Palace Casuals

[talisman]

Another critical day for the fortunes of Palace Casuals, two games which will make or break the season in two competitions.

First up was the early kick-off in the Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg out in Belgrade, Serbia against Nemanja FC. Yielding a level and only just inferior in quality, Palace pitched up with the intention of firstly getting an away goal, and then possibly getting a win to take back to fortress Selhurst Park-ish. The match started evenly and neither side gained any sort of advantage until just after the half-hour, when the first objective was achieved; Johan Shaqiri running down the right wing and providing a high pass for Catalin Neagu to head home past the home keeper. Nine minutes later, Shaqiri ran through a static Nemanja defence and slotted home to double the lead. In the second half, Shaqiri again got into the action, a cross from the right being met by the head of advancing midfielder Michael Muscroft and the away support was ecstatic. The home side got a goal back 11 minutes from full time through Gauna but the match belonged to Palace Casuals, and the Man-of-the Match award to Shaqiri - no, he wuz robbed, the committee awarded it to Neagu!!



A quick hop over to Konya, Turkey for the early evening start for the League Round 20 match at Karayer FC. Palace Casuals started by resting the flying wingers and concentrating on a narrow midfield formation. First action point was a booking picked up by Catalin Neagu for a tug on the shirt, but 5 minutes later he made amends by firing a direct free-kick through the wall and past the home custodian to open the scoring. Either side of half time, Karayer gained the lead with goals by Mikolajczak and Donmezdemir, and threatened a couple more, which brought out the best saves from Casuals keeper Zoltan Bieder. While the Management were organising changes, Michael Muscroft weaved his way through the home defence and supplied Freddy Jones with a short pass for him to put the visitors level again. Introducing the flying wingers into the fray livened up the Casuals attack and it was only through the home keeper Rios' efforts that it was only in the 85th minute that Omar Hansen found the net after a run and shot for the winning goal.



In the League table, very little has changed. Palace Casuals still second, 5 points adrift of 1st place, but with a slightly superior goal difference and a widening gap between second and third places.

Casuals have guaranteed themselves promotion, but still need a win to guarantee Champions League football next season.