1-2: UD Almería put their name in the hat for next Spanish Cup round
The Rojiblancos edged out fierce hosts SD Amorebieta with goals from Sadiq and Appiah. The round of 32 draw takes place this Friday at 12:30 pm (CET)
UD Almería knew how to seal passage to the next round of the Spanish tournament once they edged out fierce hosts SD Amorebieta at the Urritxe Stadium. The Rojiblancos’ next Spanish Cup rivals will be known in the next draw that takes place at 12:30 pm (CET). Sadiq opened the scoring while Appiah once again broke the deadlock when the Basque country-based team grabbed an encouraging leveller. Rubi's men were rather intense and surmounted the difficulties scoring a triumph of great merit.
The Indalicos’ head coach demonstrated since the announcement of the starting XI that his LaLiga SmartBank regulars and bench players are facing the Copa del Rey ties with the burning enthusiasm of getting through to the next rounds: Makaridze; Juanjo Nieto, Chumi, Babic, Akieme, Javi Robles, Curro, Robertone, Appiah, Juan Villar and Sadiq Umar were the chosen starters.
The footballers clearly showed that driving ambition on the pitch. It would not be easy at all, because first they would have to adapt to the Urritxe reduced-size ground, where SD Amorebieta returned to play after making it to professional football- as this field was not approved for higher tiers- and in addition, they had to face resilient rivals.
After a period of time with plenty of end-to-end activity, the visitors imposed their football style with full confidence. They were close to going ahead within 9 minutes, however, the referee disallowed the goal for a foul. Then, keeper Makaridze struggled to clear a header from the Basque country-based team.
Regardless of that setback, UD Almería's intentions to win continued by putting in an attacking display without forgetting to keep their goal safe when defending. With 23 minutes gone, striker Sadiq Umar finished off a brilliant play by peer Juanjo Nieto to open the scoring just before half-time (0-1).
After the match restart, SD Amorebieta decided to add even more energy and ended up putting the Georgian goalkeeper to the test after piling forward on the attack. Anyway, it did not take long for the leveller to arrive, since inside 55 minutes, a hit courtesy of opponent Orozko bounced on the grass and Makaridze failed to catch the ball (1-1).
Far from letting misfortune diminish their high aspirations for victory, UD Almería showed some neat footwork to swing the balance in their favour. It was the 60th minute when Arvin Appiah ran down the left wing to fire a powerful clinical finish (1-2).
To cut a long story short, another spectacular performance by the Rojiblancos rewarded them with a win to put their name in the hat for the next round of the Spanish Cup that is taking place this Friday at 12:30pm (CET). Who will be the next rivals for UD Almeria in the round of 32?