UD LANZAROTE 1 CD TENERIFE B 1

LANZAROTE   1   CD TENERIFE B   1,    24^th September 2017,

Second placed side Tenerife B shared the points with fifth placed Lanzarote in a highly entertaining match despite the intense heat.

A minute silence was observed prior to the match for the death of the mother of Lanzarote´s player Uri Garrigó. The players all wore a T shirt supporting their team mate after his mother finally ended her long battle. God bless you Uri from all Lanzarote fans.

The Rojillos (The Reds) began the game well fighting for possession against the B team of Segunda A (Championship) side CD Tenerife. In the 10^th minute midfielder Miguel Gómez picked up a loose ball in the centre and from the edge of the box struck low inside the left hand post to give his side a 1-0 advantage and dedicated his goal to Uri´s mother along with all of the Lanzarote players and staff.

Predictably the Tenerife side oozing with class bounced back. In the 17^th minute a cross field pass worryingly undone the Lanzarote defence, striker Marwan cut inside the final defender and released a powerful drive which could only be palmed into the right hand corner of the net by the Rojillos keeper Sasha to level the score at 1-1.

The visitors then enjoyed the majority of the ball for the remainder of the half as the Rojillo defence remained on red alert but kept strong to go into the interval on level terms.

The second half also began with a great tempo to it with the Tenerife side looking a little sharper than Lanzarote. The Rojillos were far from outclassed especially with captain Ayoze Pérez being involved in everything that was happening.

Six minutes into the second half and the lively left winger Faridi forced the Lanzarote keeper Sasha into a good save. The young French keeper has done remarkably well since replacing the injured senior keeper Alejandro and it was a good decision by the Rojillos manager Maxi Barrera to keep faith with the youngster as Alejandro occupied the bench.

On the hour mark a good run down the left wing by Ayoze allowed him to dink the ball over to the far post, it was headed back but the Tenerife keeper got his fingers to the ball and as it bounced two yards from the goal line, his defence eventually managed to scramble the ball away to safety.

Both sides were not content with a point which made it an interesting finale as the ball travelled from one end of the box to the other in seconds. Tiredness in the overwhelming heat also took its effect but didn’t slow the exciting tempo of the match.

Early in the second half Tenerife had introduced Japanese midfielder Yuya and it was a delight to watch the 19 year olds brilliant close control as he produced some wonderful moments of skill to dazzle the second largest crowd of the season.

Ayoze and striker Trujillo came ever so close to scoring the winning goal but in the final moments it was the Rojillos keeper Sasha who guaranteed his side a point with a terrific save from sub Giovanni on a one on one situation.

It may not be the result which we were hoping for though Tenerife definitely deserved their point and Lanzarote remain unbeaten since the opening day defeat.

The Rojillos drop to sixth spot four points off fourth place which is the final playoff position and are seven points adrift of league leaders CD Mensajero though they do have a game in hand against all the teams ahead of them bar one.

Next week Lanzarote travel to Tenerife to face ninth placed side UD Ibarra. Other local sides Yaiza won at home 2-1 to CD Buzanada and move up to 14^th in the table whilst Haria won a valuable away point away to CF Estrella and are in 17^th place, one position above relegation.

GOALS

1-0 min 10 Miguel Gómez

1-1 min 17 Marwan