Richmond Kickers 1-0 Crystal Palace Baltimore
A last minute goal in extra-time saw Crystal Palace Baltimore knocked out of the First Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open in last night's fixture against Richmond Kickers.
Richmond were the brighter team in the first 45 and within the opening 15 minutes Edson Elcock found Jonathan Villanueva inside the box, but his header was sent just wide of the goal. Three minutes later, Matthew Delicate broke free and went one-on-one with Palace goalkeeper Evan Bush. Bush was able to come out on top, stopping the striker from netting the first goal of the night.
With just under 15 minutes left Baltimore nearly went behind after a cross from Mike Burke was heading towards the back of the net after a deflection caught Bush unaware. With Bush rooted to his spot he was relieved to see the ball hit the post and go out of play.
After the break Richmond continued where they had left off as they pressed the Baltimore back-line. Dave Hertel delivered an exquisite pass to Elcock whose diving header from inside the box flew over the bar by a matter of inches.
Baltimore Gary Brooks had the American Eagle side's first real chance of the match on the 56th minute when he was able to manoeuvre his way around the opposition for a shot, but could not keep the ball from sailing over the bar.
With 10 minutes remaining in normal time neither side could find a goal to break the deadlock and avoid the game going into extra-time. The Kickers tried their best though and had a flurry of shots in the final minute but none of them found the net.
An edgy first 15 minutes of extra-time provided no real action and it wasn't until the second half of extra time that the game picked up again. Substitute Neal Barlow nearly gave the Kickers the lead on the 107th minute when his shot cannoned off of the crossbar from just outside the box.
As with most encounters, teams that fail to put away their chances are always likely to succumb to goal sooner or later and on the 114th minute Baltimore had a golden opportunity to do so. Randi Patterson found himself with an open net to shoot at after Ronnie Pascale came off of his line, however, the forwards effort clipped the crossbar and went over the net for a Richmond goal-kick.
Jim Cherneski's side were made to rue that miss when Stephen Nsereko found Delicate in the penultimate minute of the match and managed to slip the ball past Bush and secure a path to the second round of the competition for the Kickers.
