LANZAROTE   1   UD LAS PALMAS B   1

A point apiece and both sides remain unbeaten in an entertaining match played in blistering heat with all players giving absolutely everything in a frantic second half.

A minutes silence was observed before kickoff for the father of and Lanzarote Deportiva sports reporter Rubén Betancort who passed during the week.

The Rojillos began the match the better of the two teams but it wasn’t long until the Las Palmas side found their feet and held the majority of possession.

In a lacklustre first half it was Adrían Machín who looked the most likely to break the deadlock. The winger had a good effort blocked in the 34^th minute and two minutes later a strike across goal went beyond the far post.

With the daytime temperature rising to in excess of 30 degrees it was surprising after a poor first half what entertainment was going to be in store for the 800 fans attending the match in the second period.

Rojillos manager Juan Carlos Socorro had left both his out and out strikers on the bench but a minute into the second half and he introduced captain Ayoze Pérez and striker Álvaro Iglesias. Shortly after he also introduced centre forward Iván Aguilar and these three players completely changed the dynamics of the match.

The Gran Canarian side came close with a strike four minutes into the second half forcing Rojillos keeper Ruyman into a good low save at his post. That seemed to kick start Lanzarote, and now with both strikers on the pitch they were terrifying the Las Palmas defence by running at them.

In the 66^th minute the outstanding Javi Martín stole the ball from a defender and rapidly fed his centre forward on the edge of the box. With his back to the goal Álvaro Iglesias shrugged off his defender, created a little space and on the turn fired the ball with curl into the top right hand corner to send the crowd wild and his team 1-0 up.

The visitors were not going to surrender easily and immediately hit back at Lanzarote with an effort from 10 yards that Ruyman managed to palm away for a corner. Lanzarote were under attack but the Las Palmas defence had their hands full on every counter attack that the Rojillos produced with Machín, Aguilar and Iglesias relentlessly running at the wing backs and down the middle.

On one of these occasions Machín won a ball that he had no right to near the corner flag. With two defenders stuck on him, a genius little flick and side step beat them both and inside the penalty area a defender dived in with a challenge and it seemed that he had brought down the talented Rojillo winger but the referee waived away appeals for a spot kick.

It was end to end stuff despite the intense heat. In the 80^th minute a strike at goal from 12 yards hit the hand of centre back Raúl as he went to protect his face and even though it was unintentional the referee was correct in his decision to award Las Palmas a penalty. Substitute Elías planted the ball into the top left hand corner for a perfect penalty to level the score at 1-1.

Both sides were going for the win and in the dying moments a delicate little chip to the far post by Aguilas found his partner Iglesias, the powerful Basque striker won the header and as we all thought it was the winner the ball struck the back of a retreating Las Palmas defenders head and away to safety.

At the final whistle both sets of players fell to their knees completely exhausted and received a well earned round of applause from all the fans.

Although Lanzarote remain unbeaten they do slip one place down to sixth spot and are three points adrift of league leaders CD Marino. Next Saturday 12^th October Lanzarote travel to Gran Canaria to play 13^th placed side UD Tamaraceite at 12 noon.

GOALS

1-0 min 66 Álvaro Iglesias

1-1 min 80 Elías (penalty)