Crystal Palace Baltimore lost to a heartbreaking 88th minute Real Maryland goal at UMBC Stadium on Friday night in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 2,887. In a bad-tempered, physical encounter, the two Maryland clubs failed to create much in the way of genuine goal-scoring opportunities.

Much of the opening period was spent in the middle third of the field, with both sides trying to find a way to release their forwards. But each defence was in top form, snuffing out the danger before it materialised. The first decent shot on target came on 18 minutes when Real's big center forward James Stevens struck a powerful effort from the edge of the box which Rowland got over well to collect.

In the 27th minute, good work by Zack Flores in the left corner saw him take on and beat his marker before firing in a strong, low cross to the on-rushing Shintaro Harada, but his header from ten yards out whistled a foot over the bar.

Just as time was winding down at the end of the first half, Palace broke through left back Mateus dos Anjos who released Zack Flores down the left channel. Flores raced into the box with a defender on his inside, but rushed his left-footed shot and the ball flew harmlessly towards the corner flag.

The second half started with Gary Brooks giving Palace a bit of a scare just one minute in, taking a snap shot on the volley from the corner of the box, but the ball flew high over the bar.

In the 50th minute, there was an altercation on the edge of the Palace area involving several players from both sides but remarkably the referee showed no cards. From the resulting corner taken by Victor Ramirez, Ashleigh Townsend rose to get a clear header but the ball ended up wide of the right-hand post.

Two minutes later, Ryan Pierce made a nice move up the right and lofted a cross to Val Teixeira on the far side of the box. The Palace captain tried to first-time the ball to Robson running through the middle but his touch was heavy and Dave Kern in the Real goal gobbled the ball up. Soon after, a lovely combination of build-up play from Shintaro Harada, Paul Robson, Ryan Pierce and new signing Machel Millwood ended with a looping header from Val Teixeira sailing over the bar.

Real Maryland were keeping Palace on the back foot as the midway point of the second half rolled around, but on 63 minutes, Pat Healey battled hard just inside the box to send a ball through to a charging Machel Millwood but the new signing's left-footed strike flew past the right post and Palace had squandered perhaps their best chance of the match.

On 86 minutes, Real Maryland substitute Marc Gracien jinked his way around Ryan Pierce in the left corner and fired a cross to the far post where Gary Brooks was waiting to head down powerfully past the feet of Brian Rowland to give the visitors the lead.

Soon afterwards, Jordan Seabrook appeared to be taken down inside the box by the Real 'keeper but the referee wasn't interested in the Palace players' appeals. A frantic final spell ensued, including five minutes of stoppage time, as Palace threw players forward in the quest for an equalizer, but Real absorbed the pressure and held on for the victory.

Palace's next fixture sees them make their second trip up to Ludlow, Massachusetts, in ten days as they take on the Western Mass Pioneers at 7:30pm on Friday, June 5.

For a full USA fixture list and table, click here.

Crystal Palace Line-up:

Brian Rowland, Ryan Pierce, Stephen Basso, Andrew Marhsall, Mateus dos Anjos, Paul Robson (Bryan Harkin 87'), Shintaro Harada, Pat Healey, Val Teixeira (C) (Kevin Gnatiko 87'), Zack Flores (Jordan Seabrook 45'), Machel Millwood

Cautions: Robson 13

Subs not used: Billy Chiles, Dan Lader, Neil Vranis, Alex Ughiovhe

Real Maryland Line-up:

Dave Kern, John Borrajo, Yendry Diaz, Ashleigh Townsend, David Purser, Loanny Cartaya, Tom Taylor, Sean Rush (Daniel Bulls 89'), Victor Ramirez (Marc Gracien 70'), Gary Brooks, James Stevens

Goal(s): Brooks 87

Cautions: Ramirez 3, Brooks 65, Gracien 83

Subs not used: Justin Hughes, Fabien Lewis, Ryan Cordeiro, Sergio Salas, Cameron Chastain

Referees:

Bryan Roslund, Angela Ianni, Jason Blight, Nathan Myers