Crystal Palace Baltimore News Release - www.crystalpalaceusa.com
Saturday, May 10, 2008
BALTIMORE, MD -- Crystal Palace notched their third consecutive win thanks to goals from Gary Brooks and Matthew Mbuta in front of a noisy crowd of 1,824. The Wilmington Hammerheads are still looking for their first point of the season. With the victory, Palace have clinched a US Open Cup berth for the second year in a row.
The game saw Brian Rowland return to the starting line-up for Palace for the first time this year after recovering fully from off-season wrist surgery, displacing new signing Matt Nelson in goal despite Nelson’s back-to-back clean sheets in the opening two matches.
Though the pace was fast and furious in the opening period, neither side managed to create much of a threat on goal. Then on 10 minutes, Val Teixeira’s rising shot was tipped over the bar by John O’Hara in the Wilmington net. From the ensuing Bryan Harkin corner, Gary Brooks had clearly been watching Groundhog Day as he gave Palace the lead yet again with a clinical header at the near post.
The Baltimore side started to dominate their opponents from North Carolina and it wasn’t long before Palace doubled their advantage. Palace captain Val Teixeira crossed from the left to Matthew Mbuta on the far side of the Wilmington penalty area. Mbuta out-jumped his marker and made it look easy with a perfectly placed header.
Several Wilmington players created chances as the half wore on but Rowland was more challenged by the glare of the setting sun than the Hammerheads finishing and Palace were looking comfortable as the half-time whistle blew.
The second half started off at a slower pace, but Palace were still winning the possession battle. Palace however were beginning to give the ball away carelessly and Wilmington looked more and more of a threat Palace’s shut-out streak looked to have been broken on 70 minutes as the ball ruffled the back of Rowland’s net, but to the relief of the home side, the referee took notice of his assistant on the touchline and called a foul on Wilmington.
Despite the let down, the visitors had no plans to throw in the towel and created several excellent chances in the final 10 minutes, so the Palace fans were quite pleased to hear the final whistle and maintain their 100% record for the season both in results and in clean sheets.
After this victory, Palace have solidified their grip on second place, behind Charlotte in USL2. Next up, Palace travel to Bermuda to take on the Hogges on Saturday May 17th at 6:00pm.
