Season 68

[talisman]

The Palace News, 2nd July...

Three matches played today by the Palace teams, the first two over a lunchtime period, kickoffs being about 25 minutes apart. First up was the Terriers League match, at home to Sugus FC, and 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.



Casuals up next with a Champions League Group match away at Raikko5 FC. After an evenly-matched first half, Raikko5 gained an advantage after the break and along with it, two goals. Casuals attempts to get back into the game were repulsed until the very last minute, when Johan Shaqiri scored a fine solo goal. Two defeats now in the Champions League and Casuals will need to up their game in the next few matches in order to progress.

The evening match for Casuals saw the visit of a team with the name Juventus FC to Selhurst Park-ish. Casuals signed on a new DC/DMC before the CL match, and David Zhelev was drafted into the squad for this game in place of Anurak Arma. More substantial was the changes made to counteract the heavy attacking formation of the visitors, which meant a tryout for the Narrow Diamond, the 'Flying Wingers' Omar Hansen and Johan Shaqiri making way for attacking midfielder Valentin Ndjengue and striker Catalin Neagu, making his 100th appearance in a Casuals shirt. Neagu had clearly benefitted from a few games' rest, as the first half was the Neagu and Pigott show. Twice in the first 28 minutes Neagu made runs through the Juventus defence, and his final pass found Kevin Pigott both times, and both opportunities were not spurned. With the home side 2-0 up at the break, Juventus decided a change of formation and personnel was warranted, and these bore fruit early in the second half when Harboe scored to reduce the arrears. The Palace Management decided to match those changes and the 'Flying Wingers' were sent on in place of Ndjengue and striker Reda Mourad in a switch to 3-5-2V. The change brought results immediately, as Shaqiri's first corner hung invitingly for Neagu the head into the net. Juventus then decided to revert to a previous formation and Casuals were preparing to make a corresponding change when Michael Muscroft was injured and Suhail Kamal was sent on to replace him instead and the existing players shuffled to counteract the Juventus formation. With no further scoring the match ended 3-1 and Neagu picked up the MoM award as well as the Club's present for his 100th match.

Injury count - Casuals 2 injuries for 10 days; Terriers 5 injuries for 18 days.