ASB entertained the Eagles from South London on a windy (when isn't it?!) morning at Warren Farm with the odd breakthrough of sunshine.

Jordan had a healthy squad of 15 to choose from and with the emphasis firmly on improving our goals for column everyone was sure of the job in hand. Palace looked to be struggling for numbers at first but eventually had a full team and a few subs by the time kick off came round. Frange kindly took charge of referring duties and handled the game well.

GK : Naz
RB : Orville LB : Tina
CB : Peewee & Hef
RM : Malik LM : Slouch
CM : Riz & Nick
S : Sharkey & Mungo

Subs : Jools, Immy, Frange & Jordan

We started the game far stronger and over-run Palace early on. Our first chance came after good work down the right by Malik, who had an excellent game. He crossed into Mungo and his miss-hit shot was kept in by Slouch and we won a corner from his attempted cross.
 
Sharkey started brightly upfront and some neat footwork to leave one of the Palace defenders for dead on one occasion. The only sniff for Palace came from a header which was headed wide after a decent delivery into the box.
 
Sharkey had a chance to open the scoring after a miss-hit backpass but he couldn't get his shot quite right and his effort was easily saved by the out-rushing keeper.
 
The pressure paid off after 10 minutes when we opened the scoring.
 
Mungo was the provider and showed great determination and effort to keep the ball in play after a pass from Sharkey. Mungo steadied himself and his cross was met at the far post by Malik who nodded past the keeper.

1-0

Just a couple of minutes later and the scores should have been equal, luckily for us Orville was then to save on the line after Palace got the offside shout and their man hit the ball past Naz who was racing off his line. Offside or not, it was a warning sign of what they could do later on in the match.
 
We added a second after 15 minutes and it came courtesy of a Riz penalty which sent the keeper the wrong way. Sharkey was obstructed in the box and Frange had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
Unfortunately Sharkey left the field 3 minutes later as a result of the penalty collision with what appeared to be a thigh injury.
 
Jools entered the field to take his place up front alongside Mungo.
 
We continue to press for another and Tina was making good headway down the left. After good link-up play with Slouch and a decent long throw he tried an effort on goal that sailed just over the bar.
We were again given scare just moments later when Orv again saved the day at the back. Palace won possession in midfield and one of their strikers was onto the ball but luckily Orv intercepted to send the ball out for a corner.
 
Naz was then called upon to save from a pinpoint header. The chance arose from a free kick which was floated into the area and our defence failed to pick the guy out at the back post. Naz was on call though to save well and tip over the bar.
 
Just before the stroke of half time we should have really have had a third which would have buried the game in my opinion. Riz won possession in midfield and slipped a perfect ball through to Malik who was running at pace. He had the beating of the full back but his eventual shot was dragged wide of goal.
 
Half time: 2-0

On: Jordan & Immy Off: Mungo & Jools

We continue where we left off and Tina and Nic Nic had early shots over the bar. Immy had come on and was happily running at defenders.
 
With around five minutes gone we started to let the game slip away from us. Our defence was caught napping and the usually reliable Pee Wee couldn't deal with a ball over the top. We got punished and Palace took their chance well past Naz who came rushing off his line.

2-1
 
After the setback of losing a goal we attempted to make up for things as firstly Slouch shot wide and then hits the post after a cracking move down the left flank. Slouch cut in and his effort was nearly in. In between his two efforts Nic Nic was involved in a neat passing move down the opposite flank and this resulted in a corner being won.
 
Immy then tried his luck with a surging run which eventually went out for a corner. His run started well outside the box and after beating men should have pulled the trigger when entering the area.
Instead he left it slightly too late and was quickly intercepted by a palace defender.

Off: Jordan On: Jools
Off: Immy On: Mungo
 
With around 15 minutes to go Palace got their equaliser and we were left scratching out heads just quite how we didn't have this game in the bag a long time ago. Palace broke down their right and had men over. After a ball into the middle they had three men queuing up to take the chance and our besieged defence couldn't stop the shot coming in. The ball fell to a palace man and it was fired home past Naz. A scuffle then developed as frustration and anger got the better of people. Frange sensibly dealt with the situation and players exchanged apologies.

2-2

After this there were only two notable moments as the game petered out and we seemed to lose a bit of faith in ourselves. At our end Orv again saved us with a timely double tackle after another ball over the top. Then they cleared off the line after a header from Malik?? which about summed it up really.
 
We were so dominant early on that in some way it's staggering that we drew. But Palace stuck at their game and grew in strength as the game progressed. We on the other hand seemed slightly shell-shocked by their equaliser and needed a bit more breathing space than a single goal. Players were visibly and understandably disappointed afterwards as much of the early work was undone.
 
From a personal view, it was one of only a handful of matches I've seen. We passed the ball well in patches and Sharkey was a danger up front when on. Malik also seemed very confident and did plenty of work down the flank. Orv at the back too was excellent and provided some timely interceptions.

There are still a few fairly new players and it may still be time for bedding in etc. there is a strong nucleus of players available and if given time and added too we can certainly cause problems at the right end of the league next season.

MOM: Malik.

Skidz.