Dream League - Game Week 16

Burnley 0 - 1 Salisbury
Ronaldo (Schneiderlin); -
MOTM: Fabregas - The game that TBag was putting across in his tactics would, in my opinion, see Fabregas flourish for Burnley. Unlucky to be on the losing side

Perhaps a bit of a shock, Burnley, with their home crowd dragging the ball forward looked on the front foot throughout most of the game. Fabregas floated across the pitch controlling the game, and bar a few solid blocks from Schneiderlin and Zouma, he would've found Rooney in the penalty area.

The goal came when Ronaldo picked the ball up from Schneiderlin wide left, about 40-50 yards away from the goal. Corchia showed he's still a young, learning defender and his dive in at Ronaldo saw him miss the ball and watch his opponent fly past him. Kompany was unfortunate not to recover the mistake but he couldn't catch Ronaldo in full flight. Ronaldo took it past him, and scooped it over a despairing Ter Stegen.

Aberdeen: Jovetic; Salisbury: Zouma

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Fishguard 2 - 1 Blackpool
Bony (Clasie), Bony (Van Ginkel); Lucas Moura (Rafael)
MOTM: Bony - His powerful presence offered a sharp edge through which Fishguard could focus their possession on. The careful movement of others around him allowed Bony to shine today.

Very close on to call, that brand of 'total football' that Welshy brings to the might Fishguard really worked well today. The packed midfield saw the powerful force of Schweinsteiger swamped, and with very few, simple, forward options. He was forced into trying 'Hollywood' passes which really depleted Blackpool's possession, he was also trying to drive forward a lot, but found the space too crowded to make any headway.

The first however went Blackpool's way. Lucas Moura thrived in the space that Welshy's formation afforded him, Van Ginkel did try and track back but was perhaps a little positionally naive today. Rafael played a low, long ball down the line which Moura sneaked past Hendrix and drilled it in low before Welshy's sweeper could prevent the shot.

Welshy's team came out after half time with a new vigour, Van Ginkel was a lot more disciplined and nullified Moura, and it was a tackle on the Brazilian that started off Fishguard's first goal. Van Ginkel robbed the ball, knocked it forward to Clasie who sent the ball spinning around Bony, who used his strength to turn Rakitisky before prodding it home.

It really looked like this one would end in a draw, but in the last minutes the now deep lying Paulinho crunched into Maher, fair tackle, but the ball flew loose. Van Ginkel was the first to react, tapping it one side of Schweinsteiger and running the other he threaded a needle ball between the CBs. The ball from Van Ginkel looked to have gone too far, but Bony threw out a leg, and it appeared that the desperation of the striker caught Leno offguard who could only get a weak hand to the ball as it trickled in.

Fishgaurd: Veltman, Hiljemark; Blackpool: Kagawa, Coentrao

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Tenby 0 - 1 Shrewsbury
- ; Kroos (Mata)
MOTM : De Rossi - He kept Morata completely out of the game, and in doing so allowed the Shrewsbury midfield to win the crucial battle in the centre

Despite all the flair and individual brilliance on show, this one was extremely dour. Ribery in particular had a poor match, several crosses early on never found Ibrahimovic, who was admittedly stationed at the back post behind the aerial prowess of Terry and Agger, coupled with the commanding Valdes, gave the wingers little to aim at.

The battle for the midfield was a tough one, Fernandinho and De Rossi were both flying into challenges but a particularly rough challenge by De Rossi saw Morata fade out the game as he seemed to try and get rid of the ball as quickly as possible leading to mistakes from the young Spaniard.

The goal game from, rather predictably, a piece of individualism. The game was scrappy, but in the 60th minute Mata saw Kroos making ground about 30 yards from goal, a neat lay off saw the German swerve a beautiful shot into the far top corner. Great goal in a crap match.

Tenby: Terry, Fletcher, Godin, Pedro; Southend: Robben, Juanfran, Boateng

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Southend 2 - 0 Aberdeen
Negredo (Aguero), Aguero (Rakitic); -
MOTM: Aguero - Rose to a very tough Scottish challenge and shone. Geed the crowd up which really really helped the game, and Southend in particular, get going.

This game was by and large decided by a sizeable Southend crowd. The home advantage seemed to breathe confidence through Tippy's team, or perhaps it was the fact that they'd escaped Tippy's tyrannical touch for a week or two as Di temps them?

For Aberdeen, Neymar and Sanchez were extremely bright all game, but Ivanovic and Santon were both instructed to sit deep and this took away a lot of the threat, the two former Barca attackers were forced to perform well away from the goal.

The first came from Aguero stealing in between Clyne and Otamendi to latch onto a Pjanic pass. He shaped to shoot, but in fact dragged it back, the Aberdeen defenders had been racing to catch up now saw themselves lunging past a stationary Aguero. Aguero then played it across the penalty area where Negredo professionally ploughed it home.

The second for Southend, and for Di (not Tippy, he gets no credit ) saw a beautiful example of a full volley. Rakitic Swung a delightfully curved ball in behind the Aberdonian defence which Aguero tracked all the way, and a la RVP fired a right footed volley straight past Bardi who could only watch as it broke through the net and hit a Southend fan right in his nose. POW!

Aberdeen: Clyne, Depay, Son; Southend: Mignolet

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Sekhukhune Lions 1 - 1 Dagenham and Redbridge
Costa (De Gea); Draxler (Cavani) -
MOTM: Ramos - Was instrumental in keeping Sekhukhune's score low. Without him, Costa and Suarez may well have run riot..

One of this week's late kick off's pitted two incredible teams together. In terms of sheer quality this game should've been packed with goals. However, it was the defence for both sides who came out on top really. Especially Dagenham's, 21's side were really pegged back by the front trio of Modric, Costa and Suarez. Praise has to go to the Spaniard Ramos for his spirited rearguard action today, throwing in tackles and blocks every few minutes or so.

Whilst we can praise Ramos, the first goal of the match was a lesson in how not to defend. De Gea hoofed it forward as Cavani tirelessly chased a back pass. De Gea's clearance soon turned into something far more sinister for 21, his defence had ventured forward, and a slip by Thiago let Costa storm onto the long ball and neatly whip it past Lloris.

It looked all set to be 1-0 as the final whistle drew ever nearer 21 brought on one of his many benched talents (have you seen his bench?! He's fecking hoarding all the good players ). Draxler on for Gotze brought a real new dimension to the attack. When the ball was hit long to Cavani the Uruguayan sliced it with his boot, sending it slipping past Benatia for the sub Draxler to power home, sending the ball right past De Gea in net.

Dag and Red -Papa, Gotze, Martinez; Sekhukhune - Manquillo, Rodriguez

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Harrogate 1 - 0 Cambuur
Messi (Iniesta); -
MOTM: Kondogbia - Whilst the quartet in front of him may get the stats and plaudits, it was Kondogbia's destructive work which broke up Cambuur's play and meant they never settled.

LSTD's put a fantastic team together, and they dominated todays' match, however it is a testament to how strong LC's side is that they were only able to squeeze one past Perin. The goal came early, much to the relief of the Harrogate fans from Harrogate. Iniesta went on a mazy run, and was clipped by Doria, Messi dutifully scored the penalty. However, LC was furious at the decision, believing Iniesta to have been outside of the box on the initial challenge, replays showed that the young, inexperienced Hungarian manager may well have had a point.

You could clearly see the game that LC was trying to get his team to play, but an ever present Kondogbia latched onto Thiago early on, which stifled the main platform for any offensive moves coming from Cambuur. Thiago was never given space to think, and was forced to rush many a pass, which saw them lose their potency, many falling behind the run of the attackers.

All in all a tidy game, not a classic by any stretch, but the controversy for Harrogate's goal may rumble on due to this being a major win for LSTD. A true six pointer between these two, who were back to back in the league. Will this result change anything??

Harrogate: Willian, Azpilicueta, Vertonghen; Cambuur: Ocampos, Muriel, Firmino