CD TORREVIEJA – 1 VILLENA CF – 0 ….. BY STEVE HIBBERD
It’s been a year since Torry last set foot inside their spiritual home of Vicente Garcia stadium, and boy oh boy they certainly did it in style! Ok, so the pitch has numerous bare patches and appears to produce an uneven bounce, plus the grandstand is still closed for the foreseeable future, but their diehard fans have desperately missed the intimate comfort it offers.
Their temporary home of Nelson Mandela stadium somehow lacks atmosphere, and even though the pitch and state of the art grandstand (minus health and safety considerations of course!) are of top quality, the fans have got their wish.
This preferente division encounter was originally scheduled as an away fixture, but Villena requested a switch due to pitch improvements being incomplete. Manager Pedreno elected to retain the starting xi which had earned a useful start to the season the previous week.
Following a slow start, Torry’s Booker brought the game to life, when on 15 mins his fearsome drive from the edge of the box flew harmlessly over the top. Beltran went even closer on the half hour, but his shot from a similar distance eased the wrong side of the far post, as the hosts dominated proceedings.
Moments later, Booker again found himself in space, but before he could pull the trigger, a well timed blocked tackle defused the danger. In the first half’s closing stages, Beltran struck a glorious 25 yard free kick inches wide with keeper Leo beaten all ends up.
Different half, same story, for on 55 mins full back Vicente blasted a drive, from which Leo acrobatically tipped aside for a corner. From the very next attack, Juanpe received the ball just inside his opponents half, went on a surging run before unleashing a drive which Leo made a complete hash of, before watching in horror as what should have been a routine save, ended up with the ball trickling over the line.
On the hour mark the visitors came close to equalizing, but Buyo performed heroics saving point blank from Chema, then from the rebound, Wilson forced another stunning block from Torry’s keeper. Zaragoza came up from defence to try his luck on 68 mins, but his hard hit low drive was again dealt with efficiently.
Villena made Torry work hard, counter attacking on the break, although a below par performance by ref Lopez Herrero and his 2 sadly lacking assistants, at times helped their cause! How the hell he saw fit to book Vicente and Verdu from the hosts, whilst ignoring many cautionable incidents by the visitors, only he will know!
Torry sub Flores was set up well by the hard working Manu Amores late on, but from close range, Leo snuffed out the danger. In stoppage time, Sergio sent over a delightful free kick, leaving Benja with a free header which he somehow contrived to head well over, as Pedreno’s men hung on for a thoroughly deserved 3 points.
This result sees Torry as one of 6 teams on maximum points after 2 games. For the 3rd week running they are at home, so make a note of Sun 17 Sep, ko 6pm, again at Vicente Garcia stadium, when Torry look to make it 3 wins on the bounce.
