Palace Casuals

[talisman]

League: At the outset, Palace Casuals' AQ was 8th out of the 14 in the League, and bearing in mind that they were to be left mostly on their own during the middle two weeks of the season due to the Management taking a well-earned holiday, there was not a lot of emphasis on competing for the Championship this season. Early on, the decision was taken to replace where necessary and pare the squad down to 14-16 players, and this was done by the end of the first week of the season. In fact, only five players were purchased during the season and 9 released, adding a net $575M to the Club Finances, and the squad ran to 16 players for the last three weeks of the season. This reduced squad was to be well used during the season, and to a large extent belied their AQ deficiency such that they topped the table for 14 days during the season. The strike force, to be blunt, was largely absent during most of the season, but with a strong defence that conceded the least number of goals in the League and a left-winger/free-kick specialist who early on was scoring with monotonous regularity, the lack of end-product from the strikers was largely overcome. In the end, it was a 5 match winless away run at the end of the season which proved the team's downfall, and two losses at the very end of the season when wins would have been sufficient to take the Championship meant that the team had to settle for second place for the third season running. At least they were able to bask in the semi-glory of doing the double over the eventual Champions, the 4-1 away victory with two key players suspended was a particular highlight.

Champions League: After a smooth transit through the Group Stage, where qualification was achieved with a game to spare, and large aggregate wins in the 'Top 16' and Quarter-Final Rounds, The Semi-Final was a different scenario. A narrow defeat in the away leg was followed by a 2nd Leg where the visitors came to defend, and at all costs. A draw was insufficient and the Casuals went out with one round to go.

Cup: Again playing with teams of higher levels, Palace Casuals had a modicum of success, progressing to the 'Top 16' round, where a home 2nd leg defeat ended their participation.

Playing Squad: The team played 46 competitive matches this season. The players statistics are below, along with their Palace Casuals career statistics.