Spav

Well done on your first season, attjen. :thup:

attjen

Sometimes it is just too sweet.

The season began in almost perfect style. Desse got a goal in the 26th to start the scoring, his first on his debut, and although Colchester scored twice, additional goals from Vahirua, captain and assistant manager Stewart (his first for the team), and Campbell made it into a 4-2 win. It was a completely one-sided game and kept relatively close only by Darren Knox having a very poor day.

It looked to be a more difficult day away at Bury for the 2nd game of the season, but an early Marty strike and another from Vahirua was enough to ensure a 2-0 victory.

On three days rest the squad really wasn’t ready to face first division side Bristol City in the opening round of the League Cup, and a cobbled together squad did well to force the game into extra time where Dover lost 0-2.

A very solid team performance at home against Northampton kept us unbeaten as Troussier and Desse scored. Center-back Robin was the key man on the day, showing the defensive talent that brought him into the club.

On the immediate Monday following (idiotic scheduling by the English organizers again) the squad was never going to be fit to take on Rushden away. Although Campbell scored early, Rushden’s “far-too-good-to-be-in-Division-Three” midfielder Danny Parkinson drove his team back for a 2-1 win. Parkinson could be a really classic French holding midfielder… if he wasn’t English of course. B*****d.

Crawford’s first ever goal was enough to hold of Darlington for a 1-0 win. Robin was sent off in the match, though to be fair to the blind bugger in black who couldn’t see his way out of a paper sack, it had been brewing for a few matches. With the appeal denied he’ll sit in a few games.

August had gone well, and even the Division Three heads couldn’t ignore Dover’s success. I won Manager of the Month, and our assistant manager Gary Stewartl won Player of the Month at the age of 36.

The 4-0 win over York was probably a far closer game than the scoreline suggests. Two goals came from Campbell and one from Vahirua, while man of the match McManus (whose overlapping runs still send the tactical dunderheads of these English sides into conniptions) scored a penalty.

With Desse injured, Liam Martin made his case for a first team spot by leading the team to a 3-1 midweek win over Lincoln. The right-midfielder scored one and set up another. Campbell and Crawford got the other goals.

Away for game 8 of the league against Exeter, I wasn’t feeling my normal confident self. This may have been due to Exeter being managed by Scotsman Mark Brown and his strong 3-5-2 formation. Paul McManus put some of my fears to rest in the 8th minute by scoring after one of the best team moves Dover has ever put together. McManus started the play with a run up the wing and a chip into the box for Marty. The winger headed the ball down to Campbell who slid it out wide for Liam Martin. A chip back against the movement of the defense found a drifting Marty on the opposite wing, and the winger headed the ball down again, this time to an unmarked McManus running into the box. The 2nd half was notable only for Exeter scoring twice, once into their own net and once into ours, to leave us with a 2-1 win.

You know… every once in a while you Englishmen do do something interesting.


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">************************* English Third Division - Saturday 14th September*************************Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts-------------------1st Dover 8 4 0 0 10 3 3 0 1 9 3 21 2nd Leyton Orient 8 4 0 0 11 7 2 2 0 3 1 20 3rd Exeter 8 2 1 1 9 4 3 0 1 8 5 16 -------------------4th Rushden 8 3 1 0 6 3 2 0 2 8 7 16 5th Darlington 8 4 0 0 10 4 1 1 2 2 5 16 6th Shrewsbury 8 3 1 0 11 5 1 2 1 3 3 15 7th Northampton 8 2 2 0 10 6 2 0 2 7 8 14 --------------------...23rd Lincoln 8 1 1 2 5 7 0 1 3 4 9 5 -------------------24th Cheltenham 8 0 1 3 7 12 0 1 3 3 10 2 Goalsos Player Club Apps Gls-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Mike King Leyton Orient 8 8 2nd Steve Speight Cambridge Utd 8 7 3rd Phil Taylor Exeter 8 6 4th Ryan Carter Northampton 8 6 5th Jimmy Burgess Colchester 8 6 8th Mark Campbell Dover 8 5 Assistsos Player Club Apps Asts-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Paul Lawrence Torquay 8 5 2nd Alex Cox Exeter 2 (2) 4 3rd Jon Coates Leyton Orient 8 4 4th Ian Wright Southend 7 4 5th Lee Poole Bury 8 4 21st Arnaud Desse Dover 6 3 Average Ratingos Player Club Apps Av R-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Steve Speight Cambridge Utd 8 8.50 2nd Gary Stewart Dover 7 8.29 3rd Boukhounphong Gigiadze Cambridge Utd 7 8.29 4th Martin Steele Rochdale 4 8.25 5th Danny Parkinson Rushden 8 8.13 13th Paul McManus Dover 8 7.88 22nd Vincent Robin Dover 7 7.71 30th Mark Campbell Dover 8 7.63 Man of the Matchos Player Club Apps MoM-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Paul McManus Dover 8 4 2nd Jimmy Burgess Colchester 8 3 3rd Nick Powell Cambridge Utd 8 2 4th Gary Griffiths Plymouth 4 (1) 2 5th Matt Jones Northampton 3 (1) 2 25th Vincent Robin Dover 7 1 </pre>

attjen

After the Exeter game right-back Guillaume Camara came to my office to tell me he just couldn’t take living in England anymore, that it was driving him crazy, and that he really, really wanted... nay, "must" be transfer listed.

A player after my own heart, I tell you. I nearly promised a new contract on ‘indispensable’ status… but seeing as how he’s not actually a first choice player anymore, I agreed to his concern.

We continued our home… then away… then back at home… then away… schedule. The never, never ending schedule…

home to Swansea. Three goals by the 50th minute let me rest Stewart, Crawford, and Vahirua, the latter two having scored on the day. Desse scored the other to continue his excellent first season with us. It finished 3-1 due to a late goal from Swansea.

We got our own late goal in the next game against Kidderminster. Crawford had a great day running circles around the home side and scored in the 89th to give us a 2-1 win.

After having let Kidderminster back into the game by giving up an own goal, we did the same thing at home against S****horpe. Thankfully goals from Desse and Marty (on a fluke) held up for another 2-1 win.

I began to get worried that we were due for a letdown and when Plymouth scored on a freekick in the 3rd minute in the next game, it seemed to be so. As it turned out four goals (two from Vahirua, and one each from Campbell and Crawford) gave us an easy win.

The midweek game against Torquay seemed doomed to end nil-nil, especially after Crawford went down with injury in the 19th. With their keeper playing a blinder, it did.

Another brilliant opposition goalkeeping day from 3rd place Leyton Orient nearly denied us in the following match, but a 30th minute Vahirua strike held up for a 1-0 win.

Another midweek game immediately after, and this time I was sure a letdown was coming. However, then 4th place Shrewsbury were in worse shape then we were and we made easy work of their 16-year-old keeper in a 3-0 win.

The letdown finally came in the 16th game of the season against Mansfield. The Danny McGrath led side came back from an early Campbell strike and put two past young Kenny Robertson (playing due to an injury to Knox) showing why experience matters. (Crawford’s continued absence has also certainly impacted our attacking form.)

Still though, our league position is nothing to sneeze at. Last season Hull only managed 79 points all year, and Dover now has 40 through 16 games. All in all, there is little to complain about this French and Scot team. Most goals currently… least conceded…

I can’t tell if I underestimated my own team… or the significant craptitude and complete lack of tactical understanding (not to mention poor teamwork, skill, and fight) of these sides... 'English'... 'Division Three'... sides.

But then… I answer my own question don’t I?

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************** English Third Division - Saturday 26th October**********************Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts---------------------1st Dover 16 7 1 0 18 5 6 0 2 17 7 40 2nd Darlington 16 8 0 0 18 6 3 2 3 8 10 35 3rd Exeter 16 5 2 2 19 9 4 0 3 13 12 29 ----------------------4th Torquay 16 6 1 1 14 7 2 2 4 8 10 27 5th York 16 6 0 2 17 14 2 3 3 14 17 27 6th Northampton 16 4 4 0 20 13 3 1 4 14 18 26 7th Rushden 16 6 1 1 12 5 2 1 5 13 17 26 ----------------------...23rd Colchester 16 1 4 3 14 17 1 1 6 6 16 11 ----------------------24th Halifax 16 3 1 4 8 10 0 0 8 7 19 10 Goalsos Player Club Apps Gls-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ryan Carter Northampton 15 16 2nd Steve Speight Notts Co 14 12 3rd Mike King Leyton Orient 16 9 4th Jimmy Burgess Colchester 14 9 5th Graham Bradley Lincoln 14 9 11th Mark Campbell Dover 15 8 17th Xavier Vahirua Dover 16 7 Assistsos Player Club Apps Asts-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Graham Croft Cheltenham 13 6 2nd Richard Hay Plymouth 15 (1) 6 3rd Keith Wright Bristol Rovers 12 6 4th Ian Wright Southend 15 6 5th Lee Poole Bury 16 6 21st Gary Stewart Dover 13 4 Average Ratingos Player Club Apps Av R-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Steve Speight Notts Co 14 8.29 2nd Ryan Carter Northampton 15 8.27 3rd Danny Parkinson Rushden 9 8.22 4th Dean Andrews Carlisle 9 (1) 8.10 5th Paul McManus Dover 16 7.88 7th Gary Stewart Dover 13 7.85 16th Xavier Vahirua Dover 16 7.63 22nd Vincent Robin Dover 15 7.53 Man of the Matchos Player Club Apps MoM-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ryan Carter Northampton 15 6 2nd Wayne Payne Leyton Orient 15 5 3rd Steve Speight Notts Co 14 5 4th Dean Andrews Carlisle 9 (1) 4 5th Gary Griffiths Plymouth 12 (1) 4 8th Paul McManus Dover 16 4 21st Gary Stewart Dover 13 2 </pre>

attjen

Much to my chagrin, Division Two Cardiff City came with a transfer offer for our overlapping fullback Paul McManus, arguably are best player this season. The low bid was rejected, but they came back with a 250k bid that met the player’s minimum release clause and off he went to Cardiff City.

I will laugh if Cardiff (currently out of the relegation zone only by goal differential) goes down and we go up. Shame.

This made a replacement an immediate need, and we finally went after shortlisted Gregory Faivre from Le Havre. He certainly doesn’t have the skill going forward like McManus did, but his much strong positioning won’t hurt.

Faivre ended up being the third player to come in after the Mansfield game. Left-winger Guillaume Lambert came in on a free to provide much needed cover there, and 20-year-old Cedric Cisse joined on a free to give us another holding midfielder besides Stewart and Ian Scott.

Against Southend, Faivre made his debut and performed quite well. Too bad the offense went missing and a 0-0 draw was the result. Southend was fairly poor on the day and it was a bit flattering to them.

Another signing, striker Christian Duchemin (who I’m hopeful about, without being particularly confident), got his first start in the next match against Cambridge United. We were poor on the day… very poor… and deserved a 1-0 loss, though only barely to an English side as bad as Cambridge.

For the FA Cup 1st round, we drew Mansfield and not figuring to get much out of the match on current form, our second choice squad was sent out. Isidore scored the opener just after the half, Bennett scored twice, and Lambert got another for a ridiculous 4-0 win. It is irritating that we lost to that s**t team in the league game.

Back in league play versus Rochdale and the slump, for frankly I don’t know what else to call it, continued with another 1-0 loss. It dropped us out of first place to Darlington. I’m fairly comfortable with it… not that it could make me any way angry or frustrated… or positively suicidal not to mention homicidal to keep losing to these absolutely crap, and truly completely idiotic and brain-numbed teams… no… in no way could it… excuse me for a moment…

(I’ll have to have somebody replace that footstool.)

(And the window I just threw it through.)

At any rate, without really showing much certainty of breaking out of the poor form, we did find a way to win. Duchemin scored in both halves, his first goals for the squad, and we gave up a late goal to end up 2-1. Not exactly a morale boosting game.

It was amusing nonetheless when a representative from Colchester (currently 23rd in the league) came knocking at my office door (back when it still had a window) with an offer of becoming their manager. I’ve had less appealing offers… like perhaps shooting myself in the head with a shotgun… but it was amusing as things go.

Perhaps they were trying to throw us off the upcoming FA Cup 2nd round game, but it didn’t work. It wasn’t quite a 2nd choice team that went out, but it was close, and we still ended up getting a 3-1 win. Bennett continued his excellent cup form with 2 more goals, and Duchemin knocked home the third.

In the Vans Trophy 1st Round game, things finally went my way… that is, we got soundly trounced 4-1 by a Shrewsbury side… of course it didn’t hurt that practically no players of any worth actually played for Dover on the day.

Against the awful Bristol Rovers, the squad put in a pretty good performance to run out easy winners. Desse, Marty, and Vahirua scored before 20 minutes were over and Robertson saved a penalty just for fun.

He-heh…

After the win 4 players (Stewart, Troussier, Martel, and Thomson) came to me to announce they would retire at the end of the season. Interesting. I’ll have to do something about that.

Then, a French striker that I had been targeting as a potential transfer (Sylvain Gouge) was named as the French Most Unpopular Player.

He-heh…

Colchester was up next for game 22 of the season. They are pitifully bad. (Okay, I don’t really feel ‘pity’ exactly for bad English sides… maybe the word I’m looking for is… disgust.) We had to get a great game from ‘old man’ Christophe Martel (covering for the suspended Troussier) and a goal each from Vahirua and Crawford to sneak out a 2-1 win.

On the day after Christmas we had a tough match-up against then 3rd place Rushden. Second half sub Paul Bennett made the most of his time on the pitch by getting an 88th minute winner.

I can’t say our form is good… but as we aren’t an English squad, we don’t quite suck.

Like you do.


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">************************** English Third Division - Thursday 26th December**************************Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------1st Dover 23 8 2 1 19 6 9 0 3 24 10 53 2nd Darlington 24 10 2 0 24 8 6 3 3 14 12 53 3rd Plymouth 23 7 2 2 18 9 6 2 4 25 20 43 --------------------------4th Rushden 23 9 2 1 23 11 4 1 6 18 20 42 5th Shrewsbury 23 6 4 1 22 11 5 4 3 15 15 41 6th York 23 9 1 3 27 21 3 3 4 16 19 40 7th Northampton 23 5 4 3 22 18 6 1 4 21 18 38 --------------------------... 23rd Halifax 23 4 2 6 12 15 1 0 10 11 25 17 -----------------------24th Colchester 23 1 6 5 17 22 1 3 7 9 21 15 Goalsos Player Club Apps Gls------------------------1st Ryan Carter Northampton 21 18 2nd Steve Tomlinson Rushden 20 14 3rd Graham Bradley Lincoln 22 13 4th Steve Speight Notts Co 14 12 5th Tony Doolan Mansfield 22 11 16th Xavier Vahirua Dover 23 9 24th Mark Campbell Dover 16 (3) 8 Assistsos Player Club Apps Asts-------------------------1st Richard Hay Plymouth 22 (1) 10 2nd Graham Croft Cheltenham 20 8 3rd Sam Jeffery Northampton 19 8 4th Ian Wright Southend 22 8 5th Paul Lawrence Torquay 18 8 26th Arnaud Desse Dover 20 (1) 5 Average Rating: Pos Player Club Apps Av R-----------------1st Steve Speight Notts Co 14 8.29 2nd Dean Andrews Q.P.R. 13 (1) 8.14 3rd Ryan Carter Northampton 21 8.05 4th Paul McManus Cardiff 16 7.88 5th Steve Tomlinson Rushden 20 7.80 6th Gary Stewart Dover 18 7.78 19th Xavier Vahirua Dover 23 7.48 26th Vincent Robin Dover 18 7.39 Man of the Matchos Player Club Apps MoM------------------1st Ryan Carter Northampton 21 7 2nd Wayne Payne Leyton Orient 22 6 3rd Dean Andrews Q.P.R. 13 (1) 5 4th Steve Speight Notts Co 14 5 5th Paul Lawrence Torquay 18 5 26th Arnaud Desse Dover 20 (1) 3 </pre>

attjen

The Rushden game was the beginning of a very busy stretch for Dover Athletic. It was time for the winter moronic schedule.

Two days after the Rushden game and we were back on the pitch at the Sixfields Stadium in Northampton. The home side did everything right (outshooting us 10 to 5, getting an early goal from their striker Ryan Carter (best player in the league), preventing Crawford from getting the ball) except mark up Vahirua. The midfielder continued his great play this season and knocked home a goal either side of halftime. It was a fairly lucky win for us… lucky that we weren’t English, of course.

On New Years Day, we were back at home to face Bury. Kenny Robertson, having been given a series of starts at this point, had a great day minding the nets, and despite constant pressure from the visitors, a Crawford goal just before halftime stood up for a 1-0 win.

After the game the December awards were announced, and it came with a significant bit of amusement that I had won Manager of the Month for the 4 league games we scratched out. A subsequent article in the newspaper the next day made point of saying that (the author felt) Dover was destined to win Division Three this season, and that no one could catch us. I nearly fell over laughing when the author mentioned Dover as one of the most promising “English” clubs he’d seen…

On the 4th of January, Dover faced Division One side Crystal Palace in the FA Cup 3rd Round. I’m sad to report that Dover actually attempted to win this game (the squad had shown good form in this cup, and really wanted an upset) but the visiting side was too much for us. A narrow 1-0 loss. I take comfort in the fact that the goalscorer was 28-year-old Scottish striker Stuart Ward: an excellent player, but well beyond Dover’s salary range.

Away at Carlisle in the midweek game and it was signing Guillaume Lambert who made the day for Dover. An assist (to Campbell) and a goal himself eased us past the home side, who couldn’t get a shot on target. (Robertson picked up an injury in the game, giving the starting job back to Knox for the time being.)

In fact, it was Knox who was man-of-the-match for the very next game away against 2nd place Darlington. The home side had been desperate to close the gap with us, and played a generally decent… okay… mediocre… so-so… nearly good… game for an English squad. Their five shots on target had to be well saved by Knox, and Lambert and Crawford got on the scoresheet for us.

The 2-0 win gave us a 8 point lead with a game in hand, but the team was very much look forward to the 2 week vacation looming after the next two games (Cheltenham and Exeter). It wasn’t to be, however, as some truly nasty English rain and wind forced the first match to be postponed

Against Exeter our defense managed to hold the visiting side to absolutely no shots. Alas, their keeper managed to keep us scoreless (despite 8 shots on goal) as well.

Cheltenham scored late to cancel out a Crawford goal to force the postponed match to end 1-1.

Finally, we reached February. Only February.

Good lord, this season just won’t ever end…

Away at Lincoln, January’s Young Player of the Month Neil Crawford continued his strong play by scoring twice in a good 2-0 win. Our defense once again held the opposition without a shot on target.

(Youth was also the theme in the monthly board meeting where I asked for the club to invest some money in out training facilities, and much to my surprise… they agreed.)

We had Plymouth at home for the 31st game of the season, and we ended up a bit between a rock and a hard place when Plymouth scored first in the 53rd. They had done well on a rainy and breezy English day (Do I repeat myself?) but we were fortunate to get a draw through Vahirua in the 72nd.

15 more games to go… That means there is still the possibility of 45 points.

45! It’s as if the season has barely just started…

I can feel my life draining away during this never-ending season.

Or maybe it’s just having to eat English food…

Either way, it doesn’t feel good…

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ** English Third Division - Saturday 8th February****************************************** *****Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts-----------------------------------------------1st Dover 31 9 5 1 22 8 13 0 3 32 11 71 2nd Darlington 31 12 2 2 30 12 7 5 3 19 16 64 3rd Rushden 31 11 3 3 29 15 6 1 7 23 23 55 -----------------------------------------------4th Shrewsbury 31 8 5 2 26 14 7 5 4 21 21 55 Goals: Pos Player Club Apps Gls-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ryan Carter Northampton 29 26 2nd Tony Doolan Mansfield 29 19 3rd Graham Bradley Lincoln 28 16 4th Stephen Howes Swansea 23 14 5th Andrew Foster Plymouth 31 14 12th Xavier Vahirua Dover 31 12 17th Neil Crawford Dover 26 11 26th Mark Campbell Dover 20 (7) 9 Assistsos Player Club Apps Asts-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ian Wright Southend 30 14 2nd David Harris Rushden 29 12 3rd Graham Croft Cheltenham 27 12 4th Richard Hay Plymouth 30 (1) 12 5th Dean Gibson Lincoln 28 12 16th Xavier Vahirua Dover 31 7 Average Ratingos Player Club Apps Av R-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ryan Carter Northampton 29 8.14 2nd Ben Hunter Lincoln 29 7.90 3rd Paul McManus Cardiff 16 7.88 4th Graham Croft Cheltenham 27 7.81 5th Steve Tomlinson Tottenham 22 7.77 7th Gary Stewart Dover 24 7.71 18th Xavier Vahirua Dover 31 7.45 28th Vincent Robin Dover 25 7.36 Man of the Matchos Player Club Apps MoM-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ryan Carter Northampton 29 10 2nd Paul Lawrence Torquay 25 7 3rd Wayne Payne Leyton Orient 26 6 4th Danny McGrath Mansfield 30 5 5th Dean Andrews Q.P.R. 13 (1) 5 </pre>

attjen

Swansea was next for Dover. The first half was a fairly dreary scoreless mess, but in the 2nd Vahirua went on a nice run past 3 players and knocked a hopeful shot right into the corner of the net. Swansea crumbed after that (big surprise) and Vahirua scored again, and Duchemin came off the bench to score a third.

Home against York… Dover shot 15 times, with 10 on target while York shot 6 times, 3 on target… result? 0-0. Groan.

The same result from the next game at S****horpe, despite Crawford having an excellent day, doing everything except finding the net.

That wasn’t a problem in the easy 4-0 win against Leyton Orient. Crawford scored twice, and Duchemin and Vahirua got one each.

That game took us into March. Only March. It’s surprising you can even bear to put up with a season as long as this. I’d have figured your short attention spans would have given up long ago.

Duchemin scored in the next game to knock off Torquay 1-0 in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the scoreline suggests.

In the 37th game of the season Dover finally got at least one thing resolved. A play-off berth was secured. It wasn’t easy, it took a great defensive performance from Faivre and Robertson to keep us in the game, and a 89th minute goal from Ian Scott who skimmed it past the Kidderminster keeper.

The Kidderminster game was the 6th straight that Dover had played without giving up a goal. It pays to have a stable defense… something that we are unlikely to have next year with the retirees going out.

We finally gave up a goal against Southend, but it was after we had already scored two in the first half (Duchemin and Desse) and scored again through Vahirua to take it to 3-1.

Against Cambridge, game 39 if anybody is counting, a great game from the visitor’s Norwegian keeper, kept us off the scoresheet… though the players in front of him did nothing worth noting and never threatened to score.

Is this killing you? Probably not, (too bad) since you probably enjoy this incredibly dullness… makes you feel right at home?

Well, the only season goal Dover wanted was finally achieved in game 40. A 1-0 win over then 3rd place Shrewbury, thanks to another great goal from Vahirua (who also happened to be offsides 8 times on the day).

That was all I wanted to accomplish this year, that and make every English side look foolish (easy enough)… but now there is the possibility of getting over the century mark in points and wrapping up another 1st place finish.

That might be good.

For me, not for you idiots, obviously.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ********************************************* English Third Division - Wednesday 2nd April *********************************************Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts---------------------------------------------1st P Dover 40 11 7 1 27 8 17 1 3 40 12 92 2nd Pl Darlington 40 16 2 2 40 12 9 8 3 29 23 85 3rd Torquay 40 13 3 4 38 23 8 5 7 28 24 71 ---------------------------------------------4th Shrewsbury 39 10 6 3 32 18 9 6 5 29 27 69 Goals: Pos Player Club Apps Gls-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ryan Carter Northampton 38 31 2nd Tony Doolan Mansfield 37 25 3rd Graham Bradley Lincoln 37 21 4th Ben Hunter Lincoln 38 17 5th Xavier Vahirua Dover 40 17 18th Neil Crawford Dover 33 13 Assistsos Player Club Apps Asts-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ian Wright Southend 39 16 2nd David Harris Rushden 38 14 3rd Richard Hay Plymouth 35 (1) 14 4th Danny McGrath Mansfield 38 14 5th Alex Shaw Northampton 36 14 17th Xavier Vahirua Dover 40 9 Averate Ratingos Player Club Apps Av R-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ryan Carter Northampton 38 8.05 2nd Marvin Edwards Mansfield 22 8.00 3rd Ben Hunter Lincoln 38 7.87 4th Grégory Faivre Dover 23 7.78 5th Steve Tomlinson Tottenham 22 7.77 13th Gary Stewart Dover 32 7.63 21st Xavier Vahirua Dover 40 7.50 22nd Neil Crawford Dover 33 7.48 Man of the Match: Pos Player Club Apps MoM-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ryan Carter Northampton 38 11 2nd Danny McGrath Mansfield 38 8 3rd Ian Foster Shrewsbury 38 7 4th Wayne Payne Leyton Orient 34 7 5th Paul Lawrence Torquay 32 7 29th Xavier Vahirua Dover 40 4 30th Neil Crawford Dover 33 4 </pre>

Terk

Successive promotions, far better than I think anyone could have expected. Well done, attjen :thup:

attjen

Thanks Terk. I'm just getting warmed up too...

attjen

The last six games flew by… well, flew by in comparison to how long the rest of the season took. By my calculations we needed 103 points to guarantee that we clinched the title.

We got 106.

Mansfield was game 41, and while I hoped we could get some revenge for the loss earlier in the season, we only could manage a 0-0 draw.

Guillaume Lambert’s goal in the 13th was just enough to hold off Carlisle for a 1-0 win.

Against Rochdale, it was back to 0-0 again. One bright spot was young Jamie Oliver earning man of the match in one of his first starts ever.

Against last place Halifax, we made sure they went down to conference by crusing to a 4-1 win. All our goals came before the half hour mark. Desse was dominating on the right flank all day. Halifax at least put up a fight in the 2nd half, and ended up outshooting us by 3.

After the Halifax game I had the weirdest dream that I had taken over Reading, and was attempting to fashion a quality team with Scots and Frenchmen there. People kept referring to me as "Old McDonald". It was quite strange. Imagine my confusion when that club came the next with an offer for me to take over their management position. (I declined of course, Reading is relegated from Division Two.)

Against Cheltenham, we wrapped up the title with a 2-0 win. Duchemin and Vahirua got our goals.

We had Bristol Rovers for the last game, and appropriately it was retiring Gary Stewart who went out with a man of the match game. Keita finally got his first goal of the season and Vahirua finished a fantastic season by getting goal number 20. (Eventually one of these English managers will remember to mark him up, but I’m not sure when it’s going to be.)

Stewart was also named to the Division Three Select along with Neil Crawford. Vahirua was robbed by not being included, as was Faivre for an excellent season after replacing McManus.

Dover hasn’t lost since November 30th in league play, 27 games, and our last loss was to Division One side Crystal Palace.

(As for the rest of the competitions: Manchester United repeated in the Premiership ahead of Leeds again. The FA Cup went to Chelsea, while the League Cup went to Man U as well. In Europe it was Juventus for the Champions League, and Liverpool for the UEFA Cup.)

You begin to wonder at what level the obviously clear difference in quality between the English players who make up the majority of most squads and my Scottish and French brethren will finally narrow so that we are playing our equals.

On the pitch, I mean.

My brethren are so far above the English in everything else, I can’t ever see that gap getting narrower.

Larger yes, but not narrower.

Signed, Pascal McIntosh, Manager of the Year English Division Three.

End of Season 2

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ******************************************* English Third Division - Saturday 24th May*******************************************Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts------------------------1st C Dover 46 14 8 1 34 10 18 2 3 42 12 106 2nd P Darlington 46 17 4 2 44 15 12 8 3 37 27 99 3rd P Torquay 46 16 3 4 46 24 8 7 8 33 30 82 ------------------------4th Shrewsbury 46 12 6 5 38 23 10 7 6 32 28 79 5th P Northampton 46 11 7 5 44 31 9 7 7 43 41 74 6th Rushden 46 13 5 5 35 21 9 3 11 33 39 74 7th Mansfield 46 11 5 7 42 32 10 4 9 37 32 72 ------------------------8th Cambridge U 46 15 3 5 41 24 5 8 10 30 35 71 ...23rd Cheltenham 46 8 4 11 38 43 3 4 16 21 49 41 ------------------------24th R Halifax 46 7 4 12 23 32 2 2 19 17 50 33 Goalsos Player Club Apps Gls-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ryan Carter Northampton 47 40 2nd Tony Doolan Mansfield 46 27 3rd Graham Bradley Lincoln 43 24 4th Phil Taylor Exeter 45 22 5th Stephen Howes Swansea 38 20 7th Xavier Vahirua Dover 46 20 21st Neil Crawford Dover 37 14 AssistsPos Player Club Apps Asts-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ian Wright Southend 45 21 2nd Alex Shaw Northampton 45 20 3rd David Harris Rushden 46 16 4th Danny McGrath Mansfield 47 16 5th Paul Lawrence Torquay 37 15 21st Xavier Vahirua Dover 46 10 27th Arnaud Desse Dover 40 (2) 9 Average Ratingos Player Club Apps Av R-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ryan Carter Northampton 47 8.06 2nd Ben Hunter Lincoln 44 7.89 3rd Marvin Edwards Mansfield 31 7.81 4th Gary Walker Southend 27 7.78 5th Grégory Faivre Dover 27 7.78 11th Gary Stewart Dover 37 7.65 19th Xavier Vahirua Dover 46 7.52 22nd Neil Crawford Dover 37 7.49 27th Kenny Robertson Dover 21 (3) 7.42 Man of the Matchos Player Club Apps MoM-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ryan Carter Northampton 47 15 2nd Danny McGrath Mansfield 47 10 3rd Paul Lawrence Torquay 37 8 4th Dave Jackson Torquay 39 (3) 7 5th Ian Foster Shrewsbury 44 7 17th Xavier Vahirua Dover 46 5 </pre>

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************* Dover Athletic - Sunday 1st June*************************No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value------------------------------- Barraud, Philippe SW/D C FRA 18.10.82 20 - - £120 23.6.05 Free 17 Bennett, Paul M C SCO 26.6.83 19 - - £450 22.6.06 £18K 30 Bernard, Johan D RLC FRA 26.11.85 17 - - £300 5.6.05 £9K 5 Blondeau, Jean-Marc D C FRA 13.8.76 26 - - £425 28.6.06 £14K - Boli, Dominique D C FRA 10.5.77 26 - - £275 25.6.05 Free 22 Camara, Guillaume D R FRA 28.8.72 30 - - £400 27.6.06 £16K 9 Campbell, Mark S C SCO 31.1.82 21 - - £160 28.6.05 £26K 13 Castro, Cyrille GK FRA 20.9.75 27 - - £400 28.6.05 Free 29 Cissé, Cédric DM RC FRA 29.6.82 20 - - £400 24.6.06 £7K 14 Cooper, Mark D RLC SCO 24.1.84 19 - - £180 23.6.05 £8K 16 Crawford, Neil S C SCO 5.2.82 21 - - £275 17.6.06 £30K 7 Desse, Arnaud AM/F R FRA 9.10.73 29 - - £425 18.6.05 £80K - Diagouraga, Christophe AM R FRA 24.11.82 20 - - £120 28.6.04 Free 19 Docherty, Ross F C SCO 30.3.72 31 - - £180 28.6.04 £4K 24 Duchemin, Christian S C FRA 5.10.82 20 - - £450 1.6.05 £28K 3 Faivre, Grégory D L FRA 15.6.74 28 - - £500 28.6.05 £30K 4 Garcia, Franck SW C FRA 15.6.86 16 - - £250 25.6.06 £18K 33 Isidore, Patrick AM/F C FRA 23.2.86 17 - - £400 1.6.05 £10K 6 Jézéquel, Grégory D C FRA 13.4.76 27 - - £350 27.6.05 £8K 26 Keita, Henri D R FRA 20.8.77 25 - - £200 23.6.06 £30K 1 Knox, Darren GK SCO 8.9.67 35 - - £425 1.6.05 £22K 25 Lambert, Guillaume AM L FRA 8.12.75 27 - - £400 24.6.05 £90K 20 Martel, Christophe D RC FRA 3.10.69 33 - - £450 27.6.05 £12K 8 Martin, Liam M RC SCO 13.1.80 23 - - £140 22.6.04 £18K 23 Marty, André AM/F L FRA 16.8.73 29 - - £375 2.6.06 £55K 31 Munro, Brian D/DM R SCO 23.6.85 17 - - £95 6.6.06 £10K 28 Nicol, Steven GK SCO 31.3.82 21 - - £45 16.6.04 £4K 34 Oliver, Jamie S C SCO 15.5.83 20 - - £200 16.6.05 £40K 15 Paterson, Graeme F LC SCO 27.11.80 22 - - £130 18.6.05 £10K 32 Robertson, Kenny GK SCO 26.1.84 19 - - £240 23.6.05 £14K 18 Robin, Vincent D C FRA 1.8.74 28 - - £220 23.6.06 £24K 12 Scott, Ian M C SCO 11.7.78 24 - - £400 13.6.04 £50K 11 Scott, Stephen M C SCO 19.9.71 31 - - £350 2.6.04 £8K 21 Stewart, Gary D/DM LC SCO 11.8.66 36 - - £450 22.6.05 £7K 10 Thomson, George S C SCO 19.7.71 31 - - £180 26.6.05 £10K 2 Troussier, Mickaël D C FRA 13.3.70 33 - - £450 1.6.05 £7K 27 Vahirua, Xavier M C FRA 3.9.77 25 - - £240 27.6.04 £50K - Young, Graeme M RC SCO 1.4.76 27 - - £170 28.6.05 Free No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R--------------------------- Barraud, Philippe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 17 Bennett, Paul 2 (16) 5 0 0 1 0 0 2 6.94 30 Bernard, Johan - - - - - - - - ---- 5 Blondeau, Jean-Marc 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 - Boli, Dominique 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 22 Camara, Guillaume 6 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 6.67 9 Campbell, Mark 24 (15) 9 0 0 4 0 0 1 6.77 13 Castro, Cyrille 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 29 Cissé, Cédric 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 6.50 14 Cooper, Mark 6 (14) 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 6.55 16 Crawford, Neil 39 14 0 0 2 0 0 4 7.44 7 Desse, Arnaud 42 (2) 6 0 0 9 1 0 4 7.25 - Diagouraga, Christophe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 19 Docherty, Ross 1 (2) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.00 24 Duchemin, Christian 27 (4) 9 0 0 3 0 0 1 7.16 3 Faivre, Grégory 29 0 0 0 1 4 0 4 7.69 4 Garcia, Franck 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 33 Isidore, Patrick 1 (5) 2 0 1 (1) 2 0 0 0 6.67 6 Jézéquel, Grégory 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.25 26 Keita, Henri 38 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 6.97 1 Knox, Darren 26 (1) 0 14 0 0 0 0 1 7.15 25 Lambert, Guillaume 25 (2) 4 0 0 6 0 0 1 7.26 20 Martel, Christophe 21 (5) 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 6.88 8 Martin, Liam 8 (14) 2 0 0 2 0 0 1 6.91 23 Marty, André 24 4 0 0 2 3 0 0 7.04 31 Munro, Brian 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 28 Nicol, Steven 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 34 Oliver, Jamie 3 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6.80 15 Paterson, Graeme 6 (9) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.80 32 Robertson, Kenny 25 (4) 0 16 0 0 0 0 2 7.31 18 Robin, Vincent 41 1 0 0 0 4 2 2 7.29 12 Scott, Ian 12 (22) 2 0 0 1 3 0 1 6.97 11 Scott, Stephen 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 21 Stewart, Gary 37 1 0 0 5 3 0 3 7.65 10 Thomson, George 3 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.75 2 Troussier, Mickaël 42 1 0 0 2 11 0 1 7.19 27 Vahirua, Xavier 48 20 0 0 10 1 0 5 7.48 - Young, Graeme 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- </pre>

gil

Well done! KUTGW :thup: