PALACE AID: MATCH REPORT, HIGHLIGHTS, DONATE

Doc Brown’s XI and AJ’s XI went head to head to compete for the inaugural Palace Aid trophy in a 6-2 thriller in favour of Doc’s side, all to raise crucial funds for young south Londoners.

The likes of former Palace heroes Andrew Johnson, Wayne Routledge, Andy Gray, and Gary Borrowdale were all in action in SE25, along with Academy products Arron Fray, Sagi Burton, Brendan Kiernan, and Sam Togwell.

Also on the line-ups were comedian Chloe Petts, Goal! actor Alessandro Nivola, Olympian Danny Talbot, singer-songwriter Nadia Rose as well as Palace for Life participants. For the full line-ups, head here.

MATCH REPORT

Jack Browett opened the scoring within two minutes with a clean finish by going past two comedians Chloe Petts and Elliot Steel to find the bottom corner. Two goals came quickly after the opener with Boxer Craig Richards and Ben Long getting in on the action, ending the first half 3-0.

Despite a busy first half, the fourth goal didn’t come until the hour mark with Jack Browett scoring his second and ex-Palace player Brendan Kiernan driving from the halfway line to score the fifth. Big John came out of goal which allowed AJ’S XI to score two consolation goals, one which became the moment of the game with a slick finish from massive Palace fan & BBC reporter, Matt Thacker with a heart-warming celebration that even players from Doc Brown’s XI joined in with. In addition to coming out of goal with technically a clean sheet, Big John, scored a top-corner finish the game off at 6-2.

Doc Brown’s XI lifting the Palace Aid trophy

HIGHLIGHTS

There’s still time to donate us the cost of a pint, a round, or even a night out, here. Events like Palace Aid help us to raise awareness of the work we’re doing to help young people in our area, but we want to do so much more and reach so many more young people. And all money raised at Palace Aid will help us to do just that.

WHAT CAN YOUR DONATIONS ACHIEVE?

• The average cost of a pint in London is about £6 and for just that, we could get a participant a pair of shin pads, or ear defenders to prevent sensory overload.
• If you buy us a round, we can go even further. £25 would cover the cost of an hour session of football coaching in a special needs school or a one-hour Premier League Kicks session.
• A £100 night out would allow us to buy a session kit bag (12x footballs, 50 x cones 20x bibs), a day of workshops to empower, inspire and develop leadership qualities in girls or an FA Introduction to coaching course.

Donate here.