Season 76 - Are you ready?

[talisman]

Day 17 - Palace teams Champions League report.

Palace Terriers played at home in their 2nd Leg Champions League 'Top-16' match and won 2-1 to go through to the Quarter-Finals 4-2 on aggregate. A goal in each half from midfielder Christian Narvaez and right-winger Declan McGranaghan were enough to ensure progression.



Palace Casuals were all-square from their 1st Leg match, but their opponents had the luxury of 3 away goals from the 3-3 1st Leg draw, so the Management were very careful to maintain possession, and that, and a lot of patience, paid off in the end. The home side were rocked by a straight red card for their left-winger after a penalty area incident, but Casuals striker Massimiliano Gerini saw his spot kick saved by the 'keeper, and the teams went into the break at 0-0. The home manager made a couple of substitutions and changed formation for the second half, enabling the Casuals Management to move right-winger Andy Bayunu back to his AMR position, having played the first half at MR in the absence through injury of Andrea Denicola. In the 57th minute, Bayunu got the ball on the right-wing and advanced unhindered to the edge of the box, where he unleashed a piledriver which left the home 'keeper stranded, and a minute later, a long clearance from defence found midfielder Borislav Raykov sprinting through the defence, and he lost no time in lashing the ball past the 'keeper. The Management then made a substitution to put an extra defender in, sacrificing one of the two strikers, to ensure that there was no repeat of the late collapse as in the 1st Leg. Casuals ran out 2-0 winners, and go through to the Quarter-Finals 5-3 on aggregate.