There were two special guests at our recent 1-0 victory against our American team here at Selhurst Park. Crystal Palace USA season ticket holders Joseph and Leslie Kemp won a special competition run by our American team for a trip to London to watch the second meeting between the two teams.

CPFC.co.uk hears from Joseph in his own words on what it was like to follow his team across the Atlantic.

It was actually rather funny how we heard about the prize at the final match of the season away at Harrisburg. We arrived early to spend some extra time in Harrisburg as my brother lives and as we arrived at the stadium car park we saw the parents of Palace defender Andrew Marshall and went over to say hello. Upon seeing us Andrew's mother excitedly announced to us that she had seen on www.crystalpalaceusa.com that we had won the trip.

Shortly thereafter we were greeted by the girlfriend of 'keeper Brian Rowland who also congratulated us on our luck. Our reaction was one of shock and confusion, but it gradually began to sink in and our excitement really started to build.

We had an amazing time in England and the sun was out every day.We extended our trip to take in as many sights as we could manage. The British Museum with its displays of antiquities was an amazing experience for my wife and me.

We were also able to visit Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich (quite a resemblance to the US Naval Academy where Palace USA played their home matches this past season) the beach at Brighton and even get in a little shopping at Harrods and Lilywhites as well as seeing a few shows in the West End.

We also like to note the consideration of those seated around us at Selhurst Park for the match between the two teams.The fans were genuinely surprised by our interest but still supportive of our presence.The enthusiasm and intensity of the Crystal Palace fans in SE25 gives us here on the other side of the Atlantic something to aspire to when our new season kicks next year.

By coincidence, I have owned a Subbuteo set since I was a child, and recently got it out for my eight-year-old son - I was quite amazed to see that one of the three teams I had was actually an original Crystal Palace side, by some bizarre coincidence.

Leslie and I became interested in Crystal Palace USA in February, when it was announced that Baltimore was going to get a USL Division Two team, I have played football (soccer) since I was six and recently managed to persuade Leslie, my wife, to get involved.

I have always loved the game and take any chance I can to see a match. I grew up watching the Baltimore Blast indoor soccer team, which are quite big here and had dreams as a kid of playing for them one day.They were the only professional soccer team in our region at the time, so it was the only vessel I could place my hopes on.

My hope now is that children in the Baltimore area can dream of one day playing for Crystal Palace in London.Whilst playing in front of your hometown would be a great experience in itself, having the opportunity to play on a larger stage, in a country where the game garners the appreciation it truly deserves, is even more exciting.

As season ticket holders we attended all but one of our home matches as well as several of our away games. The only game we missed at home was due to a previous commitment to attend a friends wedding.Of course, she was given an earful for her faulty scheduling - allowing her wedding date to fall on the same day as a game!

We managed to make a few away game but, unfortunately, unlike England, where you have local derbies with the likes of Charlton, our closest opponent is one-and-a-half hours away by car and there is no such luck in having the useful transportation system that exists around London here either.

The low point of the season was the 2-0 defeat at home to the Harrisburg City Islanders on July 25^th.

This was our fifth game in 12 days towards the end of a run where we played six games in 15 days.This run of games also included the longest trip of the season to Bermuda and back-to-back games in the northeastern US against Western Massachusetts and New Hampshire.Needless to say, our boys were rather weary for this home encounter and whilst giving a supreme effort we were unable to overcome a fresher Harrisburg side and were eliminated from contention for the end of season play-offs.

The highlight of the season was the run of positive results that we were able to produce towards the end of the season.While it didn't result in a playoff position for us it was nonetheless impressive to see games that might have gotten away from us at the beginning of the season produce points in the second half of the campaign.Watching a team and it's

players grow over the course of a season is an amazing thing. The development of the players under the watchful eye of co-managers Pete Medd and Jim Cherneski bodes well for the future of Crystal Palace USA and the Academy that is being established here.

The match at Selhurst was a great experience and Jim and Pete's team did themselves proud. We had a great time in London and built memories that will last a lifetime.Memories that, without our allegiance to Crystal Palace, we never would have had a chance to cultivate.

We then heard the announcement that two lucky fans had won a trip to the US, so if they are interested, or any other fans are thinking of visiting, and need any help trying to decide what to see or do upon their visit to Baltimore we would be more than happy to help.

Good luck with the season and have a nice day!