0-1: Almeria edge past Alcorcon in a tough away assignment
Alcorcón force the Rojiblancos to do their very best in their sixth consecutive away victory. Umar Sadiq scored within two minutes
UD Almería snatched their sixth consecutive victory as a visiting team by demonstrating hard work and great ability to sacrifice against Agrupación Deportiva Alcorcón. It was a tightly-contested game in which Umar Sadiq scored the early opener and only goal of the day within two minutes. From that time onwards, the Rojiblancos had to buckle down to earn the three points.
José Gomes introduced new faces in the starting XI. The central defence roles were the main change with link-up duo Peybernes and Maraš, while Pedro Mendes was in charge of leading the attacking game. Makaridze, Balliu, Akieme, Samú Costa, Morlanes, Corpas, Villalba and Aketxe were called up for duty once again.
The first half offered plenty of pace and goalmouth activity. Almería were the first side to exclaim Oops! With 9 minutes on the clock, Pedro Mendes hit the woodwork. This action came after several Rojiblancos approaches to the opposition box. Meanwhile, Alcorcon did not take long to put Makaridze to the test and, just three minutes after the ball hit the crossbar, the Georgian keeper pulled off a great save from Marc Gual’s strike.
Goalscoring opportunities were coming and going. Almeria made their presence known in the final third so they could have put themselves in the lead with ease. The home goalie made a fine effort preventing Aketxe’s shot from finding the back of the net, while Maraš finished sending the ball wide from a corner-kick. Makaridze played a crucial role from the start to the end since just before the break staged another super stop to deny Marc Gual’s attempt.
With the second half already in progress, the Almería team coach made a triple substitution by bringing on Umar Sadiq, Lazo and Carvalho. He made the right choice as things could not get any better for the visiting team. Within two minutes, the Nigerian striker opened the scoring after making the ball all his own on 58 minutes.
As time began to wind down, Alcorcón started to gain momentum on the grass and take over the offensive game. So much so that the boys from Madrid missed clear opportunities to have levelled the scoring.
UD Almería players had to pull their weights and that is exactly what Jose Gomes’ men did without hesitation. With a great sacrifice, the red and white defensive line was avoiding the attacks and attempts at goal from Anquela’s lads. In the 74th minute, Akieme shut down opposition attacker Iván Barbero, while shortly after it was Makaridze in charge of making another sensational save.
Unstoppable Almeria seem to have learned their lesson well on how to resist snatching again another victory after falling to a 0-1 defeat last Thursday against Mallorca. In addition, this hard-fought win enables the Rojiblancos to keep on being the ‘team with the best away form’ following their sixth away victory.