Match report for Palace vs Dulwich Lions

Palace,

Last saturday we had a tougher than expected game against the Dulwich Lions. I don’t know if it was because of the heat and bright sunshine but for once we had a very sluggish start.

Dulwich Lions had only 10 players to start with but it did not really show. We had more much more possession but about 15 minutes into the game it was Dulwich who managed to open the scoring as they took advantage of our static defence.

At least this setback gave us some impetus and we finally managed to put some sustained pressure on their goal. Over-optimistic long range efforts, combined with bad finishing from our strikers as well as good goal-keeping denied us for at least 25 minutes. Fortunately, Lao Cui provided his trademark goal just before the half-time whistle: he got the ball near the side line, on the left, maybe 35 metres from the goal, saw their goalkeeper off his line and took a long lobbed-shot that nicely dived into the goal. 1-1 at half time.

In the second half, despite Dulwich now playing with 11 men, we were much more dominant. Amir almost scored the goal of the season but his shot bounced back off the goal line after hitting the crossbar. Persevering was the key, and maybe just 5 minutes later, Amir finally got some rewards for his effort and scored our second goal. Shortly after that, Lao Cui got another after dribbling his way to the goal from the left side. Final score 3-1.

After the game, most of the squad went to Luga’s for some refreshments and food. Amir collected the most votes for Man-of-the-match, while myself was voted donkey for being a “brickhead”??
Cheers,
Patrick