Cammy time: LA Galaxy II 1, Orange County SC 2

Orange County SC won their fourth straight game as they won the first edition of the 405 Derby in 2020 Saturday, downing LA Galaxy II 2-1 at Dignity Health Sports Park.

Cammy Palmer led the way with a direct role in both Orange County goals, the young loanee from Scotland playing his best game to date for OCSC in the win.

Aaron Cervantes got the nod in goal for Orange County, with Frederik Due not even making the matchday squad, an injury picked up last week keeping him off the field for this game.

In the 6th minute, Nathan Smith tried to do a bicycle kick in LA’s box and he collided hard with Los Dos goalkeeper Abraham Romero, both players coming off worse for the wear. After they were attended to by their respective training staffs, both players continued on.

The visitors scored in the 14th minute on a clinical buildup. Palmer made a perfectly timed run off a beautiful throughball by Danny Finlayson, before Palmer’s cross in the box was tapped in at the far post by Ugo Okoli to make it 1-0.

The lead didn’t last for long, however, as Galaxy II tied up the game in the 20th minute through Mauricio Cuevas’ free kick, which beat Cervantes.

Seven minutes later, Cervantes was pressed into action with Galaxy II attacker Augustine Williams left with only the OCSC GK to beat, but Cervantes made the block to keep the game tied.

The game went into the halftime break tied 1-1 and with the run of play pretty even between the teams.

Orange County got their second lead of the night in the 59th minute through Palmer, who ran on and unleashed a one-timer from distance that was unstoppable. It was the youngster’s debut goal in the USL Championship.

Los Dos nearly got an equalizer right out of the hydration break, when a quick restart caught OCSC napping, but Cervantes recovered to make two stops to preserve the lead for Orange County.

Once again, it wasn’t a romp but Orange County put together another strong performance to get the win. I think the fact this team has new players stepping up each game — last time it was Brian Iloski with the star turn, this time Palmer — to make meaningful contributions is a great sign for the team as they continue to cement their place in the top two of Group B and try and make up ground on group leaders Phoenix Rising FC.

Orange County have a quick turnaround before the next game, which is scheduled for Tuesday against Las Vegas Lights in Nevada. They remain unbeaten this year, and really seem to be in good form right now — can they continue that on short rest against Vegas? Stay tuned.

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