Crystal Palace Baltimore travel to North Carolina to face the Railhawks Friday night

In what must be seen as a must-win matchup, Crystal Palace Baltimore (6-13-6) travel to Cary, NC to face the Carolina RailHawks (9-8-7) at WakeMed Soccer Park on Friday, September 3 at 7 p.m. It will be the third time the two NASL Conference rivals have faced one another this season. Palace hold the advantage this season, boasting a 1-0-1 record against the RailHawks.

With five games left in the season and the last playoff spot still up for grabs, Palace are in charge of their own destiny.  Fortunately for Baltimore, the RailHawks have struggled against them this season. In their previous two outings, Palace Baltimore have taken four of six points from Carolina courtesy of a 1-1 tie in Cary and a 2-1 win in Baltimore. 

Palace have looked to add some attacking options late in the season with the recent addition of forward Adrian Bumbut and midfielder Alan Sanchez. Palace’s lack of offensive firepower in their recent results has not helped their post-season chances. They have lost their last three fixtures, conceding ten goals and scoring none in the process.

Carolina, who have lost three of their last five games (one of which was to Palace Baltimore), is currently sitting in second spot in the NASL conference with 34 points. Palace is ten points adrift in fourth but can narrow that margin, and the four point gap on the last playoff spot, with a win against a team whose number they have had so far this season. 

“I’ve coached against Martin (Rennie) for three seasons now,” said Palace Baltimore Head Coach, Jim Cherneski. “He’s a very good coach with a very good team, but we believe that we can get a result against them. We have to get a result against them if we want to keep our playoff hopes alive.”

Baltimore’s next game is a home fixture against the MLS-bound Vancouver Whitecaps on "Silly Bandz Night" in the Paul Angelo Russo Stadium on Saturday, September 11 at 5 p.m.

Palace Baltimore fans unable to attend either fixture are invited to log onto live.palacebaltimore.com a few minutes before kickoff and watch the game live.