing the ref to call the penalty. With two goals already, Gesios steps to the spot confidently and drives it into the left side of the net. Hat trick for Gesios! "He's played his heart out for the team today!", says the commentator! DOVER GOAL 4-1

That's our first ever penalty shot goal in our two+ years of Premier League play by the way. In fact, I only recall only one other opportunity in our time at the top level and that was missed.

59' - My goodness Gesios is incredible today! Cairney sends a perfect through pass and Gesios beats the defender to the ball. The Bolton keeper makes a tremendous save on the partial break and Bolton clear.

66' - Gerardo Escobar is on for the phenomenal Gesios. Standing ovation from the Dover faithful for a splendid performance from the Greek international!

74' - Liam Craig is in for Andrea Rocca and Jozef Varga comes on for a "complacent" Renato Gaucho.

75' - On an ensuing corner, Graham Carey heads the ball hard but we clear it safely away. That looked dangerous.

82' - Cairney goes on a long run and as he's approaching the right side of the box gets tackled. He ball squirts free to the right and Gianluca Bolis is there to make the one time cross. It deflects on the way, right into the oncoming foot of substitute Gerardo Escobar and he's got nothing but net to shoot at! His first of the season! DOVER GOAL 5-1

We maintain possession for the majority of remaining time and salt away another impressive performance!

Dover 5 - 1 Bolton
Goals - Giorgos Gesios 3 (9.5), Gary Cahill OG, Gerardo Escobar (7.3)
Assists - Paulus Tjiuoro (8.1), Neil Cairney (8.4), Gianluca Bolis (7.6)
Man of the Match - Giorgos Gesios
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.2), Salim Loucif (7.2), Cristian Rodriguez (7.5), Andrea Rocca (7.7), Zoltan Bardi (7.1), Cameron Murray (7.2)
Attendance - 9135 (Sellout)

All of our starters, with the exception of Renato Gaucho, get ratings over 7.0. We were excellent in the second half and ended up winning possession 54% to 46% overall and dominated in shots, 18-6 (8-3 on target). I'm happy we're taking advantage of our relatively easy early season schedule.



U18 Team Update

-- We defeat Portsmouth 3-1, getting goals from Johnny Mardenborough, Carlo Cerbone and Chris Paterson.

-- We suffer another long term injury, this time to middling prospect Steve Sinnott, who broke his leg during the game. He will miss up to six months of playing time.



-- Blackburn make an £800,000 offer for Roberto, who is our fifth choice striker this year. I realize that he's not going to make a huge impact here with the quality we have in front of him but he's versatile (ST, AMC), cheap and he comes through with plenty of clutch goals when called upon. I like him as a depth piece and see no need to move him. He gets upset, of course, when I reject the deal but we have our little chat and all is well at the end of the day.



-- We continue to sit at the top of the Premier League table but Manchester United is right behind us. We have a goal differential of +10 and they are at +8.



International Duty

-- We hit an early season international break, with our next league game not for two weeks. We have eleven players called up for international duty: Gianluca Bolis, Thomas Andersen, Ross McLaughlin and Renato Gaucho are called up by their respective U21 or U20 teams while Neil Cairney, Cameron Murray, Salim Loucif, Oliver Nicholas, Paulus Tjiuoro, Giorgos Gesios and Zoltan Bardi are all called up by their country's senior teams. If Murray gets in the lineup, it will be his first senior team cap for Scotland.