Palace Casuals

Champions League Group H Round 6, home vs Raikko5 FC of Terrenganu, Malaysia. Level 23, AQ -0.3
Palace Casuals finish their Champions League participation this season with a 2-1 win in their final home Group match against Raikko5 FC. Both sides couldn't progress, so at least Casuals had a scratch team on the pitch. Valentin Ndjengue headed in an Anurak Arma cross after a short free-kick to open the scoring in the first half, and 9 minutes later Kevin Pigott waltzed through the visitors' defence and planted one in the roof of the net. That was it, apart from an injury on the stroke of half-time to MC Christie, until Raikko5 finally got through the Casuals defence and scored a consolation goal 5 minutes from time through Istrate.

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League Round 11, home vs San Siro FC of Thai Binh, Vietnam. Level 23, AQ +0.5
Palace Casuals lost their 100% home record in the League as they crashed to a 2-3 defeat to San Siro FC. Plusses were the return to scoring form of striker Reda Mourad, who ripped through the visitors' defence to score a fine solo goal, and winger Omar Hansen remembered his scoring boots as he challenged the 'keeper with direct free kicks, putting 3 of 3 on target but evading the 'keeper's grasp only once. The defence, for once went AWOL at times, and conceded three at home for the first time in a long while...

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League Round 12, away at Cipopo CF, in Alur Limbat, Malaysia. Level 23, AQ -3.2
Palace Casuals learned that life after Champions League is equally tough - visiting the second-from-bottom team, found themselves facing a defensive, man-to-man marking squad, which somewhat snuffed out their ambitions. Having fallen behind in the 15th minute, Casuals continued their exertions fruitlessly, until the home right-back Mohammadi fouled left-winger Omar Hansen once too often and found himself back in the changing room. Thus unshackled, Hansen immediately set about the home defence, and in the space of ten minutes had more shots on goal than in the previous 60. It was a right-wing corner, however, which was to be the home side's undoing, and Hansen rose unmarked to head home Johan Shaqiri's corner kick to send the Casuals away with a share of the spoils...

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League Round 13, home vs Cam Lam VIP FC, a Spanish team from London, England. Level 23, AQ -5.0
Palace Casuals returned to form with a 5-2 home win over visitors Cam Lam VIP FC. Having exchanged goals in an equally-matched first 20 minutes, Casuals went on to dominate the game. Late first half goals from striker Reda Mourad (2, 1 pen) and right winger Johan Shaqiri added to the early strike by midfielder Suhail Kamal. Omar Hanson added the fifth in the second half with a direct free kick before the visitors got a late consolation goal. Despite their recent dodgy results, Palace Casuals still top the table by 2 points.

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League Round 14, home vs LoloFC, of Paris, France. Level 23, AQ -2.6
Todays game started the reverse fixtures for this season, and Palace Casuals were itching to get revenge for a loss at the beginning of the season against this French side. In a hard-fought game, Casuals just had the edge and this was emphasised by utility defender David Zhelev earning his first MoM by scoring his first goal in Palace Casuals colours, unleashing a pile driver past the visitor's custodian in the 25th minute. Casuals remain top of the table, two points clear. Defender Ben De Wree (100-3-0) and midfielder Michael Muscroft (100-14-3) both celebrated their 100th appearance in a Palace Casuals shirt.

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Day 17 - League Round 15, away at Jimmy's Eleven, in London, England. Level 23, AQ -1.4
Unexpected and unhelpful defeat on the road - Juan Sebastian Garcia with early goal in first half, home side reply with two before half-time - late injury to Freddy Jones...

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Day 18 - League Round 16, away at Juventus FC in Turin, Italy. Level 23, AQ +0.1
Second defeat in two games - good performance keeps League leaders at bay until 81st minute - Casuals now 4th in table...

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Palace Casuals injury stats - 6 injuries, 23 days.

League Round 17, home vs Lilly Whites, of Wigan, England. Level 23, AQ +0.5
Palace Casuals went into this game looking for revenge for the earlier heavy defeat inflicted by Lilly Whites, and to a certain extent, they succeeded. Anurak Arma opened the scoring in the 9th minute with a fine solo goal, and Omar Hansen increased the lead three minutes before the half-time. Immediately after the break, Hansen added a third goal with a 30 yard screamer, and Casuals were well on top. As the second-half went on, however, the visitors gradually came back into the game, and goals by Mascherano and Born left the home side successfully hanging onto a slender lead for the last four minutes. Goalkeeper Zoltan Bieder suffered a Hamstring injury and is battling to be fit for tomorrow's game.

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Palace Casuals injury stats - 7 injuries, 27 days.

League Round 18, away at PFDGJ in Kayseri, Turkey. Level 23, AQ -3.2
Palace Casuals had a tricky away match against a lower-table team, PFDGJ, but emerged victorious 3-1. Using the 'hit 'em quick, hit 'em hard' philosophy, left winger Omar Hansen found himself on the right wing for a change and sprinted past the home left midfielder and crossed for striker Reda Mourad to head home after only 2 minutes. The match from there on was fairly evenly matched until the start of the second-half, when Casuals upped the tempo a notch. A Hansen free-kick was nodded in by right-winger Johan Shaqiri in the 53rd minute and in the 71st minute Hansen helped himself to a goal, a shot which caught the home 'keeper on the wrong foot. Despite a consolation goal scored by the hosts 15 minutes from time, Casuals coasted home. An injury to utility defender David Zhelev in the dying seconds of the game took some of the gloss off the win, though. Suhail Kamal made his 50th appearance for Palace Casuals (50-7-0). After waiting on the late game, Palace Casuals are now in 2nd place in the table.

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Palace Casuals injury stats - 8 injuries, 33 days.

League Round 19, home vs Sefer FC of Dulce, Turkey. Level 23, AQ -3.5
Sefer FC were lying 10th in the table and enjoying a mini-revival, which Casuals nipped in the bud, but only just. After a goal-less first-half, in which the only event of note was another injury to home 'keeper Zoltan Bieder (second in three days!), things got very interesting in the second-half. Barely had substitute 'keeper Tran Cong Vinh taken his place and with the crowd just resuming their seats, and right-winger Johan Shaqiri sliced through the visitors' defence and scored to put the home side in the lead. Just three minutes later, however, and the match had turned on its head as Sefer scored two goals, through Yavuz and Ibrahimovic, to put them in the lead for the first time. Shaqiri and left-winger Omar Hansen scored two in two minutes to put Casuals back in front again, before the Ibrahimovic scored another equaliser to bring the score to 3-3. After a couple of wasted chances, the Casuals Management made one of those inspired changes which are seen in hindsight as a miracle-worker. Bringing on Catalin Neagu for fellow-striker Reda Mourad, the sub immediately made a run through the defence, his shot being parried out for a corner by the Sefer 'keeper, Schmitt. Neagu then got his head to the ensuing kick from Shaqiri, and he found the back of the net for a 4-3 lead, which Casuals kept to the end.

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In evening training, 'keeper Tran Cong Vinh suffered an ankle strain, thus both Casuals shot-stoppers are out of action...

Palace Casuals injury stats - 10 injuries, 41 days.

League Round 20, away at Alderson FC, in Woombye, Australia. Level 23, AQ -2.0
Palace Casuals' longest journey of the season took them to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, and they left wishing they had more time to enjoy it. Playing 4-5-1V against 4-4-2C, the first-half was heavy going for the visitors. Look for the double digit minutes ending '7' - 17th minute, Alderson take the lead through Rios - 27th minute, Johan Shaqiri nods in a Reda Mourad cross to equalise - 37th minute, the hosts take the lead again through Garcia. It was obvious that attacking wasn't working, so the Management decided to lock it down for the second-half and went defensive/counter, and the tables turned. Omar Hansen comes into the game, turning in a Shaqiri cross for the equaliser in the 51st minute and then putting Casuals in the lead for the first time with a 30 yard pile driver. Over to the defence, and the back four put in a sterling performance in keeping the home strike force at bay and preserve the lead. Late on, Anurak Arma picks up a yellow card, the first of any sort for the Casuals for 11 games, and will miss the next game.

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League Round 21, home vs ForzaGS FC, of Istanbul, Turkey. Level 23, AQ -2.2
With all games of the teams immediately below them played for today, Palace Casuals knew that even a defeat would mean that they kept their top spot in the League. ForzaGS had given Casuals a run for their money in earlier in the season, and continued in that vein as they tried to keep in the promotion zone themselves. It wasn't until the second half that Casuals opened the scoring, five minutes after a striker substitution. Striker Catalin Neagu had made a couple of runs since coming on and it was third time lucky as he carved a way through the visitor's defence and squared the ball for midfielder Emrah Topalan to fire home from short range. ForzaGS kept on plugging away at the home defence, and finally got through two minutes from time through Zschusschen, making the final score 1-1.

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