1-0: Totally unfair defeat

It is the same old story. UD Almería were defeated because of a winning spot-kick in Girona. Until that moment, the Almería squad’s performance was truly praiseworthy. Yet, an unexpected action meant the Rojiblancos’ away defeat leaving them feeling upset and dragging their spirits down by the fact of stumbling again and realising that automatic promotion spots escape.

The first-half had a lot of pace. The two teams attempted to dominate their game, which led to either side being able to approach the opposite goal after each ball recovery. Of course, at least during the early stages, there would not be too many goal scoring opportunities and only a good stretch by keeper Fernando against a cross-shot by Aday Benítez would stand out. It was the 21st minute.

As time began to wind down towards the break, Almería committed more and more bodies into the box. In those, the players enjoyed a good play in which Darwin finished off a corner-kick and the ball went off the woodwork. Maras came in at the far post and did not manage to reach that ball by inches before it left. Already in the second-half, UD Almería took a step forward in their challenging game proposal. They were the ones who returned the best after the restart and a good example of this was once more an individual move by Darwin Núñez in which the Girona goalie had to try hard to deny the Uruguayan striker.

With more possession by the visitors and presence in the shooting scoring zone, the backroom team decided to refresh the squad with Appiah and Francis coming on as subs for Romera and Lazo. Precisely, the Sanlúcar de Barrameda- born player would be in the leading role moments before the substitution with a shot from far away stopped by keeps Riesgo.

When the situation seemed that it was closer to the Almeria’s footballers continue to dominate the match there was a ‘déjà vu’ at the time that a spot-kick was awarded by the referee to Girona after David Costas’ foul. It was the 75th minute and the small details returned to have Almería down on their luck when rival Stuani took a shot from 12 yards so as to put his name on the scoresheet, making it 1-0. 

Once again, Almeria were paying dearly for their own mistakes in the form of a totally unfair result, even though they were remarkably doing well on the pitch. Thus, in the final stretch Almería were feeling clearly emotional and upset, despite the fact that from the goal to the conclusion the development of the clash took place in the Girona’s defensive third, nothing could prevent a bitter defeat that made automatic promotion almost impossible.