CD THADER – 1 OLIMPIC XATIVA – 2
BY STEVE HIBBERD
Having suffered a humiliating heavy defeat to lowly Beniganim the previous week, Thader had a point to prove to their fans, when they took on Olimpic Xativa. As Moi Gomez stadium is undergoing an annual resurfacing operation, this game took place at Formentera, on their artificial pitch. At start of play, Thader lay in 6th place on 13 points, whilst their visitors occupied 10th position, 1 point behind their hosts.
A dazzling run by Javi on 10 mins, resulted in his pinpoint cross to Guille, being headed agonisingly wide of Olympics’ far post. On 13 mins, Fran saw his shot well saved by visiting keeper Javier, then from the rebound, Tremino forced another vital save, as Thader were pressing hard for an opening goal.
Ten mins later, a Tobias strike almost gave the visitors the lead, but fortunately it lacked accuracy. Although Olimpic forced a number of corners, neither keeper had been really tested, but it was only a matter of time before one team would break the duck. That moment arrived on 35 mins.
Following an exquisite assist by Tremino to Guille, who having rounded Javier, calmly side footed home from an acute angle. The lead could easily have been doubled on 39 mins, had Tremino found the target from another delightful cross by Javi.
Hearts were in mouths in 1st half stoppage time, when Luis struck a beauty which fractionally cleared the angle of post/bar of Thader´s goal.
It took only 10 mins into the new half for Olimpic to restore parity. Following a goalmouth scramble, Mullor thundered home the ball through a sea of legs, into the back of the net.
Yet another Javi assist on the hour mark, failed to restore Thader´s lead. Although a number of teammates were willing, no one could find the all-important finishing touch. Straight up the other end, a needless foul in the hosts penalty area, resulted in a spot kick. Up stepped Mullor, who nonchalantly sent Luis the wrong way, to complete his brace.
Thader sub Robin could have levelled the scores on 65 mins, however his wayward header was way off the mark. Even so, Robin´s miss on 80 mins was even worse, when his powder puff header lacked any conviction, squandering a glorious opportunity.
Although Lloyd´s header on 83 mins brought off a good save from Javier, Thader never really looked like getting a victory, which an impressive 1st half performance had suggested.
Next up for Thader is a trip to Javea on either Sat 22 or Sun 23 Nov, when they will play week 11 of the Community League calendar. Check CD Thader for up-to-date information on this and more connected to Thader.
