The defense for Crystal Palace showed up tonight even though the coaching staff had to patch together a back four. However, it was not enough to give Palace it’s first points of the season. The Cincinnati Kings grabbed the win with an 87 th minute shot by Brett Jones that glanced off a Palace defender and caught keeper Brian Rowland going the wrong way. The play had started near the right touch-line where Kevin McCluskey fired a long pass from about 40 yards out that found Jones 25 yards in front of the Palace goal. The resulting shot spoiled the best effort of the season by the Eagles. Who had just missed taking their first lead of the season at the other end when Matthew Mbuta fired straight into the arms of King’s keeper Craig Salvati from 12 yards out.
The much improved defense was anchored by Shintaro Harada, Palace’s play-making midfielder, who dropped back into a central defensive role for the match and Alan O’Hara saw his first action in the Palace back four. Both played pivotal roles in blanking the Cincinnati Kings for the first 86 minutes of the night. It was the first time the Eagles avoided an early goal against them this season. The Palace offense once again dominated the statistics out-shooting Cincinnati 14 -11 and earning 9 corners, eight in the first half, to three for the Kings. On a least five occasions, CP-USA was on the cusp of taking their first lead of the season. In the 20th minute Sergio Flores shot wide of the King’s goal from 20 yards out and to the left of Cincinnati keeper Craig Salvati. Four minutes later Andrew Herman shot a bullet wide of the goal from the penalty arc. There was repeated pressure throughout the half and in the 43 rd minute Josh Alcala shot wide from the same spot as the prior shot by Herman. Cincinnati had one good chance in the 44 th minute when Brett Jones shot low and wide to Brian Rowland’s right but the shot missed was just outside the goal frame.
In the second half Sergio Flores missed wide from 25 yards out in the 53rd minute. The final chance for Palace was Mbuta’s 85 th minute attempt just before Brett Jones ruined the night for Palace fans.
Cincinnati 1 (0), Crystal Palace 0 (0)
Scoring: CIN Jones (McCluskey) 87
Cautions:
CIN Jones 70
CPB Spence 39, dos Anjos 60
Shots:
CIN 11
CPB 14
Fouls:
CIN 17
CPB 6
Saves:
CIN 4
CPB 4
Corners:
CIN 3
CPB 9
Offside:
CIN 2
CPB 9
Lineups:
Cincinnati - Salvati , Rainy , Cheurlin(Glaser 61), McCluskey , Sarkodie(Hermann 79), Campbell(Hourne 86), Jones, Slemker, McGinlay, Micklos(Miller 71).
Crystal Palace - Rowland , O'Hara , Marshall , Spence(Rush 80), Flores , Mbuta, dos Anjos(Ughiovhe 66), Sheringham, Herman(Mark 37), Alcala, Harada
Att: 278
Officials: Jason Cullum, Garrett Tucker, Elsayed Elbary, John White |
