Match Discussion: Game 23 - The Whites (A)

[PON_News]

Game 23 - The Whites (A)

Team: Dover Athletic

Date: 08/01/2022

Where: Crabble Athletic Ground

What line-up should Ian Burchnall opt for? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be?

Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

[Dripsey3]

This season's version of Dover is possibly the worst team to ever play in the NL. They have played 22 games and have yet to win a game. They are sat on -8 points, 46 points behind Notts and have played 2 games more than Notts. They are going down, the only question is whether they will actually get to plus points or even win a game. There are no excuses for not beating Dover. 3 points is the absolute minimum. 

[Fozzy]

Such a shame what has happened to Dover as they were always one of the strongest National league sides over the last few years.

Notts need to get an early goal and then I can see us scoring a hatful, anything other than a win will be a disaster as we follow it with matches against King's Lynn, Barnet and Wealdstone. We should be looking at 12 points from 12 over the next four games.

[Chris Website URL Visit Site 𝕏 fmcj10 Instagram fmcj10]

No sympathy for Dover, whatsoever!

They're incredibly poorly run and, are a joke to even be still operating as a football club. I find it hard to say that teams don't deserve to exist normally, however, Dover is the one example where I feel they're on borrowed time. Any club that spends money, signing players after releasing others (some allegedly not paid) - only to bring in high earners. It doesn't sit well with me. Nothing that Dover does surprises me. I fully expect them to pull a Kings Lynn on us, although, after the last time, Dover postponed two games - I would imagine the term should be "a double Dover".

If the game goes ahead and Notts fails to play well, I would honestly be annoyed.

Merely because they're the poorest team in this league for a reason, we have pulled off some good results and, I fail to see how we can't create enough chances to win. A draw wouldn't be so bad, but to be the first team they've won - some of our lot will have a right meltdown.

Stick with the team that started against Wrexham if possible.

[menzinho]

I fully expect them just to just sit and play for the 0-0, so the earlier we can score, the better. The only points they’ve got at home this season weirdly have been against Chesterfield (how?) and Solihull (Ardley’s bogey ground), both were 0-0’s.

Surely Dover are going to win a game at some point… Everything would suggest it’s not going to happen this weekend but I'm still a little nervous about this game!

Also I've just checked the weather and it's going be heavy rain from 8am tomorrow morning, right through until kick off! Do Dover have anything in the way of covers or irrigation? My prediction is P-P! (But I sincerely hope it's not another wasted journey).

Edited January 7, 2022 by menzinho

[Chris Website URL Visit Site 𝕏 fmcj10 Instagram fmcj10]

Dover is just an awful club, no standards whatsoever...

It came as no surprise that the game was called off, however, what wasn't predictable was how Notts would react - https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/2022/january/dover-postponed-080122/

How can a referee postpone a match without speaking first to both teams? It seems wrong to me.

Supposedly, even Dover didn't want the game being called off.

 

[menzinho]

So, Dover communicated to Notts that they had no issues this morning… Yet their fans thought (knew) it would be off. These are from their fan forum:

“Any pitch inspections planned for tomorrow? Looked like a plough field last week and rain is forecast all day tomorrow”

“Watch this game get called off at the last minute and drag our name further into the mud! Can’t seriously see the pitch passing an inspection!”

“I knew about 11 am this morning it would be off as did many others, WTF is wrong with the club right now.”

Don’t know how a ‘professional’ club can be so blasé about the state of their pitch. Knowing the forecast there should’ve been a pitch inspection early. Apparently, it was raining there all morning as well… Unbelievable lack of thought and foresight, feel for the fans that put in the miles only to be the last thought in people’s minds (again).

[Dripsey3]

You couldn't play football on that excuse for a pitch. Ref was right to call it off. 

[Chris Website URL Visit Site 𝕏 fmcj10 Instagram fmcj10]

2 hours ago, Dripsey3 said:

You couldn't play football on that excuse for a pitch. Ref was right to call it off. 

It didn't look bad from what I've seen, we've had it worse and, I watched the game highlights their chairman mentioned - it certainly looked worse then compared to today.

I don't buy they wanted the game to be played though, off or on.

A decision needs to be made early to prevent travel. Dover are a club that pulls postponements without thought, if they truly believed the game could've been played, then they should've communicated with Notts throughout the process.

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

I got as far as Canterbury East on the train, before turning back.

[DangerousSausage]

Fans of both clubs were talking about the possibility of this being called off beforehand due to the awful weather forecast and the state of the pitch. If Dover were so surprised, that shows a lack of foresight.

The way a couple of clubs in this league are run is shambolic. Most clubs in the Northern Counties East league put them to shame.