CD EL CAMPELLO – 0 CD THADER – 1 (ABANDONED AFTER 79 MINUTES) (THADER PROGRESS 5-1 ON AGREGATE)
BY STEVE HIBBERD
Having played, refereed and watched hundreds of football matches in my 70+ years on this earth, I had never witnessed a match being abandoned. That was until last Tuesday evening inside the municipal stadium El Vincle, El Campello, when the match referee decreed that an object thrown at his nearside assistant, plus vindictive abuse at said official, warranted this 2nd leg semi-final San Pedro cup match to have an early finish.
The writing was on the wall early in the 2nd half, when the first of 4 red cards to the hosts was shown by a ref, who eventually had his patience well and truly exhausted!!
Having triumphed 4-1 the previous week at Rojales, Raul Mora´s youthful Thader side should have further increased their advantage straight from the ko. Tremino provided Precious with a glorious assist, only for the latter to shoot straight at the keeper when through on goal.
Sergio was oblivious on 14 mins, when a venomous close range shot by Pablo, gave the visiting keeper´s head more than a wobble!!
Midway through the half, Precious did all the hard work by beating 3 opponents, but then blotted his copybook by once again, failing to find the net, with only the keeper to beat.
Continuing with their positive tactics, a Pepito crossfield pass, was finished by a Tremino strike, which once again was well saved by an over worked El Campello keeper.
On 40 mins, Joel broke Thader´s domination, when he forced Sergio into tipping a goal bound shot over the bar. With time running out, both Precious and Fran came close, as Thader finished the half as they started.
A half time introduction of Serhiy for Precious paid off early dividends. On 50 mins, the Ukrainian striker was at the right place to stroke home Javi´s inch perfect cross at the far post, as Thader extended their overall lead to 4 goals.
Before the game could be restarted, Antonio received a 2nd yellow card, leaving the hosts to see out the game with 10 men. This enraged Antonio´s manager, so much so, that he also was shown a red card for choice comments made. Shortly afterwards, El Campello´s assistant manager saw fit to castigate the much-maligned ref, who wasted no time in dismissing the culprit.
Antonio (a nicer version) made a good impression, shortly after replacing Sergio in goal, when he denied the hosts a consolation goal.
When Carlos received a straight red card for comments made to the ref, reducing the hosts to 9 men, all hell broke loose.
An unknown object was thrown at the linesman, resulting in him running onto the pitch, at which point the ref blew for full time by abandoning the match.
Despite severe provocation, Thader’s players and officials kept their cool, refusing to rise to the bait that their opponents had offered them.
As anticipated, the Alicante FA awarded Thader a 1-0 scoreline, meaning that they will now play Torrellano at Callosa Deportivo stadium, on Tues 8 Jul, ko 8pm, in the provincial final.
