2-0: Almería Women take a big step forward to guarantee safety
The Rojiblancas outplayed Mérida Women and could avoid automatic relegation if Sporting de Huelva do not get it done this weekend
The UD Almería Women's team took a huge step forward to stay up in Primera Nacional. The Rojiblancas beat AD Mérida Women through goals scored by Anita París and Fátima in the last home game at the Emilio Campra Stadium. If Sporting de Huelva happen to lose on Sunday, the Rojiblancas will avoid the automatic drop. Nonetheless, the Indálicas still have one postponed game.
Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. The girls from Almería city went all out for a win and managed to boss things over the first half to pick up three massive points towards survival. Flores fell inside the box and the ref awarded her team a penalty. Anita Paris was in charge of converting from 12 yards to open the scoring within 21 minutes (1-0).
Despite UD Almería Women’s lead, the girls from down south continue to push for the second. Fatima was about to take advantage of a rebound from the keeper to double their lead, but she missed her chance.
The gals from Andalusia carried on sticking to their guns, so after 59 minutes, Fatima netted to make it 2-0. Mérida tried to recover from two goals down; a shot from Erika nearly found the back of the net, while shortly after, Giselle’s strike grazed the post. That is when Rojiblanca Esther came on to take up her position at the heart of the defence.
Almería Women gained momentum minutes after the visitors’ first goal. The hostesses pulled their socks up to collect all three home points while they wait for Málaga ‘B’ vs Sporting de Huelva result. If the Huelva-based side suffered a defeat., the ladies from Almeria would avoid the drop so they can set their sights on the fight to avoid the tenth position, which means losing the opportunity to stay up.
Match facts:
UD Almería Women: Ani; Irene (Nadia, 57’), Pilar, Mireya (Marisa, 80’), Flores, Anita París, Ana Carrascosa (Cristina, 57’), Paqui (Esther, 69’), Jessi, Eva Campoy and Fátima (Sonia, 80’).
AD Mérida Women: Idoia Serrano; Ana Bonilla (Laura, 85’), Irene Ramos, Isa Aparicio, Ariadna (Laia, 61’), Rocío Cabrera, Blanca Díaz (Celia Aguilar, 69’), Gracia Ramírez, Giselle Montenegro, Carla Fernández and Erika Martín.
Goals: 1-0, 21’: Anita Paris (pen). 2-0, 59’: Fatima.
Referee: Inmaculada Montosa Jiménez from the Almería Referees School. She booked hostesses Esther and Anita París, as well as visitors Gracia Ramírez, Irene Ramos, Celia Aguilar and Rocío Cabrera. In addition, she booked UD Almería Women head coach Agustín Sánchez, and AD Mérida Women head coach Ana Teresa.
Observations: Matchday 25. Primera Nacional. Match played at the Emilio Campra Stadium in Almeria city (Andalusia).