Crystal Palace Baltimore were beaten 2-1 by the Western Mass Pioneers on Saturday evening at Lusitano Stadium in Ludlow, Massachusetts. The visitors enjoyed much more of the game as in recent outings but fell behind to a pair of goals from rookie midfielder Adrian DuBois before pulling one back through Pat Healey's late penalty. This was only the second victory of the season for the last-placed Pioneers and left Baltimore without a win in their last five games.

"We played well overall," remarked Palace Co-Manager Pete Medd. "Jordan Seabrook had a couple of chances inside the six yard box , we had seven corner kicks without reply in the second half, but we're still not converting our chances."

Western Mass took the lead on 24 minutes when Adrian DuBois converted a Federico Molinari pass. In the second half, it was DuBois again, this time with the help of Greg Kilkenny, doubling the Pioneers lead in the 53rd minute.

Palace battled hard, piling on the pressure as they looked to pull themselves back into the game. They finally broke through on 86 minutes when a Pioneers player knocked the ball down with his arm in the penalty area and the referee pointed at the spot. Pat Healey (pictured) didn't waste time in converting the penalty kick, but it was too little too late for the visitors.

In the final minute of the match Pioneers head coach Leszek Wrona was sent from the field of play by the referee after a clash with Palace's Zack Flores.
Palace have now completed eleven of their twenty regular season matches and have amassed only twelve points. "Our backs are against the wall, big time." stated Medd. "We have to win the vast majority of our remaining games if we're going to have a chance of making the playoffs."

Palace's next fixture takes them to Ocean City, New Jersey to take on the Barons in the first round of the US Open Cup. The game kicks off at 7:00pm on Tuesday, June 9 2009 at Carey Stadium.