Baltimore MD - Palace's pre-season win streak continued on a perfect spring evening on Wednesday at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Once again, an improved second half performance was the determining factor as goals from Jamaicans Gary Brooks and new signing Kevin King sealed the Eagles' fourth win in four friendly matches so far.
The first five minutes were uneventful as each team denied the other the opportunity to settle into any sort of rhythm. Andrew Marshall was the beneficiary of the first chance of the evening after 6 minutes when Matthew Mbuta crossed from the left touchline, but to no avail as Marshall, under pressure from a Navy defender, could only head straight at the goalie. Palace's dominance of the possession soon created a flurry of chances. After 19, Shintaro Harada crossed quickly to Carlos Morales in the box but Morales, with the goalkeeper beaten, misjudged his timing and failed to make contact. Less than a minute later, left back Val Teixeirahad a powerful left-footed drive deflected away. From the resulting corner, Mbuta saw his crisp header miraculously saved by the Navy keeper. Mbuta missed another golden opportunity just 60seconds later when another lovely cross from Harada was knocked down by Carlos Morales to Mbuta inside the six yard box. Mbuta cushioned it on his chest and volleyed wide.
Navy's only chance of the half came with half an hour gone. Pat Healey had the ball stripped away in the centre circle by a Navy midfielder in full stride. His run continued past three defenders before laying the ball off to a teammate who's weak effort was going wide when Zak Thompson gathered. The Eagles created two more chances as the half wound down, with Harada shooting just wide after some nice interplay around the box from Morales and Mbuta, followed by a shot from the ever-dangerous Mbuta deflected wide for another corner.
Five Palace substitutions at half time and the pace of the game shifted up a gear. Still Navy threatened but replacement Palace goalie Faouzi Bendaoud was equal to the challenge throughout the second stanza, taking command of his area and making several tricky saves and showing no indecision when claiming the ball in the air. At the other end, Jamaicans Gary Brooks and Kevin King were among the fresh legs for Palace and on 12 minutes it was Brooks who broke the deadlock, meeting Harada's free kick from the right with what might best be described as a horizontal bicycle kick, volleying the ball sharply across goal and inside the far post for his third goal in just 57 minutes of pre-season play (he came on for the second half against Harrisburg on Friday.)
The Jamaicains continued to combine well, moving well off the ball and off each other as Palace again enjoyed most of the possession. Young Columbian, Harold Urquijo was bothering the Navy defense as well, tearing into the box after a through ball from Larry Mark but the Navy keeper was out sharply to grab the ball off Urquijo's feet.
Palace's continued pressure was eventually rewarded with 17 minutes to go as Urquijo played Larry Mark into the penalty box. Mark held the ball up, gave it back to Urquijo on the edge of the box who then passed to Kevin King at the top of the D. King turned and ran several steps away from goal, then suddenly swivelled and struck a dipping shot from 22 yards out into the top left corner. The match turned scrappy after Palace's second goal, and the Naval Academy could only muster long-range attempts on the Palace goal.
"I wasn't overly pleased to be honest" said Palace Co-Manager Jim Cherneski. "Once we scored, we opened them up a bit, then things looked good. But I thought we were still sloppy and too casual getting forward. There weren't enough runs off the ball." On a more positive note, Cherneski added "I was pleased with some individual performances - King and Brooks played well, Harkin was breaking up a lot of play in the first half, Pat Healey played a nice steady game, finding strikers early and in dangerous spots. But overall I hoped we'd come out here and do better."
Co-Manager Pete Medd was a little more sanguine: "I think the movement was better in the 2nd half. We got the ball up to the forwards a lot more quickly. We were sharper, more active. It's tough to play a team that sits back like that. We had to work extra hard to break them down and create scoring opportunities. We did create more in this game than in previous games, so it's a building block. It's important to get into the habit, so we want to win our pre-season games. We really wanted to come out and score three goals tonight, we got two - it's ok, we'll live with it."
On Saturday Palace travel to Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg Maryland where they'll take on that school for half a game, and Towson University for the other.
An additional pre-season fixture has just been arranged - on Friday April 11th Thursday April 10th at 7:00pm, Palace will visit the University of Maryland in College Park. |
