Chatham 1 – 6 Dover Athletic Under 18s

After a long pre-season the new look U18’s Athletic side were eager to begin the new campaign. Dover looked fresh and energetic from the first whistle and were instantly rewarded within two minutes through some great high pressing work by new signing Liam Middleton, who pressured the opposition GK into making a costly mistake, leaving Liam to convert with ease.

Dover maintained a high octane, fast paced attacking formation which caused Chatham early problems all over the field. There were wave after wave of Dover attacks imposing on the Chatham back line with chances being created every few minutes. On 15 minutes a great ball into the box was met by another new signing striker Jack Gealer, who remained composed heading home for Dover’s second of the game.

Dover were now in full control completely dominating much of the possession in the first and second thirds, with only their final ball letting them down occasionally.

Dover maintained the high press with both Central Midfielders Liam Jones and Charlie Corrigan breaking up play in the center at very possible opportunity. On 35 minutes Winger Alfie Bryant stormed into the Chatham box after a pacey run down the right hand side and fired an unstoppable shot into the top left hand corner, leaving the Chatham GK no chance, without doubt the goal of the match.

With half time approaching Dover furthered their lead on 42 minutes with a very good finish from attacking midfielder Ben Cassingena to make the half time score Chatham 0 – 4 Dover.

Second half knowing the result was in hand, Dover changed formation to a 4-4-2 in order to provide an opportunity to players who had up until this point warmed the bench.

Dover came out second half with Dual Signing Josh Fordham taking to the field in the Right back position. Chatham fresh from their team talk came out of the blocks looking to fight for possession, and for the first ten minutes Chatham showed they had something to give, making early progress inside Dover half. Athletic looked to have switched off defensively all over the pitch, which resulted on 48 minutes with Chatham clawing a goal back to make the score 1-4. Chatham clearly improving in confidence played some good attacking football and begun to look dangerous, in parts, creating a few shooting opportunities, but were unable to penetrate in the final third.

An injury to Liam Jones saw the energetic midfielder withdrawn from play, luckily the injury was not serious. Dover begun once again to take control of the game, and on 70 minutes a corner provided an opportunity for captain Alfy Galvin to fire a low drive home from 10 yards. At this stage Chatham had been completely worn down, with the superior Dover fitness levels showing out. Dover had several opportunities to widen the gap, however were frustrated by a range of shots which were a combination of just over the bar, a few yards wide of the posts and GK saves. Dover ensured they battled to the end, and on 86 minutes completed the scoring after some fine link up play from midfield to attack enabling Ben Cassingena to grab his second and Dover’s sixth of the match.

Managers Comments

We begun with an attacking 3-5-2 formation today which immediately paid off, we controlled much of the game with the exception of the first 15 minutes of the second half, where we allowed Chatham to gain confidence by making too many mistakes in danger areas, not linking up the play as we can and losing 40% more battles in the midfield region.

However, this was the first game of the season, and as such it will take time for the team to maximize their efficiency as one unit. I was impressed by our sharpness in attacking phases, we could have been more lethal in front of goal at times, but having said that we did score six.

We played six exceptional phases where we maintained possession, the ball was played on the deck nicely through transition creating goal scoring opportunities, straight from the training ground – i am glad to see those moths of hard work come off.
Josh Fordham our dual signing had a great game for us today as Right back and then at center back. Ben Cassingena had probably his best performance I have seen from him since he joined the club. Owen Stewart was immense at left sided center back making some crucial challenges, and some great deliveries into the box from deep, but for me man of the match has to go to Liam Middleton for his overall work ethic, his desire to chase the ball down, forcing the opposition into making countless mistakes. All in all a decent performance – we need to settle down now and play our football with confidence as this is the most gifted team we have had to date. 3 points/ goal difference of 5 not a bad start.

We go again Thursday night in preparation for our first home game of the season against Kennington next Sunday.