 Baltimore MD - Crystal Palace ended their three game losing streak in the league with a hard earned victory over the second-placed Cleveland City Stars at UMBC Stadium. With the three points earned, Palace briefly moved back to joint second place in USL2. Cleveland's win the following day at Pittsburgh however pushed the Baltimore side back to third, three points behind the City Stars and five points off top-placed Charlotte. But Palace do have games in hand on both the teams above them: Cleveland has played two games more, Charlotte one.
Both teams came out of the blocks quickly, creating plenty of flowing, attacking play to keep the 1,626 boisterous fans on the edge of their seats. Despite each team having played a long way from home on Tuesday night in the US Open Cup, the pace of the game didn’t slow down one bit as the half wore on. Dan Lader was the playmaker for Palace in the midfield, while Larry Mark and Matthew  Mbuta were making plenty of dangerous runs down the channels. But the final ball was lacking and, as the half hour mark approached, both goalkeepers remained untested, thanks partly to some brave defending by their respective back lines.
In the 28th minute, left-back Paul Robson pressed forward and found himself with the ball in space just outside the corner of the box. He lined up a shot to the far post and the Cleveland ‘keeper, Hunter Gilstrap, started to move across his goal to cover. But Palace midfielder, Pat Healey, standing somewhere near the penalty spot, got his head to the ball and Gilstrap was stranded as he watched the ball change direction and into the back of the net. Palace and Cleveland kept the end-to-end action going through to end of the half, but the score remained 1-0 at the break.
Gary Brooks came on as a substitute at the start of the second half, replacing Bryan Harkin, who had been carded in the first half. His pace and work rate gave Palace a boost and the Cleveland defense a headache, and on 59 minutes, Brooks got on the end of a perfect cross from fellow Jamaican Kevin King and slotted the ball home from 10 yards out to double Palace’s advantage.
 Cleveland weren’t about to give up the ghost, and they pressed forward with a vengeance. On 69 minutes, a free kick from midfielder Adriano Sella found Dana MacGregor in the box and he turned it home to put Cleveland right back in the game.
 The City Stars kept up the pressure, throwing everyone forward, including even their ‘keeper for a corner in the final minute of injury time, but the Palace defense held firm.
83rd minute substitute Sergio Flores almost sealed it for Palace in stoppage time with a blistering shot from 25 yards out that flew just inches over the crossbar.
Palace Co-Manager Jim Cherneski was very pleased with the performance: "The team played with passion, which seemed to be missing from the previous three league matches. We spent a lot of time looking at game tape and it helped us to sort a few things out."
Pete Medd, Palace's other Co-Manager, stated: "This was probably one of our best performances of the year." He pointed out the unusual nature of both Palace goals: "We combined well for two goals from the run of play, something we haven't done much of this year. We had good attacking movement and such quality goals were good to see."
Medd added that he was really pleased with the defensive display and wasn't overly concerned about the lone goal scored by Cleveland. "The guys swear it didn't touch anyone from an indirect free kick. But Cleveland have big bodies they throw in for those kind of situations, so I wouldn't call it a soft goal like the ones we'd been giving up in the league recently."
Cherneski summed up the evening's effort: "Cleveland is a good team and it was a crucial win for us."
Palace’s next game is on Tuesday night, June 17th away to the Wilmington Hammerheads. |
