Palace Terriers

[talisman]

Champions League Group H, away at Trieu FC, in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam. Level 24, +0.8
Palace Terriers went to Vietnam with the explicit object of not losing in order to retain their chances of progression, and achieved that objective, gaining a 0-0 draw with the Group leaders to leave them only to win the final match to progress out of the Group stage.



Player news: A midday raid on the Transfer Market saw the Terriers Management spend 2T/$163k to snap up this player with the mis-matched Royal names:



...and a player released to the market eventually caught a nibble, right-winger Daniel Briggs (age 22, 3*/16Q - 16 appearances, 3 goals, 4 assists) achieving $259k for the Terriers.

League Round 9, away at Akatsuki United, in Brasilia, Brazil. Level 2, AQ +1.0
Palace Terriers continued their run of poor results with this 0-1 defeat at Akatsuki United. Midfielder Martin Silny had recently recovered from a Heavy ankle strain injury, and was playing his first match back, but suffered a Hamstring strain grade 1 for another 4 days out.

[talisman]

League Round 10, home vs Calidad Total, of La Paila, Colombia. Level 2, AQ -0.7
Palace Terriers kept up with the hunt for League glory with an efficient 3-0 win against a lower-placed team. Goals from midfielders Ondrej Kadlec and Craig Powell in the first half, and a free-kick from Xabier Moran in the second secured the win, the Terriers defence was otherwise relatively untroubled.



Cup 'Top 16' Round 1st Leg, away at Ramon FC in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Level 2, AQ -0.8
Palace Terriers can afford to relax in the 2nd Leg of this tie as they ended with an unassailable lead after a 7-0 win in Argentina. Taulant Doda, celebrating his achievement as the first player to play 50 games for Palace Terriers, led the way with a 9th minute penalty after midfielder Harry Cambridge was bundled over at the edge of the area. Ruben Gorrono, notching his first goal of the Season, and Paul Hartnett added another two goals before half-time, and striker Nicky Jones scored a fourth goal after the break. In the last ten minutes, Cambridge added to his supportive role throughout the game with 2 individual goals to open his Terriers account and earn him the Man-of-the-Match award, bracketing a strike from Julien van der Plas.

[talisman]

League Round 11, away at Tomi FC, in Maximo Paz, Argentina. Level 2, AQ -0.7
Palace Terriers went into this match looking to keep the pressure up on the teams above them in the CL Promotion Zone, and achieved the aim in style. After conceding an early goal, the visitors never looked back, scoring 5 without reply for a 5-1 win. Ruben Gorrono got the equaliser just three minutes after the home side took the lead, and then Ondrej Kadlec, Julien van der Plas, Aad Roemgens and Ben Atkins completed the rout. Julien van der Plas got his first Man-of-the-Match award. After the round of matches was complete Terriers remained in 4th position in the table, four points behind today's new leader.



Player news: The Terriers Management spent some time in the Transfer Market today, and picked up a couple of promising players, for 1T/$1.33M and 1T/$611k, respectively:



As a result, central midfielder Luis Omar Soto (age 23, 3*/19Q - 16 matches, 5 goals, 1 assist) was released and joined Andrea FC for $355k; and central midfielder Martin Silny (age 25, 3*/16Q - 13 matches, 2 goals) was released to the free agent market, a reluctant decision, but made in view of his injury record.

Champions League Group H Round 6, home vs Christian FC, of Copenhagen, Denmark. Level 2, AQ -4.1
Celebrating the opening of their new 1000-seater stadium, Palace Terriers needed any sort of win to ensure progression to the Knockout stage, and that is exactly what they got... The visitors took the lead in the 8th minute, and it took a spectacular shot by Ben Atkins ten minutes later to level the game. Despite a lot of pressure and a formation change early in the second-half, the visitors defence held firm until the last minute of the game, when Aad Roemgens headed home a Nathan Masegela corner to give the Terriers a 2-1 win. The victory gave Terriers second place in their Group, and they will play the winners of Group G in the 'Top 16' Round.

[talisman]

Cup 'Top-16' Round 2nd Leg, home vs Ramon FC, of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Level 2, AQ -1.6
Palace Terriers could afford to field the second string players in this 2nd Leg match, as they had a 7-0 advantage from the 1st Leg, and added another four goals for an 11-0 aggregate win. Xabier Moran started the scoring with a direct free-kick, then Nathan Masegela and Nicky Jones scored solo goals before Julien van der Plas headed in a Masegela corner.



League Round 12, home vs Txemita FC, of Zaragoza, Spain. Level 2, AQ +0.2
Palace Terriers kept up their winning League run with a 4-1 home win, goals coming from Nicky Jones, a Xabier Moran double either side of the visitors' goal, and Ben Atkins. After a goal fest first-half, the second-half was no less eventful but goal-less.

[talisman]

League Round 13, away at FC Elgorriaga, in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. Level 2, AQ -2.8
Palace Terriers kept up their winning streak with a narrow 1-0 win away in the League. On the stroke of half-time, Aad Roemgens struck a sweet free-kick onto the head of Nicky Jones and the glance into the net secured the win for the visitors. Harry Cambridge picked up his second booking in as many matches and will miss the next outing.



Champions League 'Top 16' Round 1st Leg, home vs Leroy FC, of Paramaribo, Suriname. Level 2, AQ +1.8
Eight wins on the trot for Palace Terriers as they take a 1-0 advantage into the 2nd Leg of this tie, thanks to the deadly boot of Xabier Moran. Ruben Gorrano made his 50th appearance (5 goals) for the Terriers.





Player news: The final component in the midfield rebuilding was acquired with this 6T/$690k purchase:



Junior midfielder Craig Powell (age 21, 3*/18Q - 36 appearances, 5 goals 1 assist) moved on, signing for Real Madrid for $358k.

League Round 14, away at FC Mikey, in Wroclaw, Poland. Level 2, AQ -1.3
Palace Terriers incurred their first defeat in 9 games with this 1-2 defeat at FC Mikey. The hosts were two goals up in 25 minutes, but gradually Terriers came back into the game, but only breached the home defence in the 89th minute, Xabier Moran ignoring the direct route for once and opting for the head of Matt Hall for his debut goal in Terriers colours. Moran made his 50th appearance (43 goals, 18 assists) for the Terriers in this game.





Cup Quarter-Final 1st Leg, away at Real Poochie in Buffalo, United States. Level 3, AQ -2.0
Palace Terriers faced higher level but lower quality opponents for the third time, but all but booked their Semi-Final appearance with a 4-2 win away from home. After an early goal by defender Aad Roemgens, finishing a free-kick from fellow defender Ruben Gorrono, the home side equalised before half-time. For Stanislav Dolgoborodov it was third time lucky, as his first two attempts were saved by the 'keeper, but he could do nothing against the debutants 30 yard shot. Ondrej Kadlec completed the Terriers scoring, his brace bracketing a second goal by the home side. Dolgoborodov was awarded Man-of-the-Match for his efforts.

[talisman]

League Round 15, home vs FC Groningen, of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Level 2, AQ -1.2
Palace Terriers were back to winning ways in the League, with this clinical 4-0 win over a lower-table team. Nathan Masegela converted a cross from Ben Atkins to open the scoring before the break, but the second-half belonged to right-winger Julien van der Plas, his 10 minute hat-trick at the beginning of the half the quickest in Terriers' short history. Ruben Gorrono suffered an injury late on in the game and presented the Management with a selection headache for the Champions League match to follow.



Champions League 'Top 16' Round 2nd Leg, away at Leroy FC, in Paramaribo, Suriname. Level 2, AQ +1.9
Palace Terriers were carrying a slender 1st Leg lead into this match, and went about protecting it while under intense attacking from the home side. The advantage disappeared when Leroy scored in the 31st minute, and the visitors defence threatened to collapse before the Management changed the formation early in the second half. With the score at 1-1 at full time, an extra half-hour of play followed, and with no addition to the score, a penalty shootout. Taulant Doda, Paul Hartnett and substitute Julien van der Plas had confidently dispatched their penalties to put Terriers 3-2 up when 'keeper Adriano Mateus made a magnificent save to deny Leroy their third score, but the home 'keeper matched him when saving Matt Hall's spot kick. A success by Nathan Masegela then put the pressure on the final home kick taker, and he blazed his penalty over the bar, prompting great celebrations by the visiting contingent. Final score 1-1 after extra time, Terriers win the tie 4-3 on penalties, Mateus picking up the MoM award.