Crystal Palace weekend preview, home matches Friday and Saturday

Crystal Palace Baltimore look to return to winning ways this weekend as they face a tough, back-to-back, home series, beginning at 7:30pm on Friday night against the Western Mass Pioneers followed by the Charlotte Eagles at 7:00pm on Saturday.  Palace\'s squad has been bolstered by the short-term loan signings of two attack-minded young players from MLS side Red Bull New York, rookie Nick Zimmerman and former Baltimore ace Matthew Mbuta.

Palace defeated Charlotte 2-0 on the road two weeks ago, but since then, consecutive shut-out losses at Wilmington and Real Maryland have provided an unexpected challenge for the Baltimore coaching staff.  "We haven\'t seen Western Mass yet," remarked Crystal Palace Baltimore Co-Manger Pete Medd.  "They\'re an unpredictable side - you never know what you\'re going to get with them.  We handled them easily at home last year, then they whooped us during one of our two visits to Ludlow."  As for Palace\'s second opponent of the weekend, Medd said: "We\'re very conscious of the fact that Charlotte are still the gold standard in our league, despite their current record.  We\'ll be playing them on our second game in two nights, so we have to be very intelligent about playing time and substitutions.  We\'ve brought in two MLS players who we\'re familiar with to boost our freshness over the two game.  We want to get six points this weekend.  So far we haven\'t lost at home."

Palace are enjoying the novelty of an almost entirely fit squad, with Wale Adelusimi and John Nusum both available for selection.  Larry Mark remains the only player listed as doubtful for this weekend, but he is expected to be fit for Palace\'s following game, a road trip to Richmond on May 23.