Ilicitana Raval 2 – 3 CD Thader 3
By Steve Hibberd
With 17 points from their last 7 fixtures there was just the one change for Thader on Sunday, Fran coming in for the injured Rosquin, as they went into Sundays game against Ilicitana Raval full of confidence. However, Raval have also had a mini resurgence of late, winning their last two, prior to which they last achieved 3-points in mid November, when they beat bottom side Betis Florida.
But it was the home side that were quicker out of the traps as the visitors were caught napping at the back. A defensive mixup in the Thader box saw a Raval forward bundled over with the home side awarded a penalty from their first attack of the game. Agunwa hit his spot kick straight down the middle to give them a lead that must have been a very welcome surprise.
Thereafter the game settled down with both sides creating opportunities during the opening exchanges. An airshot from goalscorer Agunwa was a let off for Thader before Josan’s cross from a break saw Quino head onto the crossbar from 5 yards.
Chema got down low to save from Oscar midway through the half after which Quino should again have done better when his weak shot was easily gathered by Manuel.
A quick break by Agunwa again caught Thader short at the back and as they scrambled to get back into position the forwards pinpoint cross left a relatively easy opportunity for Bavi to double the Raval lead.
It was not looking good for the visitors but they were certainly not about to lie down and roll over. Pedro shot over on the half hour mark and after a Thader penalty appeal was rather harshly waved away by referee Juan Roman, Dani Lucas went close from the edge of the box.
Thader continued to press and were rewarded just seconds before the half time interval when, following a period of pin ball in the Raval area, the ball fell nicely to Quino who scored from close range to trail by just a single goal at the interval.
With the confidence back the visitors were on top for most of the second period, showing just why there was a ten point gap between the two sides.
A minor inconvenience saw Juan become the second Thader player see the referees book before the equilibrium was restored by skipper Lloyd from the spot in the 58th minute after Pedro had been bundled over in the box.
The visitors could now smell blood as they went in search of the winning goal, and it couldn’t have dropped any better when, ten minutes later, after Rafa ran clear, Javi sent a superb ball over the top for Dani Lucas to hit an absolute screamer from the very edge of the box.
Thader continued to be the better but were unable to capitalise on some poor Raval defending by adding any further goals. Final score Raval 2 CD Thader 3, taking the tally to 20 pts from 8 games, and with bottom club Betis Florida visiting the Moi Gomez next Sunday morning for an 11.30 ko it would take a very brave man to bet on that run of wins not being extended further.
