CD UNIÓN PUERTO   3   LANZAROTE   1

The Rojillos defeat in Fuerteventura has dampened their playoff hopes after slipping to 10^th spot and five points from those playoff positions with seven matches remaining.

The club brought in two forward players in the January window Di Renzo and Traoré primarily to play alongside Alyson. Due to injuries there has not been one opportunity to do this and in this match none were available so firepower in the final third was lacking.

Despite the club having eight players out through injury or suspension the first half of the match was fairly even. Rojillos keeper Alejandro was forced into a good save in the 8^th minute from a 20 yard strike from Yared then a short time later Matheus responded by losing his defender from a corner but couldn’t direct his header on target as the game remained goalless.

Lanzarote´s midfield did seem to have the upper hand with Dani and Miguel Gopar controlling a lot of the possession then a corner against the run of play in the 22^nd minute was headed home by Samuel to give the home side a 1-0 advantage.

Late in the first half Miguel Gopar picked up a loose ball and broke through the Fuerteventura defence and superbly set up Aythami around the penalty spot. His first time low strike looked destined to bring Lanzarote on level terms but keeper Agoney stretched out his foot and produced an excellent save. The rebound fell to Pacheco but his shot was fired wide.

The opening stages of the second half were once again even but in the 53^rd minute a cross from the right found striker Josemi and he produced a powerful header from 10 yards that sailed into the top right hand corner to double his sides lead.

Rojillos manager Mateo García had very little options on the bench to retaliate and wisely remained patient. On the hour mark a free kick for the Rojillos was floated beyond the Fuerteventura defence and Dani was brought down by the Unión Puerto keeper and the referee immediately awarded a penalty. Pacheco stepped up and squeezed the ball inside the left hand post to put Lanzarote back into the match at 2-1.

Lanzarote´s hopes were squashed just three minutes later when Yared was brought down and once again a penalty was awarded. Ex Rojillo Juanma sent his former teammate Alejandro the wrong way and restored his sides two goal cushion with the score now 3-1.

In the 69^th minute any hope of a fight back ended when Matheus was harshly awarded a second yellow card by the referee when he took a free kick before the official blew that he could. It was very disappointing from the official who up until then had had a very good match.

Lanzarote brought on Rodrigo who has just returned from an injury followed by two debutants Toño and Jimmy that joined fellow debutant Dani Cejudo. Lanzarote finished the game not only with ten men but with four of those players who have had just five appearances between them in the first team.

Unión Puerto manager and former Rojillos manager Maxi Barerra will be delighted with this win as it moves his side above Lanzarote into ninth and boosts his side’s chances of finishing in fifth with just four points separating his side from that final spot.

This Sunday Lanzarote are at home at 12 noon and face second placed side Arucas CF. The good news is that some players will be returning from injury or suspension but they are facing a team who are currently in the only automatic promotion position due to league leaders UD Las Palmas C not being able to be promoted as there B team are in the league above.

Arucas are only ahead on goal difference and have two other sides breathing down their neck fighting for that single promotion spot. A win for Lanzarote would revive playoff hopes but also bring relief by avoiding any relegation worries.

GOALS

•   1-0 min 22 Samuel
•   2-0 min 53 Josemi
•   1-2 min 60 Pacheco (penalty)
•   3-1 min 63 Juanma (penalty)