Palace Casuals

[talisman]

League Round 22, away at Ngoc Duc FC, in Ha Noi, Vietnam. Level 22, AQ -3.4
Palace Casuals travelled to Vietnam for this match against an erstwhile Championship challenger who has fallen on hard times recently. The first-half was all Casuals as striker Reda Mourad turned in a Man-of-the-Match performance, scoring from the spot after being hauled down in the box by a home defender, and deceiving the 'keeper with a rocket shot from just outside the penalty box. Just after the hour, the visitors' strike force was blunted when Mourad pulled up with an ACL tear and had to be substituted by Catalin Neagu. The rest of the match was more even, and the home side pulled a goal back with six minutes to play, but did not otherwise challenge the Casuals defence. With the three teams below falling victim to lower-table teams, Casuals now find themselves four points clear, have guaranteed promotion for next season, and the 'C' word* is starting to be whispered in the corridors...



*'Championship'...

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League round 23, home vs Yolcu 209 FC of Gaziantep, Turkey. Level 23, AQ -1.0
One piece of team news for the home side was that central defender De Wree had suffered a groin strain in training and would be absent from the squad, his place in the starting line up being taken by Arma. With a more powerful team on the pitch than their AQ indicated (7x 6* to Casuals' 2x 6*) this promised to be a struggle for the Casuals, and so it turned out. The defence played to the limit and prevented all efforts at goal, but the same could be said of the visitors, and a 0-0 draw resulted. Late replacement Arma was awarded Man-of-the-Match. The phrase 'handed on a plate' is going to be bandied about a bit as the 2nd- and 3rd-placed teams both had draws against lower-table opposition, so Palace Casuals still have 4 point lead at the top, and in the absence of a wild mathematical swing, secured a Champions League berth for next season.



Palace Casuals injury stats - 12 injuries, 49 days.

[talisman]

League round 24, away at San Siro FC, in Thai Binh, Vietnam. Level 23, AQ +0.1
Palace Casuals visited second-placed San Siro and came away on the wrong side of a 0-4 score. The stats show that Casuals matched their hosts in almost all departments, but the slight advantage in strength on-field was the tipping point in the home side's favour. With an advantage now reduced to 1 point, Palace Casuals know that their league fate is in their own hands and the last two matches are now 'must wins'. Despite the defeat, results elsewhere have confirmed Palace Casuals a Champions League place for next season.

[talisman]

League Round 25, home vs Cipopo FC, of Alur Limbat, Malaysia. Level 23, AQ -2.3
Palace Casuals went into this game needing to win to keep hopes of the Championship alive, but 21 minutes into the game, a moment of madness dashed those hopes. Defender Ben De Wree was dismissed for a 'Professional Foul' on the edge of the penalty box, and Cipopo striker Milovanovic made no mistake with the spot kick, to equalise the opening goal from home midfielder Emrah Topalan. When Catalin Neagu put the home side back in front ten minutes after the break, the Management had a technology failure which prevented them from making any further substitutions, particularly the striker for defender swap he wanted to do. So it was in helpless observance that the 89th minute equaliser from defender Perniconi was seen, cruelly snatching away two points from the home side, who sink to second as a result. De Wree misses two matches as a result of becoming the first Casuals player to be given a straight red card for 4 seasons.

[talisman]

League Round 26, away at Cam Lam VIP FC, a Spanish team in London, England. Level 23, AQ -3.2
Palace Casuals went into this match knowing that if they won, then the Championship would rest on the performance of the current League leaders, who were playing at home against the 3rd place team. Casuals opened the scoring in the 35th minute with a solo goal from striker Reda Mourad, and soon after an equaliser by Bissah for the home team in the second-half, midfielder Emrah Topalan created an opportunity for left-winger Omar Hansen to put the visitors into the lead again. The final score was 2-1 to Palace Casuals and there was a tense wait until the final score from the other match filtered through, and the leaders had lost! Cue celebrations all round, as after three seasons of coming second, Palace Casuals had the League Championship!



Final Table



A few League records with Palace Casuals players listed:



Palace Casuals Season 24 Player Stats:



...and all that was left was to vote on the Palace Casuals Season 24 Player of the Season:





Palace Casuals Season 24 injury stats - 13 injuries, 54 days.

[talisman]

Season 25 for Palace Casuals

Palace Casuals start their 25th season in Level 24 with an AQ of 130.9, up 1.8 on last season. Last season they finished as Champions of the Level 23 League, failed to progress out of the Group stage of the Champions League, and fell at the first hurdle (Preliminary Round) of the Cup.

Cup: drawn in Preliminary Round against SV Ya Man, from Goch, Germany (Level 24, AQ +0.8) - 1st Leg away.
Champions League: Drawn in Group E. Opponents in Group stage are:
ДяДя FC of Cherkassy, Ukraine. Level 24, Aq 134.9. 2nd in League last season.
Capon FC, of An Giang, Vietnam. Level 24, AQ 134.3. 3rd in League last season.
GS FC, of Ankara, Turkey. Level 24, AQ 127.9. 4th in League last season.

Playing squad is the same as the end of last season, at the moment. All players with expiring contracts were re-signed before the end of last season. Of course, everyone has lost a star, and with few player purchases made last season, the squad is mainly a 4*/3* mixture, with three 5* players and a couple of youth team players signed on the last day of the season.

Playing squad details, with Career stats:

[talisman]

Cup Preliminary Round 1st Leg, away at SV Ya Man, in Goch, Germany. Level 24, AQ +0.9
Palace Casuals started the (hopefully) long journey through the Cup competition by visiting SV Ya Man, and came away with a precious win and three goal away goal advantage. After an even first half, Suhail Kamal opened Casuals Season 25 account with a long range shot which went in off a post. After a formation change and substitution, Johan Shaqiri turned on the talent and crossed a corner invitingly for Sub Anurak Arma to head home, and then scored himself after a run and cross by right-back Juan Sebastian Garcia. The only blot on an excellent day out was the first-half injury to left-back Freddy Jones. Youth team product Matt Davis was the half-time substitute, and acquitted himself well.

[talisman]

Cup Preliminary Round 2nd Leg, home vs SV Ya Man, of Goch, Germany. Level 24, AQ -0.2
Holding a 3-0 advantage, Palace Casuals expected this game to be a formality, but failed to take account of the vagaries of the Nordeus machine. Going into the break with two midfielders missing from the original fielded team, one through injury and the other through 2 yellow cards, and 0-2 down, the team had a shell-shocked look about it. With the second central midfielder on as a substitute for one of the strikers at the start of the second-half, the main objective was to lock down the defence and prevent the visitors from scoring again. In this they failed and the match was heading for extra-time when utility defender David Zhelev scored twice in the last five minutes to make the final score 2-3 and Casuals win the tie 5-3 on aggregate.



Palace Casuals injury stats - 2 injuries, 6 days.

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Champions League Group E Round 1, home vs GS FC of Ankara, Turkey. Level 23, AQ -3.8
Palace Casuals had to be thankful that left-winger Omar Hansen had found his old scoring boots, four yellow cards for the opposition, one hat-trick: one penalty and two out of three direct free-kicks. Goals also from Zhelev (assist Hansen), new signing Petrovski and Shaqiri in a 6-0 win.



Overview of the league for Palace Casuals 25th season:



League Round 1, home vs Holland Express, of Westland, Netherlands. Level 23, AQ +0.8
The evening League match was a 0-0 deadlock.

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Cup Qualifying Round 1st Leg, home vs Osmanli FC of Izmir, Turkey. Level 24 AQ -0.9
Palace Casuals made a great step forward in their quest for Cup glory with a patchy 4-2 win in front of a packed home crowd. First event of note was a rare yellow card picked up by Omar Hansen, and 6 minutes later, the visitors took the lead. It didn't take long for the hosts to equalise, as three minutes later recent striker signing Liam Cashman surged through the defence and instead of taking the shot, made a late pass to midfielder Michael Muscroft, who made no mistake with the opportunity. Into the second half, and Muscroft was the next Casuals player into the referee's notebook, after a trip. The 'Flying Wingers' were a stuttering force last season, but got a rare chance to relive old times when right-winger Johan Shaqiri's corner was glanced into the net by Hanson, to put the home side into the lead for the first time. With eleven minutes to go, the visitors equalised, but again a three minute period passed before Shaqiri made a weaving run through the defence and toe-poked the ball past the 'keeper. With four minutes to go, Hansen pulled up with a leg injury and spent the rest of the match nursing himself up and down the left-wing. A foul in the final minute saw Shaqiri taking the free kick, and he crossed to Juan Sebastian Garcia, who headed into the net. Shaqiri (1 goal, 2 assists) was awarded Man-of-the-Match. Hanson was later diagnosed as having an ankle strain (2 days).



League Round 2, away at Malta FK, in Gracanica, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Level 24, AQ -0.4
Palace Casuals travelled to Bosnia-Herzegovina for only the second time for this League match, and came away with a creditable 2-2 draw, but will feel it was two points lost, rather than one gained. Having showed promise with a debut goal in yesterday's Champions league match, Anthony Petrovski was in the starting line-up for this game, and added two more goals to his tally. The match was only three minutes old when Casuals were awarded a corner, and Valentin Ndjengue, in for the injured Omar Hansen, sent over a ball which hung invitingly for Petrovski to head home. It took Malta until the last five minutes of the first-half to get really involved in the game, and with four minutes to go to the break, they equalised. On the hour, the corner-Petrovski combination worked again, this time the set-piece was by Johan Shaqiri on the opposite side of the pitch, but the header was just as effective, putting the visitors ahead again. As the second-half wore on, the hosts came increasingly into the game, but the Casuals defence was firm and Zoltan Bieder between the posts was efficient when the ball did evade the 4-man cover. Four minutes from time, though, the by-line run and late square pass undid the previous good work as the home team equalised again.