USL Official Match Information

Crystal Palace came into Wednesday night’s match against the Harrisburg City Islanders with high hopes following an eight day, four city road trip that resulted in three wins and a tie. Those results had vaulted Palace into fifth place just two games back of Fourth place Harrisburg with two of their last four matches against the City Islanders. However, a 2-0 loss to Harrisburg at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium has put their playoff hopes on life support.

Harrisburg’s first goal of the evening occurred in the 18 th minute when Brian Devlin attempted a hard shot from 25 yards that was blocked by Alex Ughiovhe. However Ughiovhe’s block went directly to Harrisburg’s Brian Ombiji who first-timed it past Palace keeper Brian Rowland from 15 yards for the 1-0 lead. Palace had two good chances to draw level in the first half. The first was in the 29 th minute when Mateus dos Anjos crossed from 30 yards out to Gary Brooks who was positioned 8 yards from the Islanders goal, Brooks’ resulting header was right at keeper Matt Nelson who made the reflex save. In the 39 th minute Palace again had a fine opportunity on a direct kick from 20 yards and directly in front of the Harrisburg goal. Ibrahim Kante’s shot cleared the wall but went just over the crossbar. Brian Rowland kept Palace hopes alive when he took a ball off the foot of Brian Ombiji who had broken through the Palace defense in the 45 th minute.

Palace came out in the second half with renewed pressure but this also allowed some space for the Harrisburg attack. Rowland kept Palace in the match when he made a great diving save in the 59 th minute when Mo Oduor came in on a breakaway and shot from 8 yards. Crystal Palace had their best chance of the night in the 79 th minute when Mateus dos Anjos curved a direct kick from the outside corner of the box that just slid by the opposite upper 90. The staff substituted to keep fresh legs on the field for Palace in an attempt to get the tying goal. In the 77 th minute Andrew Herman , a forward, came in for Ibrahim Kante, a defensive stalwart. Palace threw numbers forward and Harrisburg eventually counter-attacked and caught the Palace defense out of position. Shintaro Harada was forced to pull down Steve Fisher in the Penalty Box in the 80 th minute. The successful Penalty Kick by Mo Oduor in the 81 st minute put Harrisburg up by the final two goal margin.

Palace out-shot Harrisburg by an 18 to 12 margin but only five of Palace’s shots reached Harrisburg keeper Matt Nelson while seven of Harrisburg’s goals reached Brian Rowland.

Crystal Palace still has a slim mathematical chance to make the playoffs but they would have to run the table and have Harrisburg or Charlotte lose all of their remaining matches.

Palace’s next match is Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium. Bermuda will provide the opposition in this 7:00 PM match.

 

Harrisburg 2 (1), Crystal Palace 0 (0)

Scoring Summary : HAR Ombiji 18 , HAR Oduor (PK) 81

Cautions : HAR Bixler 22, HAR Morman 50, CPB Brooks 52,

Shots : HAR 12, CPB 18

Fouls : HAR 24, CPB 14

Saves : HAR 5, CPB 5

Corners : HAR 6, CPB 1

Offside : HAR 4, CPB 2

Lineups : Harrisburg - Nelson, Fisher(Tanzini 69), Bixler, Velten, Pierce, Schofield, Devlin, Morman(Morman 69), Oduor(Chambers 87), Ombiji(Johnston 57), Calvano

Crystal Palace - Rowland, Ughiovhe, Kante(Herman 77), Marshall, Harkin(Capecci 66), Urquijo(Alcala 45), Flores(Rush 71), Mbuta, dos Anjos, Brooks, Harada

Officials: Mark Turner, Adam Wienckowski, Debbie Coleman, Matthew Boren.