1-2: Almería die with their boots on
The Rojiblancos say goodbye to continuing to fight for promotion. The early opener with 4 minutes on the clock was a heavy burden
UD Almería said goodbye to continuing to fight for promotion to LaLiga Santander after Girona won 1-2 in a match in which the Catalan team were right on target. The Rojiblancos had to overcome an early opener from Girona, which forced them to lift a great weight. The players from Almeria tried their hardest and created big chances, yet did not manage to move onto the next round towards the play-off final.
The Almeria starting XI presented news regarding the previous line-up last Thursday. On this occasion, José Gomes changed the whole picture, betting on a 4-2-3-1, a formation in which Juan Muñoz, Corpas and Vada stood out in their positions.
In any case, the game started in the worst possible way, since Girona took the lead after 4 minutes. Despite the fact that a few moments before keeper Sivera had denied Gumbau, it was Samu Sáiz who found the opener after a deflection in a corner.
The tie had become absolutely difficult, but UD Almería were not willing to give up. Thus, Juan Muñoz tried his luck from the edge of the 18-yard box with a shot that grazed the crossbar, while shortly afterwards striker Darwin forced Riesgo to reach in.
The Almeria side were growing on the Juegos Mediterraneos pitch and the best proof of this was the arrival of the equaliser to make it 1-1. In the action, Darwin Núñez lost his marker and then gave it back and team-mate Lazo put it out of reach of the Girona’s goalkeeper.
Almería was growing even more with the one-all in the scoreboard, having Lazo as one of the players in the leading role of the offensive game. Precisely, the player from Sanlúcar de Barrameda was about to score the second, but Riesgo turned out to be more successful.
The first-half continued to advance under great stress. The crunch game entered a phase in which both contenders would enjoy approaching the goals looking for the second goal. Of course, the most prominent would have the colours of the Catalan side. Specifically, Stuani was left alone against Sivera, who had to come out to clear it.
With the arrival of the second-half, while the game was flowing the tension heightened. As soon as the players returned from the dressing room, opponent Borja García was on the brink of scoring but out of the blue Sivera appeared with a brilliant save with which he sent the ball to a corner.
Nonetheless, it was going to be Almería who began to have more presence on the opponent's side of the field. José Gomes made a double substitution and introduced Villalba and Appiah for Juan Muñoz and Vada. In this way, the Rojiblancos put more speed into their flanks. In those, Corpas whipped in a cross from the edge of the penalty box, yet the ball ended up in the hands of goalie Riesgo.
UD Almería would continue fighting. In fact, after 80 minutes, there would be a new goal scoring chance for our players in which Darwin headed Appiah’s cross, forcing the visiting goalkeeper to stretch to clear it once more.
The Indalicos were turned towards the opposite goal and this would be taken advantage of by Girona to seal the draw. In the 84th minute when a Catalan counterattack ended with Samu Sáiz assisting Stuani to make it 1-2. All in all, Almeria lost their home leg of the semi-final with Girona and the final whistle was accompanied by the UD Almería players lying on the grass, lamenting over the loss after having gone all out for a win and being out of the play-off final for promotion to Primera.