1-1: A more important hard-fought point than it may seem
UD Almería were down to 10 men after levelling and when they were bossing the game. The team was reduced to nine for the final minutes
UD Almería obtained a more important hard-fought point than it may seem in their visit to SD Huesca at El Alcoraz Stadium. The Rojiblancos had to deal with several adverse situations until they finally ended up scoring in a complicated field to win in which the hosts took the lead. It was after the leveller, which made them dominate the game in those minutes of play, when with half an hour to go, Akieme was sent off after the intervention of the VAR, forcing the Indálicos to have to put in much more work than necessary to get a positive score. Juan Villar was red-carded as the side was reduced to nine men for the final minutes.
The first half had alternate dominance and had a certain touch of madness, judging by the speed with which the ball reached both boxes. Possession did not just pass through the midfield, but rather the opposite, and in that situation the home team felt comfortable in the initial minutes. So much so that after 10 minutes they put themselves in front (1-0) through a cross from a wide position that Miquel sent to the bottom of the net. Before that, Fernando dived to make two amazing saves to deny SD Huesca’s attempts.
The guests wanted to react soon after seeing themselves trailing. In fact, shortly after the hosts’ early opener, Arvin Appiah ran down the left wing, but Lucas Robertone's subsequent shot went high. However, in a similar action, which occurred in the 21st minute, the leveller was scored from the Argentinian footballer, who headed home after Francisco Portillo’s sublime assist. The teams headed down the tunnel at the break all square (1-1).
From there, there wasn’t that much box-to-box activity and direct football was played until the interval. But if the first half was crazy enough, the second period brought about even more unusual situations that made it difficult for UD Almería to be able to fight for victory. Despite the fact that the return from the dressing rooms allowed the visitors to look more organised on the pitch, Sadiq scored a goal that was chalked off for offside and that was preceded by a possible red card from a host footballer in the minute 64, Sergio Akieme was sent off after a VAR check.
This meant that Rubi had to reorganise the team through substitutions and the hard-working Indalicos were very involved to end up rescuing a hard-fought point that left the feeling of being more important than it may seem at the beginning. SD Huesca wanted to create danger by taking the game to them, but these chances were blocked without too many inconveniences due to a solid defensive approach.
In addition, UD Almería also looked to break the deadlock with starts on the unsuccessful counter-attacks. Juan Villar was red-carded and dismissed, giving way to a final stretch in which the one-all was confirmed. The Rojiblancos moved down to third place, one point away from automatic promotion and with the same gap (4 points) with respect to the pacesetters after SD Eibar also tied their match.