1-0: UD Almeria Women squander great opportunity after unfair defeat
The Rojiblancas apply themselves to win but hit the woodwork twice while Sevilla FC Women ‘B’ net the last-gasp winning goal
UD Almería Women fell to a 1-0 defeat to Seville Women ‘B’ and squandered a great opportunity to get closer to automatic promotion to the new Segunda RFEF Women as they moved down to fifth place in the standings. The Rojiblancas were clear dominators in their visit to the Sevilla FC Women ‘B’ team, getting to carve out several goal-scoring opportunities in which they lacked pinpoint precision. The crossbar prevented the Indálicas from getting ahead on two occasions and the injustice was experienced when the hosts scored, in the 87th minute. It was their only shot on goal in the whole match.
The UD Almeria Women girls did more than enough to have taken the lead during the first half, yet the ball ended up hitting the crossbar. It was the 8th minute when Irene was denied by the woodwork as well as team-mate Mati within 27 minutes of action.
The girls from the south coast fashioned the most outstanding chances in the opening forty-five minutes, in a game in which the Indálicas had possession of the ball against a well-organised Sevilla second-team who relied on any tackling to generate some action on the counter-attack. At the edge of half-time, the girls from Almería came close to scoring again. However, the host goalkeeper was very attentive to catch the ball in a failed cross from Jessi. It was all square at the break (0-0).
The scenario did not change after the restart: Sevilla Women ‘B’ waited and were forced to park the bus due to the persistence of UD Almería Women in offensive actions as they were all the time moving the ball forward. This led to a free-kick taken by Esther that went inches wide, Irene not finding the back of the net and the Sevillian keeper having to avert danger by blocking an attempt by Sarita.
The Rojiblancas had deserved to score, but they lacked the cutting edge. The ones who scored were the home team girls. Opponent Elia scored the late opener 87 minutes in (1-0). After this goal, the visitor tried to equalise and, in fact, they nearly did it through a shot from Sarita from the edge of the box that was saved by goalie Elisabet.
Football was not fair with UD Almería Women even though they put in a committed performance in the capital city of Andalusia. The Rojiblancas squandered the great opportunity to sit close to automatic promotion —CD Badajoz Women tied with CP Cacereño Women— still further, the Indálicas moved down to fifth place as those two sides -level on points- have a better goal average.
Match Information
Sevilla FC Women 'B': Elisabet; Natalia (Cristina, 60’), Noemí (Alba García, 46’), Anabel, Nerea, Lidia Rayo (Elia, 68’), María López, Alba (Paula, 68’), Laura, Alba Cerrato and Carrillo (Andrea, 46’).
UD Almería Women: Carmen Belmonte; Eva, Mati, Esther, Flores (Lucía, 64’), Anita París, Pilar, Marisa (Ana Carrascosa, 73’), Jessi, Irene (Marta Paz, 83’) and Fátima (Sarita, 64’) .
Goal: 1-0, 87’: Elijah.
Referee: Genesis Suárez Medina, from the Seville Referees School. The ref booked host Laura, as well as visitor Fátima.
Observations: Matchday 21. Group IV of the Primera Nacional Women's Division. The match was played at the José Ramón Cisneros Palacios Sports Complex. A minute of silence was observed before the kick-off.