retired_jgirl87

Bravo, mon ami. Zis is - ow you say in ze Glasgow - fookin' brilliant.

retired_swmchick2006

Our next match was in Nottingham for the FA Cup Semi-final against Newcastle. We played very well and created opportunity after opportunity, only to see their Greek keeper Spanos acrobatically save. In 120 minutes, Dover had had 17 shots, seen 8 of them saved by the keeper, and only allowed Newcastle 4 attempts on goal. It went to penalty kicks. We went up 2-0 with Lavagne and MacLeod scoring theirs while Newcastle missed both of theirs. McCabe saw his effort saved and Newcastle was able to take it to 3-2, but McNab scored on our 5th attempt to win the game 4-2 in the shootout. Our opponent in the final at Wembley would be Tottenham.

March had been good for our squad. Fabrice Landin was award the Young player of the Month award for March. Craig had been called back to the Scotland squad and scored in their 3-1 win over Austria.

Lamont got the start in the next game on Wednesday, as did several back-up players, as most of the first squad recovered from the extra-time game on the weekend. He and Lavagne scored, but Southampton was able to over come that and score 3 times. The winner came in the 90th minute as we suffered our first league loss since December.

We were at home for the next game against Chelsea, and while the 1-1 draw wasn’t what we were hoping for, it was a fair result as their substitute Arzamendia changed the game when he came on in the 53rd, and equalized in the 73rd.

Our next match was the return leg against Juventus:

We had done the unthinkable. Craig had scored his brace and we’d overturned the first leg result. The game had been fairly even, but we’d had the vast majority of chances on net. Two missed penalties cancelled each other out. How unexpected had the result been? We’d only had about 8000 fans bother to show up for the Thursday game.

We had 10000 more fans than that show up for the 1-1 draw with Liverpool. A completely even game which saw the visitors score in the 7th minute and Rae equalize for us in the 14th, his first goal of the season. Neither side could find any advantage after that and a draw was a somewhat just result.

retired_swmchick2006

Away at Tottenham in the next league match, and Craig had his first truly poor performance of the season. Lamont came on for him at halftime but it was MacLeod who scored in the 71st to give us a 1-0 win. The goal was a brilliant solo goal by the winger who took the ball to the byline, cut back past two players and rifled home a shot. His signing has been key all year.

Away at Newcastle in the midweek, MacLeod scored the winner again for another 1-0 win. We were clinging to 6th place in the table.

Our next to last league game, and the game prior to the FA cup final, was against champions Manchester United, who had clinched their trophy 2 games earlier. Abiven had a poor day and gave up two goals, and despite the visitors having a man sent off, it took a last minute Craig penalty kick to get a point in the 2-2 draw. Fraser had scored our other goal.

Our next two games would both be at Wembley: the FA Cup final against Tottenham, and the UEFA Cup final against Chelsea.

retired_swmchick2006

We'd done it. As the fans celebrated I looked around at them, there was a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach I couldn't quite figure out. It wasn't hate... It wasn't disgust... It was...

I don't know...

I just don't know...

I'll have to think about it...

retired_swmchick2006

---

The unexpected win had been narrow, but just deserved. Chelsea hadn’t been able to break through our back-line and we picked up a European trophy.

In the last game of the season against Ipswich, Craig picked up an injury in the 15th. Thomson was sent off in the 83rd minute for throwing a punch, and Lamont hit the bar in the 85th. Ipswich scored in the last minute to send us to 7th place in the league with the 1-0 loss.

No complaints. Craig was our only player named to the Premiership Select Team, but I took some pleasure out seeing three of our players named to the Under-21 Scotland squad (Ian Thomson, Danny McIntyre, and Gary Paterson).

Cup victories certainly won’t hurt Dover Athletic… now we need to focus on the league title.

I still have that feeling in the pit of my stomach that I can't describe. What could that be? Maybe I need to see a doctor.

Signed: Pascal McIntosh, Premiership Manager of the Year

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ********** English Premier Division - Sunday 21st May**********Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts-----------------------------------------------1st C Man Utd 38 16 1 2 52 13 10 5 4 38 24 84 -----------------------------------------------2nd Leeds 38 13 3 3 39 17 9 3 7 28 22 72 3rd Arsenal 38 12 4 3 40 23 10 2 7 34 29 72 4th Liverpool 38 11 6 2 28 15 7 6 6 19 22 66 5th Tottenham 38 10 5 4 35 21 8 2 9 27 28 61 6th Derby 38 10 5 4 22 13 6 8 5 20 19 61 7th DOVER 38 8 8 3 22 12 7 6 6 19 18 59 8th Chelsea 38 9 3 7 30 21 5 10 4 26 27 55 9th Everton 38 15 2 2 32 12 1 5 13 9 35 55 Goalsos Player Club Apps Gls-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Frank Voß Man Utd 32 21 2nd Rónald Vargas Arsenal 29 (2) 18 3rd Michael Craig Dover 31 17 4th Laurent Silvestre Liverpool 28 (2) 15 5th Jonathan McKeown Charlton 37 14 Assistsos Player Club Apps Asts-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Gordon Baxter Arsenal 36 18 2nd Alex Talbot Man Utd 19 (9) 12 3rd Errol Baker Tottenham 19 (15) 11 4th Arild Fagervik Sunderland 32 (1) 11 5th Brian Davidson Leeds 36 11 29th Gary MacLeod Dover 21 (2) 6 Average Ratingos Player Club Apps Av R-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Frank Voß Man Utd 32 8.19 2nd Laurent Silvestre Liverpool 28 (2) 7.87 3rd Craig Wilkinson Arsenal 21 (1) 7.86 4th Jan Koeman Man Utd 32 7.84 5th Gordon Baxter Arsenal 36 7.81 29th Gary MacLeod Dover 21 (2) 7.43 Man of the Match: Pos Player Club Apps MoM-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Frank Voß Man Utd 32 9 2nd Nick Ward Watford 37 7 3rd Gordon Baxter Arsenal 36 5 4th Dean Vaughan Blackburn 37 5 5th Robbie Stevens Derby 33 5 18th John McCabe Dover 29 4 No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------31 Abiven, Olivier GK FRA 9.8.79 26 - - £4.8K 1.6.11 £1.5M 21 Bailly, Cyril SW C FRA 1.5.73 33 - - £4.4K 5.6.08 £250K 19 Candela, Stéphane S C FRA 14.11.85 20 - - £675 27.6.10 £1.1M 1 Chevalier, Guillaume GK FRA 22.4.80 26 - - £1.9K 6.5.10 £1.1M 33 Christie, Martin D/DM C SCO 1.8.81 24 - - £6.5K 15.6.11 £1.5M 29 Clément, Jacques D/DM C FRA 6.12.81 24 - - £1.5K 7.6.10 £1M 10 Craig, Michael S C SCO 7.6.81 24 15 5 £1.5K 9.5.10 £7.5M 30 Cunningham, Kevin F RC SCO 25.4.88 18 - - £550 17.6.08 £1M 28 Delaunay, Michael D/DM LC FRA 10.6.80 25 - - £1.3K 16.5.07 £150K 5 Diawara, Patrice D C FRA 10.8.79 26 - - £5K 3.6.08 £2.5M 3 Faivre, Grégory D L FRA 15.6.74 31 - - £2.9K 28.5.08 £475K 17 Fraser, Alan AM C SCO 19.2.80 26 - - £4K 25.6.11 £1.9M 23 Irvine, James F RC SCO 9.2.86 20 - - £0 6.6.06 £1.4M 26 Joly, Nasser SW/D C FRA 19.1.80 26 - - £5.75K 14.6.11 £2M 14 Kangulungu, Pascal D RC FRA 6.3.74 32 - - £4K 10.6.08 £325K 9 Lamont, Michael S C SCO 8.10.78 27 2 - £800 21.5.07 £2.1M 34 Landrin, Fabrice D RC FRA 6.7.86 19 - - £3.6K 21.6.11 £1.1M 12 Lavagne, Fabrice D/AM C FRA 12.9.72 33 - - £3.3K 28.6.08 £525K 11 MacDonald, Chris AM LC SCO 27.8.74 31 - - £4.2K 24.5.08 Free 22 MacLeod, Gary AM L SCO 14.5.74 32 - - £4.5K 28.6.08 £1.9M 25 Main, David D/M L SCO 13.1.79 27 - - £3.5K 28.5.10 £1.7M 8 McCabe, John DM C SCO 5.7.71 34 - - £9K 12.6.08 £650K 2 McIntyre, Danny D/DM R SCO 10.9.84 21 - - £1.1K 2.6.10 £925K 20 McNab, Marc D L SCO 26.4.78 28 - - £1.3K 6.5.10 £1.3M - O'Neill, Kevin D RC SCO 9.8.87 18 - - £325 Rolling £22K 7 O'Neill, Mark M R SCO 3.8.81 24 - - £5.25K 2.6.11 £2.2M 32 Oumouri, Gilles GK FRA 21.5.88 18 - - £2K 2.6.09 £230K 16 Paterson, Gary F RC SCO 22.2.84 22 - - £1.4K 25.6.10 £2.3M 15 Rae, Mark AM R SCO 23.7.77 28 - - £5K 12.6.11 £1.8M 13 Robertson, Kenny GK SCO 26.1.84 22 - - £525 14.6.08 £325K 6 Robertson, Mark D C SCO 11.1.74 32 - - £5.25K 2.6.09 £550K 27 Stewart, Alan DM C SCO 10.3.80 26 - - £375 28.6.06 £55K 4 Thomson, Ian D/DM C SCO 19.8.84 21 - - £4.4K 2.6.10 £1.6M No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------31 Abiven, Olivier 41 0 30 0 0 0 0 1 7.39 21 Bailly, Cyril 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.25 19 Candela, Stéphane 0 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 1 Chevalier, Guillaume 18 0 10 0 0 1 0 0 7.11 33 Christie, Martin 34 (3) 2 0 0 2 4 0 2 6.97 29 Clément, Jacques 5 (6) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.64 10 Craig, Michael 47 (1) 35 0 4 (3) 1 1 0 11 7.58 30 Cunningham, Kevin 1 (7) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 28 Delaunay, Michael 9 (10) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.63 5 Diawara, Patrice 53 0 0 0 3 10 0 2 7.23 3 Faivre, Grégory 14 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 6.93 17 Fraser, Alan 36 4 0 0 7 2 0 1 6.75 23 Irvine, James 2 (10) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 26 Joly, Nasser 55 1 0 0 4 8 1 4 7.33 14 Kangulungu, Pascal 6 (8) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.57 9 Lamont, Michael 11 (34) 8 0 0 1 0 0 1 6.96 34 Landrin, Fabrice 31 0 0 0 1 3 0 1 7.16 12 Lavagne, Fabrice 16 (8) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.63 11 MacDonald, Chris 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 22 MacLeod, Gary 38 (2) 6 0 1 (1) 10 1 0 5 7.42 25 Main, David 21 (1) 3 0 1 (1) 1 2 0 1 6.95 8 McCabe, John 44 4 0 0 7 6 0 5 7.41 2 McIntyre, Danny 14 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.88 20 McNab, Marc 45 0 0 0 3 3 0 1 7.07 - O'Neill, Kevin - - - - - - - - ---- 7 O'Neill, Mark 41 2 0 0 3 0 1 0 6.83 32 Oumouri, Gilles 0 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.50 16 Paterson, Gary 6 (29) 1 0 0 5 1 0 1 6.63 15 Rae, Mark 18 (7) 1 0 0 2 0 1 1 6.88 13 Robertson, Kenny 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 6 Robertson, Mark 2 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.33 27 Stewart, Alan 5 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.83 4 Thomson, Ian 22 (14) 1 0 0 0 2 1 1 7.03 </pre>

retired_swmchick2006

The doctor tells me that perhaps stress is taking its toll on my mental state.

However, he said that I since I seemed to be in a good mood and excellent spirits overall, it wasn’t anything to be worried about. He said my spleen was in excellent health, and the my bile levels were low.

As the summer continued and I enjoyed a bit of relaxation (to be extended thanks to a Dover tour of France just before the season began) I read an interesting piece of news in the paper.

Apparently, I had been approached by Chelsea to take over management at that club.

Funny… you think they I would have known about that.

The Under 21 sides continue to respect my signings, with Landrin, Hughes, and McIntyre all called up to their respective nations.

The summer signings were kept to a relative minimum… despite my efforts. My shortlist was lengthy, but few clubs were willing to part with the player I wanted.

Two of our incoming players were defensive midfielders, not a surprise considering our formation. Didier Bridard and Stuart Quinn should both see significant games. The former may also see some time on the wings if we have desperate need.

Four defenders were added. David Perez should give Landrin a break from starting every game, while Daniel Poggi will probably start at left-back. Andrew Hughes came from Rangers, and is our center-back of the future (I hope).

I was most pleased with the signing of Maximiliano Aimar, a strong, experienced central midfielder. Though born in Argentina, he has spent his last 5 years in France and has committed to his new French nationality. (He’s never been capped for either of his homes.)

The last signing was a bit of gamble. Ian Clark was bought from Ross County to fill the problematic attacking midfielder role. Against the pitiful teams he was playing against, he was averaging a goal and an assist every game, but I wont’ expect that from him here at Dover. A goal on occasion, with strong counterattacking play would be more than enough for us.

That leaves our starting line-up something like this:

GK: Abiven
DR: Perez or Landrin
DL: Poggi
DC: Aimar, Joly, Diawara in rotation
DMC: McCabe, Quinn, Bridard, Thomson in rotation
ML: MacLeod
MR: O’Neill or Rae (though I’d still like to improve here)
AMC: Ian Clark with Paterson on occasion
SC: Craig (whenever he's not injured)

retired_swmchick2006

After a pre-season that included visits to the Crabble from Ajax of Holland and Kaiserslautern of Germany, and that featured a tour of France, Dover faced last season’s runaway league champions Manchester United in the Charity Shield.

In the match between two teams really not on regular season form yet, the sides cancelled each other out and produced a fairly boring 90 minutes. United created only two chances, both saved by Abiven and Dover only created two themselves. Much to my relief, one of those went in. New signing Poggi bent a 20-yard freekick around the wall and into the net for his first goal.

The league began in earnest against Sunderland, and Dover dominated the match from start to finish. It still took a late strike in the 85th minute from Craig to get a 1-0 win. Quinn, one of our new signings at defensive midfielder, came off the bench to set up the winner. Sunderland only created once chance on our net during the game.

Away at Blackburn for the next game, and neither side could produce much offense. A 0-0 draw was justified, though not any fun to experience.

We were then off to Monaco for the Super Cup against Bayern Munich. Despite most of Dover’s squad playing poorly, we still forced the Germans into extra time with a scoreless first 90 minutes. Bayern’s Tasic scored the winner in the 102nd with a low drive that bounced in off the post.

In league action at home to Nottingham Forest, Craig scored 3 goals off of 3 shots and Clark added a penalty as we eased our way to a 4-0 win.

Our first UEFA Cup match of the year was away at Banik Ostrava. We could produce nothing, and the home team didn’t bother to try, so we’d have to look for a result in the return leg at the Crabble.

Aston Villa scored in the 45th and held on despite our switching to a 4-4-2 at halftime (new signing Lecocq partnered with Craig) in the next match as we suffered our first league loss of the season.

McCabe showed his legs were still young enough to score a fantastic solo goal in the next match against Liverpool. We need good games from Abiven, Poggi, and Aimar to hold of the visitor’s (who seemed to be spending money as though they could buy a good season – their recent signing Locatelli only cost 18 million pounds).

The home leg against Banik Ostrava was made interesting when Landrin was sent off for a professional foul in the 50th minute. McCabe came off the bench to set up Craig just 5 minutes later, and we scratched our way into the next round with a 1-0 win on aggregate.

Away to Chelsea and much to everyone’s surprise, Dover scored every goal in a 3-1 whitewashing. The home side looked completely out of sorts, and Craig and Clark scored before halftime. Quinn was unlucky to be given an own goal for a deflected freekick just after the break, but Clark scored again to give us our 2 goal lead. Chelsea had been terrible, perhaps due to trying out a 4-3-1-2 formation that couldn’t manage any ball control in our final third.

After home side Derby scored in the 7th minute of the next match, Dover had to fight their way back to a 2-1 win. An excellent solo goal by Clark tied the game, and then new signing Pascal Calleja set up Craig for what proved to be the winner. McCabe continued to put in great performances despite his age.

Our next game was home against Arsenal. Although they scored first in the 37th minute, Craig scored before halftime to tie the game. A well fought game, Craig had a chance to win it in the final minutes, but put his shot just wide. Signing Stuart Quinn had his best day of the season, a man of the match performance.

In the UEFA Cup 2nd Round, we faced Irish club Shelbourne. The home leg was an embarrassing 1-1 draw. We dominated possession and they scored on their only chance of the game. 2nd half sub Fraser made the most of his appearance by scoring the tying goal in the 62nd. Did I already say it was embarrassing?

We faced early league leader Leeds next and were unlucky to lose 1-0 at home. Leeds scored through striker Sparrow, and our new signing at right midfield Pascal Calleja was sent off in the 90th minute, something that might become a trend based on upon coaching reports of his temperament.

We had Chesterfield in the League Cup 3rd Round. The Division 3 side took us into penalty kicks, despite having a player sent off in the 59th minute. Yes, it was embarrassing. Their Northern Irish keeper Mark Graham had a splendid day, but we converted our first 5 penalties to advance. Victory in this cup may be more difficult than I wanted.

Away at Bolton, and with Lecocq starting in place of Craig, the French striker showed that he could get the goals when we needed him. His strike from a Clark pass was the difference in a 1-0 win. We should have won by more, but Landrin was sent off in the 2nd half.

The return leg against Shelbourne wasn’t a good performance, but Aimar scored his first ever goal for Dover and that was enough. The Irish side could manage nothing against our defense, and we were through to the next round without having played well in either of the first two.

(We'd signed three players in this stretch, striker Pascal Lecocq, young goalkeeper Herve Gatumel, and winger Pascal Calleja.)

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------1st Leeds 11 6 0 0 14 3 3 0 2 4 2 27 --------------------2nd Arsenal 10 3 2 0 14 6 3 2 0 11 2 22 3rd Man Utd 11 4 2 0 10 1 2 2 1 11 9 22 4th Everton 10 5 0 0 11 5 1 4 0 4 3 22 5th Dover 10 3 1 1 7 2 3 1 1 6 3 20 6th Birmingham 10 3 2 0 8 3 3 0 2 7 11 20</pre>

retired_swmchick2006

We returned to league action with a 1-0 win over Watford. Lecocq started for an injured Craig, but didn’t have the best of days. Clark scored from a cross by Perez for the only goal.

The League Cup fourth round game was next at Division One Southampton. Their (Scottish) keeper had an astonishing day, and they scored in the 33rd minute. So much for that cup. We had 11 chances, and 9 shots on goal, but even with that, Dover didn’t play particularly well.

We were able to rebound with a 1-0 win at Ipswich. On the first chance of the game in the 34th minute, Aimar picked out a brilliant diagonal run by Calleja and tricky French winger flicked a header past the Ipswich keeper. For the rest of the game the Ipswich fans chanted us with choruses of “Boring boring Dover…” but their team only created once chance during the game.

We were at home in the next match to Manchester United. McCabe headed in a MacLeod corner, and we held off last seasons champion’s with ease after that. A needed win.

The UEFA Cup 3rd round match-up was against French club Gueugnon. Our opposition showed nothing in the first leg, and failed to come out of their defensive shell for the entire game. We finally broke through when Clark scored after a long solo run in the 82nd and then he set up substitute Kevin Cunningham 2 minutes later to give us an excellent 2-0 win. The game could have been much worse for the visitors if their keeper hadn’t had a good day.

We won 2-0 at Fulham the next game. Calleja and Lecocq scored for Dover in the game, after which the print media claimed our form showed we were serious about challenging in the league this year. When we get near perfect games from our central midfielders like McCabe and Bridard gave in this game, we certainly look like contenders.

And then there are games like the next one at home to Everton. The visitor’s went out 2-0 winners thanks to a Diawara own goal, and a late solo strike from their Swedish forward Berntsson. Abiven wasn’t his usual self on the day.

We sent out a almost completely second choice squad for the return leg at Gueugnon. Bridard and Paterson put our aggregate lead at 4 before 20 minutes had passed. Young keeper Gatumel was brought on for the 2nd half and showed why we hope he will be our keeper of the future.

Away at Birmingham and we struck early after a nice overlapping run by Poggi allowed him to score off a Calleja cross. Birmingham briefly tied it up after that, but Craig scored a penalty he earned, though some claim he dived, and then scored in the 30th minute to make it 3-1. An easy 60 minutes followed after that.

We couldn’t manage anything but a 0-0 draw with Tottenham at home after that. One of the few games this season we have dominated possession. Spurs were fairly awful on the day, but only Poggi could put any shots on target.

Thankfully Poggi continued his good form into the next game where he set up the only goal from a freekick. Calleja continued to be the big surprise of the season by heading the goal past the Wolves keeper in front of our home end. A solid defensive performance from the whole team secured the win.

Another 1-0 win followed against Derby. With Craig given a day off (due to niggling injuries and relatively poor form), Lecocq came through with a excellent headed goal in the 55th. Another solid team performance in front of the home fans.

That took us to game 20 of the league season, away at Sunderland. Their keeper Kallaste had one of his off days, and Clark exploded for an easy hattrick. Craig added one in the 2nd half. Things got interesting after we brought Gatumel on to gain some first team experience. He only lasted 14 minutes before being sent off for a profession foul. We had no choice but to put a field player to mind the nets for the remaining 20 minutes of the game. McCabe donned the keeper’s gloves, and although he was helpless to stop the penalty, Sunderland only troubled him once more (an easy clearance) and the 4-1 win wrapped up an excellent first half of the season.

We were in first place.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------1st Dover 20 6 2 2 10 4 8 1 1 17 5 45 --------------------------------2nd Man Utd 20 8 2 0 19 1 5 3 2 20 13 44 3rd Leeds 20 9 1 0 26 5 5 0 5 9 8 43 4th Arsenal 20 7 2 1 24 8 5 3 2 17 10 41 5th Everton 20 8 1 1 18 8 4 4 2 8 6 41 6th Tottenham 20 8 2 0 21 10 3 2 5 11 16 37 7th Derby 20 7 2 1 20 8 4 1 5 10 13 36 </pre>

retired_swmchick2006

We promptly fell out of first place with a 0-0 draw away at Charlton. We had a bit of good news in that Gatumel’s ban was revoked after we appealed.

We began the new year with two games back to back against Wolves, one in the league and one in the FA Cup.

The first was a laugher as Craig scored twice in the first 15 minutes. Young Kevin Cunningham added a third, and Quinn tucked home a fourth in the 2nd half.

The 3rd Round FA Cup match-up, on the other hand, was a narrow come from behind 2-1 win. Cunningham got his second goal in two games, and Clark scored a late winner in the 82nd. Wolves had dominated possession in the match, but couldn’t create many chances.

Another 1-0 result followed at home against Blackburn. Craig scored early, and we were never threatened after that. McCabe continued to be our influential figure in the center of the pitch.

At around this point, the media began asking me what I though about Dover’s chances this season. I calmly explained that we were simply playing our game, and that if other teams didn’t ensure that they got their results, they might find themselves looking up the table at us at the end of the year. I was quoted as: “We are quietly confident.”

Bridard scored after the keeper spilled a Craig shot to give us a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest. It should have been much more as we created 11 shots to Forest’s 2. We are getting used to the “Boring Boring Dover” chants at away grounds by this point in the season.

Goals from MacLeod and Lecocq were enough to see us past Division One side West Ham in the FA Cup 4th Round. They really are a hopeless bunch of blunderers there aren't they? I'd hate to have to manage them.

We shredded Aston Villa 4-0 in the next league game. Andrew Hughes got his first ever goal for Dover, Craig scored a brace, and Bridard hit a blistering half-volley for the fourth.

We were flying high. Unfortunately, Arsenal was flying much higher and destroyed us 3-1 in the next match. Abiven had a poor day and gave up the three goals after Calleja had struck a fine early goal. The loss gave Arsenal first place and dropped us into third behind Leeds.

We had hoped for more than 0-0 draw in the next game at home to Chelsea, but the visitors were determined not to be embarrassed like they had been earlier in the season. Lecocq had a bicycle kick attempt at goal cleared off the line.

By this time we had been informed that we would be playing in the World Club Championships in Italy in summer. An unexpected… er… ‘honor’.

Bridard and Quinn scored to give us an easy 2-0 win over Brighton in the FA Cup 5th round.

Calleja set up a 80th minute goal for Craig to let us escape Liverpool with a 1-1 draw. We only barely deserved it.

Our UEFA Cup 4th Round match-up was against German side Hertha BSC. We were a bit surprised by the away leg as they really seemed unable to break out of their end of the pitch for the first half, and Craig justly scored in the 22nd. The match was a fairly dreary game after that, especially since the ball managed to be in play for only 56 minutes of the game. The two teams combined for a whopping 30 throw-ins. The 50000 fans in Berlin must still be wondering what the heck happened.

The 3-0 win over Watford that followed was another blowout, this time in front of a record crowd at the Crabble. Craig scored in the 14th but then was injured by Watford’s Dyer in the 40th. It made no difference as Bridard scored before halftime and Cunningham scored in the 81st. David Perez was excellent on the day running rampant down his flank and setting up the last two goals.

Hertha fans protested after we beat their club 3-0 in the return leg at the Crabble. With Craig and Lecocq nursing injuries, we turned to Lamont to provide the goals, and he put on a performance that should see him find a new club in the off-season. The striker’s hattrick looked almost too easy for a player who is ready to leave the club to find first team football.

Tottenham beat us 1-0 in the FA Cup Quarterfinal at the Crabble. A long solo goal from their midfielder Lindhorst (beating Aimar, Baticle, and Diawara was the difference. Our chance at a repeat was over.

We had a favorable UEFA Cup Quarterfinal draw, facing Helsingborg of Sweden. Early goals from McCabe and Clark were plenty as the home side managed nothing against our defense.

Clark carried over his scoring touch into the league game (the 30th of the season) that followed. He scored once at the stroke of halftime and then immediately after the break as a visitors Bolton couldn’t have produced a shot if we had played for a full day.

Helsingborg was closed out in the return leg with a simple 1-0 home win. Paterson got our goal in the 27th after being set up by Lamont

We'd added three more players to the club in this stretch: Regis Baticle a fantastic young player at left back, center back Eric Olivier, and forward & winger Fabien Foulon.

Going into the final 8 games of the season, Dover was looking up the table at an Arsenal club who hadn’t lost a league game since mid-December.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts---------------------------------1st Arsenal 30 12 2 1 40 10 9 4 2 26 11 69 ---------------------------------2nd Dover 30 10 3 2 20 4 10 3 2 24 9 66 3rd Man Utd 30 11 3 0 28 3 7 6 3 27 19 63 4th Leeds 30 12 2 0 36 10 8 1 7 15 13 63 5th Everton 30 12 2 1 24 10 5 4 6 12 14 57 6th Tottenham 30 10 3 2 26 12 4 3 8 17 26 48 7th Derby 29 9 2 4 25 14 5 3 6 19 19 47 </pre>

retired_swmchick2006

Gameday 31 of the Premiership was a tough away match at Leeds, sitting at 4th place. Calleja continued to impress by scoring the opener in the 29th minute. Leeds was controlling possession, and scored just before halftime behind their Dutch international Arno Makaay. With Bridard struggling, I decided to give Foulon some playing time, and switched to the 4-4-2. The 2nd half wasn’t much to watch, Leeds seemed unwilling to risk leaving room in their half, and things were dull until the 71st when a handball against a Leeds player let Poggi find Craig in the box to head home off the underside of the crossbar. It was his 20th goal of the season. Leeds was completely taken off guard and couldn’t pull themselves back together. Quinn headed home a third from a McCabe corner to give us a 3-1 win. (Arsenal went on to draw away at Manchester United, as we closed the gap slightly.)

The win over Leeds had given Dover the best record for the month, and the Manager of the Month Award went to yours truly.

We were back in European matches with a Semifinal draw with PSG. The away leg was first and 2 goals from Craig gave us a strong chance of reaching the final.

Craig saved us blushed by scoring another brace in the next league game against Ipswich. Abiven gave up 2 goals before halftime on the only shots Ipswich would take, and he was substituted at the break. Craig then scored a solo goal and a header from a team move to give us an important point. (Arsenal had beaten Birmingham in their match.)

A last minute penalty at Manchester United sent us to a 1-0 defeat. Poggi had sent Green flying, but it looked like a half-dive. Craig had played well, but the win wasn’t to be ours. Thankfully, Arsenal lost their first league game in months, going down to Everton on the road.

5 games to go and the order stayed the same.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">1st Arsenal 33 13 2 1 42 11 9 5 3 28 14 73 -------------------------------2nd Dover 33 10 4 2 22 6 11 3 3 27 11 70 3rd Man Utd 33 12 4 0 30 4 7 7 3 27 19 68 4th Leeds 33 13 2 1 39 14 8 1 8 15 14 66 5th Everton 33 14 2 1 30 11 5 4 7 12 15 63</pre>

The return leg at the Crabble vs PSG was next, and after a quiet first half, I gave MacLeod, Ian Clark, and Craig a rest as we looked certain to cruise to a easy aggregate win. Just moments after Craig had left the field, PSG scored through young Jean-Michel Lopez, and despite our best efforts to close down the game even further, we were shredded by a great PSG move in the 76th to even up the score. Extra-time was scoreless, and forced the match into penalties, where things were decided quickly. Abiven saved once, and PSG missed their next two, while Cunningham, Landrin, and Lamont easily converted. The 3-0 win in penalties sent us through to the final to face Inter Milan.

Arsenal could only manage a draw in their midweek game against Charlton.

Back in league play (our matchday 34), and the rest given to Craig and MacLeod paid off as we romped to an impressive 4-0 over the 5th place side. They both scored in the opening 20, and Craig tacked on goal 26 of the season in the 2nd half. Poggi rifled in a freekick just before halftime. The scoreline sent Everton fans streaming out of the stadium well before the end in fury.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">1st Arsenal 34 13 3 1 43 12 9 5 3 28 14 74 -------------------------------2nd Dover 34 10 4 2 22 6 12 3 3 31 11 73</pre>

We were able to watch the Tottenham vs Arsenal match the following Monday, and the clubhouse broke out in huge cheers after Jamie Hunter scored in the 87th to give Spurs an exciting 3-2 derby win. We were only a point behind with a game in hand, and Arsenal were throwing the season away in front of us.