Panama City Press Release - www.panamacitypirates.com

Thursday, May 15

PANAMA CITY, FL— This Saturday, the Pirates will be hunting for their first victory in franchise history in front of the home crowd at Gavlak Stadium in Panama City Beach. They will be hosting last year’s third-place finishers, Atlanta Silverbacks U-23s. Last week, the Pirates played their inaugural home game, treating the fans in the Bay County area to an exciting end-to-end 1-1 draw against the Bradenton Academics.

In that game, both teams had multiple opportunities to put the game away but both teams failed to do so as the Pirates culminated a game filled with missed opportunities in the attacking third with an equalizer off the foot of Jimmy McHenry in the eighty-sixth minute. While the result mathematically eliminates the Pirates from U.S. Open Cup play, the side is firmly focused on making the playoffs at the end of the season, and last Saturday’s result is a step forward for the budding new club.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Silverbacks U-23s began the season doing something they had not done since July 6, 2006: fail to win at home. The 2007 PDL Southeast season saw the Silverbacks make RE/MAX Greater Atlanta Stadium a fortress which every team in the division hated playing in, as the Silverbacks posted three shutouts and won each of eight home games with a combined home goal differential of plus fourteen. However, the Cary Railhawks U-23s opened the Silverbacks’ season with a draw in Atlanta, something that might prove to shake the confidence of the Silverbacks in the early part of the season.

Atlanta only won on the road twice last year, but was notorious for taking points from road games, as they only surrendered two away games. They will prove to be a stern test for the Pirates, who are still trying to find their chemistry and team identity. The two teams sit in a four-way fourth-place tie in the PDL Southeast standings, but Atlanta has two games-in-hand on the Pirates.

Atlanta also has the advantage of an opportunity to pull out of the pack when they play the Central Florida Kraze on Thursday. However, that makes the Pirates the second in a two game, 875-mile road trip, which might give the Pirates a slight advantage.

The Pirates will be without English defender Tom Wharf, who continues to be treated for a nagging ankle injury picked up prior to the start of the PDL season.