Palace Terriers

Day 1 - Let's start at the very beginning...

Palace Terriers - they're going to have to scrap for everything...

Brand new off the blocks, starting at Season 1 Day 1. I will be trying to run them under the T35 regimen...

Starting at Level 1, AQ currently is 12.7

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It seems they've already played their first match in the Cup!

Opponents are Clumsy AC of Abuja, Nigeria. Level 1, AQ +0.2

Away leg, the Terriers lost 1-0. Three yellow cards and an injury, all of which have miraculously disappeared... :)

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Been following the tutorials for the new Team - interesting that there is only a very basic 'walk-thru' for each of the items and then we're left to get on with it. The transfers tutorial led to a purchase, and then another one caught my eye - and a bid was put in before the Level got really populated with player-hungry managers.

The one bid for on Mourinho's advice:

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Didn't really need another DC but for $467k/1T who can quibble? Will need to apply Skill Points to defence initially to get the imbalance corrected.

Then this one looked interesting:

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$254k/1T. Already had a DL but he is 34, 3*/10Q and retiring this season - he will do as backup...

Will now concentrate on getting some DM- players in as only have a DML in the form of a general left-winger who is 34 and retiring this season. There are a few FAs in the TM coming up later...

Went back to TM to see FA DMCs - too late for one I was interested in :( but this normal offering was interesting in that he is a DMC/MC - don't see many of those about...

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102k/1T - must be an offering from higher level club as he had form.

Ok, now to select the players to be sold on later...

Palace Terriers progress through first round of Cup...

Cup Preliminary Round 2nd Leg, home vs Clumsy AC of Abuja, Nigeria. Level 1, AQ -0.6
Palace Terriers produced a performance to delight the capacity crowd at the Terriers Stadium as they progress to the next round of the Cup at the expense of Clumsy AC. Trailing 0-1 from the away leg, it took 51 minutes and two injury substitutions before Xabier Moran registered Terriers' first competitive goal. Substitutes Billy Garvey and Ben Atkins also found the net for the home side, each receiving an assist from Moran, as Terriers ran out 3-0 winners and progress 3-1 on aggregate. Injured players Nicky Jones (ACL tear) and Craig Powell (Calf strain) will be out for 6 and 4 days, respectively.

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Palace Terriers now have their League Fixtures to hand.

The teams in their League are listed below

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(Ignore the * next to the AQ)
Aban - Abandoned, missing players in formation
A CW - Won Cup last season, now apparently abandoned
Bot - Team not yet taken over by a manager
Tank - Full team but in tanking mode, i.e. Keeper is playing DC (etc.)

League Round 1, home vs Souther, of Prague, Czech Republic. Level 1, AQ -0.4
Palace Terriers' first ever League match is at home, and they started well. Visiting defender Brabec offended with foul tackles twice in three minutes and sent off, Taulant Doda obliged from the Penalty spot to register Terriers first League goal. Against ten men, Terriers continued to play well, but an injury to midfielder Martin Silny upset their rhythm, and Souther took advantage of the situation and equalised through Pavlik. A personnel switch to put on an extra striker in place of a defender failed to find a way through the visitor's defence and the match ended all square.

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League Round 2, away at Frosty FC, in Prague, Czech Republic. Level 1, AQ -0.3
Xabier Moran produced a MoM performance, providing two corners in two first half minutes for striker Ben Atkins and Captain midfielder Michael Flack to score and put Terriers 2-0 up at the break. Frosty pulled one back before defender Tom Clare took advantage of a gap in the defence to run all the way through and score to restore the two goal-lead. The home side, however, scored twice deep into the second half to pull the final result back to a draw, 3-3.

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Cup Qualifying Round 1st Leg, away at Scraggy AC, in Seoul, South Korea. Level 1, AQ -0.9
An early injury to left-back Ruben Gorrono put the Terriers on the back foot and the sides were evenly matched. It took a set-piece to break the deadlock, Xabier Moran claiming the MoM after netting a direct free-kick to give the Terriers a 1-0 advantage for the 2nd Leg. A last minute booking for substitute Billy Garvey resulted in Terriers' first player suspension - he will miss the 2nd Leg match.

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League Round 3, home vs Sugus FC, of Jakarta, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ -1.2
Xabier Moran won his third MoM in a row with this excellent performance against managerless opponents. Having set up his Captain Michael Flack for the opening goal, he added two himself in the second half. Right-back Dominic Slabber scored the second goal in the first half, with assistance from right-winger Daniel Briggs. Final score 4-0, and Moran and defender Tom Clare obtained the first 10 ratings for the Terriers.

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Day 6 - League Round 4, away at Kenneth FC, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Level 1, AQ +0.3
Terriers run amok at (possibly) abandoned team set up for tanking - Jantasuriwong, Moran (2), Flack, Armstrong-Ford (2), Clare and George help themselves to goals - injury to Ben Atkins mars perfect away trip...

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Cup Qualifying Round 2nd Leg, home vs Scraggy FC of Seoul, South Korea. Level 1, AQ -0.9
Terriers Trolled as visitors win 2-1 to dump home side out of Cup on away goals - Fox scores but defence let in 2...

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Day 7 - League Round 5, home vs FC Iban of Haarlem, Netherlands. Level 1, AQ +0.2
Top-of-the-table clash goes Terriers' way as Briggs breaks deadlock...

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Day 8 - League Round 6, away at Avicena FC in Pemalang, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ -0.9
Smash-and-grab raid as Terriers win away to tighten grip on top spot - Flack and Moran grab doubles but Moran pips Flack for MoM...

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League Round 7, away at PSBL in Lampung, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ +1.6
Palace Terriers suffered their first league defeat and lose top place in the table - Goalkeeper Tomas Fahlen the hero as he makes 8 saves to keep Terriers in the match, but is beaten by a direct free-kick as the home side break the deadlock in the 71st minute.

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Terriers Injury stats: 6 injuries, 21 days...

League Round 8, home vs Gorgeous AC, of Montevideo, Uruguay. Level 1, AQ -1.3
Palace Terriers bounce back from yesterday's defeat with a 4-1 home thumping of Gorgeous FC. Striker Nicky Jones gets his first goal of the season from a Xabier Moran free-kick in the 1st minute after midfielder Martin Silny suffers an injury from a foul tackle. Silny's replacement, Prakorn Jantasuriwong, lasts 30 minutes before he offends for the second time and suffers the Order of the Early Bath. Gorgeous equalise through Canobra from the resulting free-kick, and it was game on. Despite the missing man, Terriers start the second half brightly and even increase the pressure on their visitors as the half goes on. With the last quarter of the game starting, Moran breaks the deadlock and then goes on to complete his hat-trick within the next 12 minutes. Captain midfielder Michael Flack picked up a late booking and a suspension for the next game, thus increasing the problems that Jantasuriwong's absence causes...

With an ACL tear diagnosed (6 days), the latest injury makes the Palace Terriers injury stats 7 injuries, 27 days.

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League Round 9, away at Astri FC in Jakarta, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ +0.2
Palace Terriers had their formation set up and orders for an away game against one of the remaining Bot teams in their League (Cagey AC), only to turn up and find themselves facing a completely different team, players and formation... Striker Nicky Jones scored his second goal in two games, but despite a reshuffle after about an hours' play the Management couldn't help but look on as the side crumbled to a 1-4 away defeat...

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maybe a Take Over? bummer though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cat Harrison

maybe a Take Over? bummer though.

---

Yes, there were 5 bot teams still around on Tuesday evening, by Wednesday lunchtime, all five of them had been taken over by Indonesian owners... Two of them completely stripped the squads and replaced them with 4* and 5* purchases. (See next posting)

League Round 10, home vs Annisa FC of Jakarta, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ +0.8
With a clearout of five of the older and lower quality players and three new signings on show, Palace Terriers attempted to up their team to match an influx of new team managers to the League who were similarly upgrading their new charges. Annisa FC were one of those teams, having upgraded from AQ 13.8 to 16.1, Terriers were in danger of being outclassed with their original AQ 13.7. With two new goalkeepers, 5*/21 Adriano Mateus and 4*/16 Shahrul Kintan, and a left-winger in 5*/20 Nathan Masegela, Terriers now rated AQ 15.3 and looked forward to this home game in better shape.

The match overall was a tightly fought deadlock, broken only occasionally by individual pieces of brilliance. Left-back Gorrono sped down the left wing, cut in and slotted the ball past the 'keeper for a great solo opening goal in the first half, and the visitors eventually wore the home defence down 12 minutes from time, when Umtiti made a similar run but passed at the last minute to Ake who stroked the ball past Mateus to equalise. With this draw and other results not going their way, Terriers drop to 5th in the table.

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...not much goes wrong.

League Round 11, away at Thuaan'd FC in Jakarta, Germany (!?!). Level 1, AQ -1.5
Palace Terriers visited Thuaan'd FC and came away with a 2-1 win. All the goals were in the second half, the home side opened the scoring through Polder, but a brace from new left-winger Nathan Masegela stole the points for the Terriers, who rise to 4th place...

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League Round 12, home vs Ganesha FC, of Jakarta, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ -2.0
Palace Terriers are checking the small print in their Troll Insurance as they fell to a 1-2 home defeat to an inferior team who have been punching above their weight all season. Having taken the lead in the first half through young striker Ben Atkins, who headed in a Daniel Briggs corner in the 39th minute, the home side then found everything that had previously worked no longer did so. It all came to a head with two corners for the opposition late in the second half, both of which were scored by Matis and Figueroa, the whole side having done nothing in the game up to then...

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League Round 13, away at BursaSpor, in Ankara, Turkey. Level 1, AQ -2.0
Palace Terriers got back to the victory trail with an 3-1 away win at BursaSpor. Captain midfielder Michael Flack showed the way with a well-taken hat-trick, although the home side's cause was not helped by the dismissal of the only central defender in their 3W defence just after the hour mark. Flack opened the scoring in the 1st minute, netting a short pass after striker Nicky Jones had prised open the home defence with a strong run. The hosts equalised just after the half-hour with a corner headed home by Tuzun. Five minutes into the second half, Flack was again the recipient of a short pass to put Terriers in the lead again, this time striker Ben Atkins was the provider after defence-splitting run. After BursaSpor defender Ross got his marching orders, Terriers switched to a central attack formation, and only by the excellence of their 'keeper was the score kept down. The pressure paid off for the visitors two minutes from time when Flack opened fire 20 yards out and beat the 'keeper with ease. The welcome boost to their goal difference lifts Terriers to 3rd in the table.

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League Round 14, away at Menangan FC, in Jakarta, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ -0.2
Todays game started the reverse fixtures for this season, and this was a Bot team called Souther and they earned a 1-1 draw at the Terriers Stadium. Now it is an Indonesian team which has, along with four others taken over teams and has been buying up 5* players in bulk. Facing an opposition manager on his own turf along with two of his friends, Palace Terriers had to make do with scraps of possession whenever they could get it. Menangan midfielder Modric scored two goals in the space of three minutes just after the mid-point of the first half, and all efforts to score by either side thereafter were unsuccessful. Terriers 0-2 loss means that they lose further ground in their efforts to gain promotion and Champions League football next season.

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Day 17 started badly for Palace Terriers as they picked up two ankle strain injuries in early morning training. Goalkeeper Shahrul Kintan and striker Edward Armstrong-Ford both have 3 days off...

Day 17 - League Round 15, home vs Bunga FC of Jakarta, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ +1.3
Palace Terriers inaugurated their 200-seat extension to their stadium, and had a full house 400 - Nicky Jones equalises visitor's first half opener with solo goal - Tom Clare blots record by upending Bunga striker in penalty box to give them chance for lead again - late goal snuffs out any possibility of Terriers comeback...

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Day 18 - League Round 16, away at Sugus FC in Jakarta, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ -4.6
Palace Terriers make good use of their new season tickets for travel to Indonesian capital - Xabier Moran claims his 6th MoM of season as he scores first-half opener and assists Ben Atkins for his goal in second-half...

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Palace Terriers injury stats - 10 injuries, 35 days.

League Round 17, home vs Kenneth FC, of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Level 1, AQ -3.4
Palace Terriers welcomed the basement club in the League, and as they were fielding a team with many players out of position, the match was a goalfest for the home side. Ben Atkins and Xabier Moran got Terriers 2-0 up within the first nine minutes, Moran added a free-kick in the 21st minute and Martin Silny opened his Terriers account a minute before half-time to put the hosts 4 goals up at half-time, Ramos for the visitors having been dismissed for two yellow card offences. In the second-half, the home side took advantage of the extra man and added 6 more goals, through a second by Atkins, Ruben Gorrono, a brace from Daniel Briggs and another pair from Moran.

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League Round 18, away at FC Iban, in Haarlem, Netherlands. Level 1, AQ -3.1
Terriers visited table-topping FC Iban, and shocked their hosts, emerging with the three points in a 3-0 victory. An early injury to right-back Aad Roemgens meant an out-of-position substitution, central defender Luke George coming on and playing 85 minutes. You can't give attacking midfielder Xabier Moran a chance from a set-piece, and Iban found that to their cost in the 11th minute when Rasskazanov fouled on the left wing, and Moran crossed for striker Freddy Jones to head in for the opener. With their tails up after gaining the advantage, Terriers scored twice in five minutes before the half-hour mark, left winger Nathan Masegela firing home from 30 yards and Moran scoring himself direct from a free-kick. After half-time, the home side asserted themselves more, but the Terriers defence, particularly George, played heroically and the half-time score stood at the end.

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Palace Terriers injury stats - 11 injuries, 39 days

League Round 19, home vs Avicena FC, of Pemalang, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ -5.1
Palace Terriers kept up their recent winning run, racking up the points and goal-difference in advance of their tricky run-in against several of the 'I-6' teams. Avicena were third from bottom of the League and playing several outfield players out of position. Attacking midfielder Xabier Moran notched himself another hat-trick - and third consecutive '10' rating and fourth consecutive MoM, and goals from Martin Silny, Nathan Masegela and Tom Clare made up the rest in a 6-0 demolition of their opponents. Home 'keeper Adriano Mateus certainly earned his keep - and a '9' rating - with a penalty save in the 64th minute, but there was momentary confusion prior to this while the ref made up his mind what he was doing. Terriers have now scored 21 goals without reply in their past four matches.

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League Round 20, home vs PSBL of Lampung, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ -2.5
Clash of the form teams today, Palace Terriers four game winning run vs the visitors' five game winning run, and deadlock ensued. After a goal-less first-half, the games goals occurred in a five minute period around the hour mark. Terriers were the first to strike, defender Tom Clare surging forward and teeing up left-back Ruben Gorrano to slide the ball past the 'keeper for the opening goal. PSBL replied through Thoangpaen. Otherwise the match was a defensive battle with few chances created. Both sides stay within the promotion slots, but fall further behind the teams in the Champions League qualification zone. Terriers picked up another injury, midfielder Martin Silny suffering a Hamstring Grade 3 and will miss the rest of the season. As a result, a utility defender, Giulio Migliorati, was picked up from the transfer market as a stop-gap replacement, defender Luke George being released as a result.

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Palace Terriers injury stats - 12 injuries, 46 days.

League Round 21, away at Beni FC, in Jakarta, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ -2.5
Palace Terriers start on three consecutive games against Indonesian opposition, still searching for the elusive tactic which will get a result against them. Beni FC have not uprated their squad as much as the other five 'I-6' teams, but still manage to produce results against, on paper, superior opposition, and this was the situation in this match. After a goal-less first half, Terriers finally found a way through the home defence and it was striker Nicky Jones who prised the defence open and then unselfishly fed the ball to Xabier Moran, and he netted his 21st goal of the season. Despite some Terriers stalwart defence, the home side got back on level terms eleven minutes from time when a similar move to the Terriers' enabled Hermanto to equalise. One more point, and with some other results going their way, no real loss of position for the Terriers.

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League Round 22, home vs Astri FC of Jakarta, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ -3.7
The Palace Terriers Management did a lot of research on this match, which saw the current League leaders visit the Terriers Stadium. Astri turned up with a Narrow Diamond formation, which suited Terriers tried and trusted 4-5-1V down to a 'T'. All that was needed was the orders which would counter the unknown orders which see the 'I-6' teams dominate and win against superior teams, and instead of using home advantage to attack, Terriers stayed defensive and added a hard tackling element. 5 minutes in, and something clicked. Midfielder Ondrej Kadlec ventured forward and with the defence parting before him like the Red Sea, found the space to shoot past the keeper for the opening goal, his first in Terriers colours. For the rest of the first half, the defence was under pressure, tackled like demons, and home custodian Adriano Mateus made two magnificent saves from long range shots. Into the second half, and the 54th minute, a long range shot by left winger Nathan Masegela is forced out for a corner, corner again, Xabier Moran crosses and this time utility defender Giulio Migliorati is on hand to open his Terriers account with a towering header. It is obvious Masegela has a 'shoot-on-sight' policy, as the visitors' defence is hard put to block the long-range shots put in by the left-winger. In the end, the pressure told, and the Man-of-the-Match added two more goals to the tally in the 64th and 72nd minutes. In the end, Palace Terriers are rather comfortable 4-0 winners, move up to 4th in the table and a CL berth (for now).

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League Round 23, away at Annisa FC in Jakarta, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ -1.6
Having seen off the League leaders in their previous match, Palace Terriers travelled to Indonesia again for this third-in-a-row match against 'I-6' opposition. Confidence was obviously high as the first attack produced a foul, a booking for the opposition player and a free-kick, which was deflected for a corner by the defensive wall. Xabier Moran swung over the corner, and Nathan Masegela continued from where he left off yesterday and nodded it into the net. By the 13th minute, Terriers were three up, right-back Aad Roemgens ran down the right-wing and crossed for Moran to fire home, and 'Shoot-on-Sight' drove another pile driver past the home 'keeper for his second of the match. At the start of the second half, and Masegela chanced from range again, and the 'keeper saved magnificently for another corner. Masegela took the set-piece himself, and Moran was available for the headed goal. Into the last quarter-hour of the match, and at last a recognised striker got onto the score sheet as Ben Atkins followed his left winger in shooting from distance, but this time a defender got in the way and a corner resulted. Moran was the kicker this time, and Atkins leapt up and headed the ball home for the fifth and final goal. Palace Terriers move up to third, pending a late match result.

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League Round 24, home vs Thuaan'd FC of Jakarta, Germany (?!). Level 1, AQ -3.5
Palace Terriers kept up their unbeaten run in their efforts to get into a Champions League slot in the League, their visitors are on a four-game winning run, so an interesting match was in prospect. Terriers were out of the traps quickly, putting pressure on their opponents from the first whistle, and it wasn't until just before the half-hour mark that a breakthrough was made. Striker Ben Atkins, getting a start in the absence of the injured Nicky Jones, ran through the defence into a 1-on-1 situation and slid the ball past the 'keeper to open the scoring. Seven minutes later, defender Taulant Doda copied his young forward, and his shot flew past the visitors' 'keeper and in off the far post. Things evened up a bit after the break until Thuaan'd right-winger Zajaczkowski knocked over Terriers left-winger Nathan Masegela on the edge of the box and was given a straight red card for a professional foul. Attacking midfielder Xabier Moran made no mistake from the resulting free-kick to make the score 3-0. A late injury to left-back Ruben Gorrono was a blow to the home side which took the gloss off a good win. Palace Terriers are now third in the table on goal difference, one of four teams on the same number of points, one point behind the league leaders.

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Palace Terriers injury stats - 15 injuries, 62 days.

League Round 25, away at Ganesha FC, of Jakarta, Indonesia. Level 1, AQ -3.6
Palace Terriers took on the League leaders for the second time in four games, and like the previous match, produced a sterling performance that brought all three points home. Things were all-square until five minutes into the second-half, when striker Ben Atkins ran through the home defence and squared the ball for defender Taulant Doda to put the Terriers into the lead. Attacking midfielder Xabier Moran finished the scoring with a brace of direct free-kicks, after yellow-card transgressions by home players. Palace Terriers now top the league by 2 points, pending late evening matches in the Far East.

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League Round 26, home vs BursaSpor of Ankara, Turkey. Level 1, AQ -3.8
Palace Terriers went into this game needing to win to maximise their chances of winning the Championship, and they went all out their visitors in for a 4-1 win, extending their unbeaten run to 11 games. The newly completed seating upgrade made the new seating capacity 600, and every seat was occupied as Terriers kicked off. On the half-hour, Luis Omar Soto got his name in the referee's book for a foul tackle which left his opposite number limping, but it wasn't until the dying seconds of the half was either goal breached. Striker Ben Atkins chanced his arm from range and the visitors' 'keeper parried the ball out for a corner. Attacking midfielder Xabier Moran swung the corner over and Atkins dived in for the goal. Immediately after the break, the visitors got back on level terms, Canikli heading home a corner. Ten minutes later, central midfielder Ondrej Kadlec rifled home a 25 yard shot to put the home side back into the lead, before the Management decided on a formation change which brought striker Edward Armstrong-Ford on instead of Nathan Masegela, and moved Moran to a central position. Moran's open play certainly benefitted from the change, and with a quarter-hour to go, he netted a 20 yard shot to increase Terriers' lead. A final round of substitutions in the last ten minutes brought defender Tom Clare on in a straight swap for Gonzalo Scornaienchi and central midfielder Craig Powell on for Kadlec. Powell's first touch of the ball was a 30 yard screamer which took a slight deflection on its way into the back of the net, an wonderful way of scoring a first goal of the season, and Palace Terriers had won the game convincingly. Unfortunately, the news came through that Bunga had also won, so retained the lead and won the Championship on goal difference.

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Final Table

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League records, a certain Palace Terriers player is mentioned a lot:

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Palace Terriers Season 1 Player Stats:

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Not a great surprise as to the result of the Player of the Season vote:

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Palace Terriers Season 1 injury stats - 15 injuries 62 days.

Season 2 for Palace Terriers

Palace Terriers start their 2nd season in Level 2 with an AQ of 18.7, up 6.0 on last season. Last season they finished as Runners-up of the Level 1 League, and went out at the Qualifying Round of the Cup.

Cup: drawn in Preliminary Round against Dinesh FC, from Chilaw, Sri Lanka (Level 3, AQ +0.6) - 1st Leg away.
Champions League: Entering for the first time, drawn in Group H. Opponents in Group stage are:
Santa Maria FC of Milan, Italy. Level 2, AQ 20.2. League Champions last season.
Trieu FC, of Thanh Hoa, Vietnam. Level 2, AQ 19.9. 3rd in League last season.
Christian FC, of Copenhagen, Denmark. Level 2, AQ 14.6. 4th in League last season.

Playing squad is the same as the end of last season, at the moment. Of course, everyone has lost a star, and the squad is mainly a 4*/3* mixture, with one 5* player.

Playing squad details, with Career stats:
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Cup Preliminary Round 1st Leg, away at Dinesh FC, in Chilaw, Sri Lanka. level 3, AQ +0.7
Palace Terriers visited Dinesh FC, facing their first upper-level opponent, and came away with a win and three away goals. Striker Ben Atkins is making a case for being the main striker in the absence of the injured Nicky Jones, his two second half goals adding to the important contribution he made during the league run-in last season. It took Terriers 16 minutes to make an impact on this match, midfielder Luis Omar Soto diving in to head a Xabier Moran corner past the helpless home 'keeper. In the second half, Atkins turned on a one-man show, netting a shot past the 'keeper after a solo run and 1-on-1 challenge, then throwing himself at another Moran corner to complete his brace.

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Cup Preliminary Round 2nd Leg, home vs Dinesh FC, of Chilaw, Sri Lanka. Level 3, AQ +0.6
Palace Terriers held a 3-0 advantage for this home leg, and ran out comfortable 4-1 victors in this match, for a 7-1 aggregate. The first-half was goal-less, and for the visitors, chanceless, as their shooting statistics at half-time read Shots 0, On-target 0. Three minutes into the second half, and Ben Atkins was at it again, challenging the 'keeper after a defence-splitting run and slotting the ball past him. Luis Omar Soto got onto the scoresheet again with a 25 yard pile driver on the hour and Nathan 'Shoot-on-Sight' Masegela had a couple of long-range shots before he received a through ball from midfielder Ondrej Kadlec and shot into the net off the underside of the bar. Dinesh managed to get a shot in, and on target, but home custodian Adriano Mateus was equal to the header from a corner, but the 'keeper couldn't do anything a couple of minutes later as Morales fired a 20 yard shot into the corner of the goal. Late on, Terriers' other striker, Edward Armstrong-Ford restored the three-goal lead when he shimmied through the defence and planted a shot past the 'keeper.

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Champions League Group H Round 1, home vs Trieu FC, of Thanh Hoa, Vietnam. Level 2, AQ +1.0
Terriers started out in their very first Champions League competition with a 2-3 home defeat to Trieu FC, with goals from midfielder Luis Omar Soto and left-winger Nathan Masegela, but had midfielder Martin Silny injured (6 days, heavy ankle strain).

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Overview of the League for Palace Terriers 2nd season:

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League Round 1, home vs FC Mikey, of Wroclaw, Poland. Level 2, AQ +0.3
Palace Terriers won 3-1 at home to FC Mikey, with goals from defender Gonzalo Scornaienchi and two from Masegela, but two more injuries were incurred in the last 10 minutes, right-back Aad Roemgens (5 days, knee cartilage tear) and utility defender Guilio Migliorati (3 days, calf strain).

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Palace Terriers injury stats 4 injuries, 20 days.

League Round 2, away at FC Groningen, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Level 2, AQ -1.3
Palace Casuals made the short hop across the channel for their second League match of the season and came home 3 points richer after a splendid 3-0 win. After suffering the usual injury, this time to midfielder Ondrej Kadlec, Terriers asserted themselves on the game and second-half goals from Xabier Moran (2) and substitute Craig Powell were enough to earn victory. Terriers 'keeper Adriano Mateus earned the Man-of-the-match for his first half display, almost single-handedly keeping the scores level. Kadlec has been diagnosed with a Thigh strain (2 days).

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Cup Qualifying Round 1st Leg, away at Moussi FC, in Alger, Algeria. Level 3, AQ -1.0
Palace Terriers continued their awayday with a Cup tie against another Level 3 opponent, and earned a 3-0 win to take the match advantage back to the Terriers stadium in two days' time. After Xabier Moran's 16th minute opener, the side exchanged injuries, the Terriers victim being newly-fit defensive midfielder Giulio Migliorati, who limped to the touchline and was eventually replaced by striker Ben Atkins in a formation reshuffle to the Hexagon. In the second half, Man-of-the-Match Moran helped Atkins and Nathan Masegela add two goals to the tally, a corner swung in for Atkins to dive in and head home, and a free-kick which Masegela volleyed into the net. Migliorati is now suffering an ankle strain (3 days).

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Palace Terriers injury stats - 6 injuries, 25 days.

Rather than try to scrape up another set of Red Packs to get a defensive midfielder player fit again, the Management turned to the Transfer Market and picked up this player for 1T/$184k:

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League Round 3, home vs Maratea FC, of Maratea, Italy. Level 2, AQ -0.3
Palace Terriers made it three wins from three in the League this season as they won 1-0, with a goal a minute from half-time by Ben Atkins, heading home a corner from Xabier Moran. Goalkeeper Adriano Mateus is obviously in a purple patch as he earned the Man-of-the-Match award for the second game running.

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Champions League Group H Round 2, away at Christian FC, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Level 2, AQ -2.2
After a 2-3 defeat in their first Champions League outing, Palace Terriers turned on the juice as they edged this absorbing and competitive match 3-2. Taking the lead in the 3rd minute, Taulant Doda firing home from a cross by Craig Powell. The home side equalised five minutes later, before new signing defensive midfielder Paul Harnett dived in to head home a Nathan Masegela corner, only to see Christian FC equalise again a minute before the break. In the second half, tiredness forced a couple of personnel changes on the Terriers Management, Nicky Jones replacing fellow striker Ben Atkins, and Masegela making way for right winger Dan Briggs, MoM Xabier Moran moving to the left wing in consequence. With the second-half being tighter than the first, the latter move proved to be the match winner, as Briggs fed a defence-splitting pass though to Moran, who made no mistake with his shot. Luis Omar Soto picked up a late caution, which will mean he will miss the next CL match.

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League Round 4, away at Besiktas FC, in Tokat, Turkey. Level 2, AQ +0.4
Palace Terriers travelled to Turkey for this top-of-the-table clash, and returned with a 2-1 win. Xabier Moran opened the scoring with a direct free-kick in the 9th minute, and Ondrej Kadlec converted Luis Omar Soto's pass in the second-half, putting the visitors back into the lead after Besiktas had equalised just before the break. Soto later picked up a yellow card, which means he misses the next League game.

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Cup Qualifying Round 2nd Leg, home vs Moussi FC, of Alger, Algeria. Level 3, AQ -1.2
Palace Terriers overcame Level 3 opponents for the second time this season, winning 5-0 in this leg, for an 8-0 aggregate. Xabier Moran gave a lesson in scoring, a hat-trick before half-time, including 2 solo goals and a direct free-kick. The Terriers Management felt that Moran deserved a rest, so made a double half-time substitution, Luis Omar Soto the other player substituted, Daniel Briggs and Ondrej Kadlec being the replacements. The team continued where Moran left off in the second half, Nathan Masegela living up to his 'shoot-on-sight' nickname with a 30 yard pile driver and Kadlec with a run and shot past the 'keeper to complete the scoring.

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Champions League Group H Round 3, home vs Santa Maria FC, of Milan, Italy. Level 2, AQ +2.0
Palace Terriers inaugurated their new 200-seat extension to their spectator facilities, but the occasion could not be any less festive. A 1-4 defeat in the match left their Champions League progression hopes looking a little frail. A goal by Nathan Masegela in the second half gave the home side some hope, but they were already 2 goals down at the time, and a further two goals were scored by the opposition. Terriers chances were reduced further when Craig Powell picked up two yellow cards and the Order of the Early Bath, he misses Terriers next CL outing.

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League Round 5, home vs □□.□□, of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Level 2, AQ +2.0
Palace Terriers failed to attract a full house to a home game for the first time this season, and a review of entry pricing is in progress. On the pitch, despite dominating for a long while and taking the lead in the 34th minute through a Xabier Moran free-kick, the visitors eventually overwhelmed the home side with two goals in the last quarter of the match.

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Cup Play-off Round 1st Leg, away at Peaceful FC, in Warsaw, Poland. Level 4, AQ -0.7
Palace Terriers went on the road and found their winning ways again, as the came back from this match with a team two Levels above them with a 1-0 win. With 14 minutes to go, striker Ben Atkins unselfishly passed to midfielder Luis Omar Soto for the only goal.

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League Round 6, away at Attachment 51056, in Cairo, Egypt. Level 2, AQ +0.1
Palace Terriers continued their away trip in Egypt, and obtained a 2-2 draw in this match between two evenly matched teams. The home side opened the scoring just after the half-hour, but Terriers roared back after the break with goals from Luis Omar Soto and defender Tom Clare. After Soto was booked for an edge-of-the-box foul, the hosts missed the ensuing penalty, but seven minutes equalised from open play. Soto misses the next league game through accumulated yellow cards.

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Terriers now find themselves in 3rd place in the table after Round 6:

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Champions League Group H Round 4, away vs Santa Maria FC, in Milan, Italy. Level 2, AQ +2.2
Palace Terriers continued their recent away trip by travelling to Milan for the return Champions League match against Santa Maria. The home side had changed their formation, which meant that Terriers could being their trusty 4-5-1V into play, and despite being dominated in all areas, countered their way to a 2-0 win. After the early loss of Luis Omar Soto to a Knee cartilage tear in the second minute, Xabier Moran put the visitors ahead from the free-kick. The Terriers then defended their lead all the way to the 83rd minute, when Moran made the game safe with a shot from just outside the box.

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League Round 7, away at Santiago FC, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Level 2, AQ -1.8
Final leg of the away trip was in Argentina for a League match, and fighting off the jet lag all the way, Terriers gave an object lesson in finishing in a 7-1 victory. Ben Atkins gave the Terriers the lead two minutes before half-time, but the home side equalised with virtually the last kick of the half. Changing to 3-5-2V early in the second-half, the visitors then scored six goals without reply, Ondrej Kadlec leading the way with a hat-trick, and Craig Powell, Paul Hartnett and Nicky Jones contributed the others. Palace Terriers go back to the top of the table on goals scored.

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League Round 8, home vs Ampoeh FC, of Jakarta, Indonesia. Level 2, AQ +0.5
Palace Terriers suffered a 0-2 defeat at home which cost them their top-of-the-table spot.

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Player news: The Management moved swiftly to shore up the Terriers midfield and try to stem the opposition attacks down the right flank when the formation called for does not accommodate attacking midfielder and main playmaker Xabier Moran in the squad. A 5T/$104M purchase followed:

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Cup Play-off Round 2nd leg, home vs Peaceful FC, of Warsaw, Poland. Level 4, AQ -1.1
Palace Terriers went in to this match expecting a heavy reaction from their visitors after escaping from the 1st Leg with a 1-0 win, but Peaceful FC went quietly out of the Cup after this 6-0 win, Terriers winning 7-0 on aggregate. Craig Powell and Nathan Masegela held court in the first half, the latter providing a corner for Powell to head home, then a minute before half-time, Masegela scored himself from 20 yards out. The second-half belonged to Man-of-the-Match Aad Roemgens, scoring his first goals for the Terriers, and assisting Ben Atkins with his goal. Debutant Julien van der Plas added himself to the score sheet with a long-range shot for the fifth goal.

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