Baltimore MD - Seven wins out of seven pre-season games is an impressive record. But Palace Co-Manager Pete Medd still had some constructive criticism for his team after today's narrow victory over a tricky UMBC side at the home stadium for both teams. ""This was our worst performance so far this pre-season. There were some very tired legs out there, but that' s because we've been training hard this week. We have to fight through that though, because there are going to be times this season when we'll have multiple games in quick succession. This was a good mental test for us and it was great to win again. We're creating a winning habit, but we need to be able to do more off the ball to be effective against professional competition. We told the guys, you may be able to get away with it against amateur teams, but we need to be more consistent in our off the ball movement."
The Palace side earned their lates win despite the absence of four players through injury: midfielder Bryan Harkin broke two fingers and needs needs to get used to playing in a cast in training before opening day; midfielder/forward Harold Urqujo will miss one to three weeks with a sprained MCL; striker Gary Brooks has a knock on his thigh and could have started but the coaches decided to play it safe; and full back Paul Robson is day to day with a minor knee strain.
Though the game was entertaining for extended periods, with plenty of attacking movement from both sides, a steady flow of offside calls against Palace broke up play. Conversely, the referees seemed willing to allow a slew of heavy and late challenges by UMBC go unpunished. This tone was set early on as Kevin King was flattened in the opening minute requiring the trainer's attention for several minutes before play finally resumed. Pat Healey was the next victim as play was allowed to continue after receiving a sharp kick across both legs with the ball nowhere near either player. While Healey writhed, Sergio Flores had Palace's first clear chance of the match but Sophomore, Matt Henderson in the UMBC goal made the first of many saves, this time with his feet.
UMBC were looking threatening on the counter-attack and on 10 minutes, Junior, Kevin Gnatiko split two defenders and made a nice run onto the end of his own through ball. The Palace keeper sprinted out to challenge on the edge of the box, forcing the UMBC forward wide left. Gnatiko, clearly not comfortable shooting with his left in this situation, took two extra seconds to switch the ball to his right and his shot was cleared off the line by a retreating Val Teixeira.
Palace maintained possession well, as they have done in previous games, but UMBC worried Palace again on 24 when Zach Thompson came out to grab a lofted cross from a free-kick and, on the edge of his 6-yard box, completely missed the ball. Luckily for him and the rest of the Palace players, so did everyone else and it went out for a goal-kick.
On the half-hour mark, Palace captain Val Teixeira, deep in UMBC's half, threw the ball in to Matthew Mbuta whose one-touch layoff to Carlos Morales was volleyed smartly, looping over the stranded keeper, but it rattled the crossbar and the UMBC fans yelped with relief. Matthew Mbuta should have done better on 37 when he headed over from close range off a Val Teixeira cross.
UMBC continued to look dangerous on the break and in the 38th minute a long ball to the edge of the 18 yard box was met on the volley by the UMBC striker, but Zach Thompson charged out of his goal and the shot sailed harmlessly over.
The half closed with Palace creating several more chances but to no avail. On 40, Teixeira took a pass on the edge of the box from Mbuta, fired a daisy-cutter which Henderson saw late, barely managing to get his left hand down to it and pushing it just far enough out of the path of the on-rushing Mbuta. As play continued, the ball ended up with Shintaro Harada in the box. Harada was tackled from behind and instead of a penalty, the referee and his assistant on that side of the pitch elected to award a free kick just on the outside edge of the box. The free-kick came to nothing.
Unusually enough, Medd made only one lineup change to start the second half, replacing a beaten-up Kevin King with Cecil Lewis.
Again, it took 10 minutes of the half for Palace to create their first good opportunity, with a series of one-touch passes between Alex Ughiovhe, Pat Healey and Sergio Flores putting Matthew Mbuta clear on the left of the box, but he skewed his left-footed shot wide from close range.
UMBC came close on 17 minutes with a 20-yard snap shot from wide left that Thompson looked to have covered, but which smacked off the outside of the left post.
Palace kept their patience in possession and on 30, Val Teixeira stole the ball away from the feet of a UMBC player just inside the UMBC half, darted up the left wing and crossed to the far post where Pat Healey met the ball sweetly on the volley, but unfortunately straight into UMBC goalkeeper Henderson's legs.
At last, Palace were rewarded in the 33rd minute when another patient build-up found Matthew Mbuta on the left about 20 yards out. He decided to take matters into his own hands, dribbling past a trio of defenders and firing low across the keeper for his second goal of the pre-season.
Andrew Marshall almost doubled the lead a minute later when his curling effort from 25 yards was blocked but not held by the UMBC keeper and Matthew Mbuta was only half a step from beating Henderson to the loose ball. It was Marshall again on 42 when he charged up the right wing beating UMBC players with ease, but his shot was cleared away by the UMBC defense. Soon after, Pat Healey played a nice one-two with Harada and Healey's 20 yard left-footed shot was acrobatically tipped onto the bar.
Medd concluded: "UMBC did well. They're probably the most dangerous team we've faced so far. But that's coach Caringi - we know him very well - they're going to be a very attack-minded team and it was a testament to the level we're at that at times, we had them pinned back for 10 or 20 minutes stretches."
This Saturday sees Palace visit Germantown as they take on new local rival, Real Maryland for the first time, at 6:00pm at the Maryland Soccerplex. This match is more than just a pre-season game - it's a benefit for the family of Matt DeOrsey.
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