 Baltimore MD - On a blustery afternoon outside Harrisburg Pennsylvania, Palace made it three wins in three pre-season contests thanks to two goals in quick succession from Gary Brooks in his first game since returning to Baltimore from playing indoors with the New Jersey Ironmen.
"It was a pretty even affair but we should have done better." said Palace Co-manager, Pete Medd. "We've been in pre-season for longer than Harrisburg. The conditions were tough - it was very windy and the field was quite narrow. But it wasn't about the result. There were some good individual performances and it was good to see Brooks out there."
The first half was scrappy, thanks in no small part to the strong winds and the small field, but each side managed to create a few decent chances. Harrisburg capitalized on a defensive mix-up in the 20th minute as Palace's Alex Ughiovhe goalkeeper Zach Thompson got in each other's way as they attempted to deal with a low cross into the six yard box. The ball popped out into the path of a City Islanders forward who prodded it home to give the home side the early lead.
After the break and six substitutions, Palace came out with more determination. But again, Harrisburg were dangerous on the break and 30 minutes into the second half had back-to-back chances to double their advantage. But Palace weathered the storm with a series of brave goalkeeping and defensive tackles and blocks, and even a spectacular goal-line clearance from Paul Robson.
Gary Brooks, one of the six half-time substitutes, didn't take long to get back into the goal-scoring groove since his return to training with the Palace squad this week. On 33 minutes he met Cecil Lewis's free-kick from the right, placing a bullet of a header just inside the near post for the equaliser. A mere 60 seconds later, Brooks had his second to complete the Palace comeback. Dan Lader played a quick through ball to Kevin King up the left wing and his low cross was turned in by fellow Jamaican Brooks, beating the Harrisburg keeper from three yards.
Co-manager Jim Cherneski summed up his thoughts: "Today I was really pleased with the fact that we did convert twice, even though we didn't really create enough chances. Harrisburg had a lot of trialists playing today, but they'll probably be signing eight of them - I'd say this was the toughest competition we've faced so far. We're not content with how we've been playing, but to go out and get three results in our first three friendlies, that's not an easy thing to do. So we've got that to build on. We expect to be a little more cohesive against Navy."
Palace travel to Annapolis on Wednesday for their next pre-season fixture against the Naval Academy. That match kicks off at 6:00pm at the Glen Warner Soccer Facility, site of the the first ever encounter between Palace USA and Palace UK back in 2006. |
