Baltimore MD - Crystal Palace FC USA, currently sitting in fourth place in the standings, head to fifth-placed Harrisburg today for another crucial fixture in Palace's efforts to climb the table and secure a top spot for the playoffs.

Palace have today re-signed one of their regulars from last season, Mateus dos Anjos, who had most recently been playing for Real Maryland, whom Palace will face on July 31st.  Dos Anjos is expected to start tonight's match in Harrisburg.  Meanwhile, Harrisburg have just picked up goalkeeper Matt Nelson who was released by Palace on Friday.  Nelson was part of Harrisburg's 2007 championship winning team before joining Palace.

The teams have met twice already this season, once in the league and once in the US Open Cup.  The league match was played at UMBC on June 8th in sweltering conditions and ended in a 1-0 victory for the Islanders courtesy of a Brian Ombiji finish.  16 days later, Palace headed up to City Island for the US Open Cup 2nd round thriller which ended in a penalty shoot-out.  Then former, and now current Harrisburg 'keeper Matt Nelson was Palace's hero saving three of the four spot kicks he faced, setting the Baltimore side up for their historic 2-0 third round defeat of the New York Red Bulls.

Jim Cherneski shared his thoughts about tonight's match: "Harrisburg is a  well-organized team.  They're one of our local rivals and every game can go either way.  We expect a tough battle out there, we understand that the pitch is holding some water from yesterday's heavy rain, so it'll be heavy going on what's normally a heavy pitch anyway.  They're at full strength we hear, while we're missing some players.  But as I always say, we have a very strong, deep squad.  I don't feel like we miss a beat if anyone's injured - I feel our players are that good.   We need to win this game, it's hugely important if we want to host in the playoffs.  We had a good training session yesterday and we're ready for the battle that's undoubtedly going to take place tonight."

Cherneski also welcomed Mateus dos Anjos back to the club:  "We're very excited to have Mateus back in the fold.  When we played against him at Real Maryland, we thought he was one of, if not their top player.   He understands our system so there's no learning curve to worry about - we expect him to come in and make a big impact."

Alex Ughiovhe is still injured, but Dan Lader and David Feazell return to the squad.   Jim Cherneski picked up a knock against Pittsburgh and is unavailable for tonight's match.

Next up for Palace is a trip south to league-leading Charlotte on Saturday.  The team returns to Baltimore for the derby clash with Real Maryland on Thursday July 31st , a game that will determine the winner of the inaugural DeOrsey Maryland Cup. 

Tickets for all upcoming home games can be purchased here.