Dover Athletic 11 – 0 Deal Town
Today saw Dover Athletic at home hosting old rivals Deal Town in the second round of the County Cup. Last season’s double encounter saw both teams beating each other with their home advantages.
First half, Dover begun with high tempo controlling at least 40 minutes of the opening 45. Dover piled on the pressure creating many goal scoring opportunities but only managing to convert three before half time. The first came on 8 minutes when Alfy Bryant wriggled round his man in the box to fire a reverse shot low into the bottom corner. The second coming on 39 minutes from some great interlinking play down the right hand side ending up with young right winger Finlay Fletcher striking an unstoppable shot into the top right hand corner (this was the goal of the game), fantastic finish. The third was scored by Athletic Striker Liam Middleton on 42 minutes after coming on from the bench, good finish from range. Half time Score 3-0 Dover.
Second half saw Dover once again dominate possession, with wave after wave of attack, Deal were simply unable to cope with the constant pressure, it was only going to be a matter of time before further goals were added. On 46 minutes Athletic’s attacking midfielder Ben Cassingena fired a superb shot past the Deal goal keeper to make it it 4-0. On 49 Minutes Liam Middleton broke through and converted in style with his second of the game.
On 56 minutes league Top Goal Scorer Jack Gealer slotted home his first of the day. On 62 minutes Liam Middleton after showing a great burst of pace beating the last man, fired in his 3rd of the match and Dover’s 7th. A few minutes later Dover found Gealer once again who coolly converted for his second of the game. On 73 minutes Jack Gealer popped up again to convert his hat-rick. On 76 minutes Liam Middleton wrapped up his afternoon in style with his 4th making the score line 10-0. The last goal of the game came on 80 minutes when a cross from deep found Athletic striker Cody Allcock in a little space who calmly finished the proceedings. Full Time Athletic 11 Deal Town 0.
Managers Comments
I was pleased with our possession rate today being in the 75% region, which is extremely high. I was also impressed with the teams discipline when out of possession, dropping into a worked upon narrow formation, reducing the gaps between the channels forcing the opposition when they did have the ball either backwards or sideways, then on transition into the quick counter attack, after we had worked hard to win every ball back. In terms of team shape and control it was a very disciplined performance, which identifies the squad having worked hard in this area over recent weeks, now having completed the cycle transferring this into a successful match day performance. However, as always there are things we will be working upon over the next few weeks such as the final ball quality and team discipline when in possession, which even though was good today, we still could have been better in areas. All in all a very good controlled display, another clean sheet. It was unfortunate half way through the game Deal were down to 10 men after an injury forced one of the oppositions players to retire from the game with no substitutes to replace him.
Man of the match for the second time this season is Ethan Challinor great display. We are away next week to Margate in the kit to fit challenge cup, where we look to extend our unbeaten run in all competitions to 7 games.
