Palace Casuals

[talisman]

Two matches a day continues for the intrepid Palace Casuals team...

In the League, the final match of the first half of the League season saw the visit to Selhurst Park-ish of PMT FC from Da Nang, Vietnam, and the home side got back to winning ways with a 4-0 demolition of the visitors. After a 2nd minute Johan Shaqiri long shot had been deflected into the corner, Claude Pinto took the kick and neatly deposited the ball on the head of the incoming Freddy Jones, and the home defender neatly nodded it into the net. Shaqiri and fellow winger Omar Hansen are working magic together and they combined just after the half-hour mark to push Casuals further ahead, Hansen providing the cross, Shaqiri the sidefoot home. Shaqiri scored again just after the break, receiving an unselfish pass from Catalin Neagu after he had done all the work getting through the PMT defence. The Casuals Management then made a triple substitution to try and preserve some players for the Champions League match later on and it wasn't until three minutes from the end that substitute Andres Ramos completed the scoring with a cracking solo goal.



Barely three hours after the League match, Palace Casuals were in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the Champions League Top 16 1st Leg match against HOKAGE FC. The match started well for the visitors, and they went into the half-time break 1-0 ahead, thanks to a rare solo goal from attacking midfielder Andreas Graf in the 26th minute. Five minutes later midfielder Michael Muscroft was fortunate to meet a lenient referee when pulled up for a foul tackle which injured home player Basile.
Midfielder Jack McCaul put Casuals further ahead in the 57th minute with a 25 yard strike, before the Management were forced to make some changes due to fatigued players. This enabled the home side to come back into the game, and they scored twice in the final 15 minutes to make the score 2-2 at full time. Two away goals and the backing of the fanatical home crowd should see Palace Casuals through to the next round - or so it is hoped...



With ever more important games ahead needing the first team squad more and more in the cup competitions some of the fringe players will be sold over the next few days - more later.