Crystal Palace?s players saw their season take a painful turn in the span of a little more than a minute on Sunday evening in Pittsburgh.
Forward Val Teixeira tied the game, 1-1, with a left-footed goal into the far side of the net in the 72nd minute. But the Riverhounds took the ensuing kickoff down the field and took advantage of a lackadaisical defense to deal Palace its worst loss of the season.
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The 2-1 setback leaves Palace (8-5-1, 25 points) in fourth place in the 10 team, United Soccer League Second Division, with the top six teams earning a berth in next month?s playoffs. Palace, which has lost three of its past four games, gets a chance to regroup tonight at 7:05 in Harrisburg, Pa., against the City Islanders (5-1-9, 24).
“We had some finger-pointing going on in the locker room at halftime, and that doesn?t help,” Palace co-manager Jim Cherneski told reporters. “We were giving away silly balls and part of that goes to loss of concentration, especially with the second goal. We scored a great goal, probably our best goal of the season, and then to give up a goal 30 seconds later is a punch in the stomach.”
The last time the City Islanders hosted Palace on June 24, it was in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup. Palace emerged with a dramatic victory in penalty kicks in a game marred by physical play and several ejections.
Charlotte (11-1-4, 37), Richmond (16-10-4, 32) and Cleveland (16-8-3, 29) have each secured a playoff berth. Palace has played two fewer games than those teams, but has three home and three road games remaining, including a trip to Charlotte on Saturday night at 7 before returning home to play Real Maryland (3-12-1, 9) on July 31.
The top two teams receive a first-round bye, and Palace must likely win at least five of its remaining games to earn one.
“We aren?t putting away our chances and had some clear ones against Pittsburgh,” Palace forward Kevin King said. “I had one I should have scored on. We are beating ourselves.”
