MAZARRON FC v (SFC) MINERVA

REMEMBER THE CLOCKS CHANGED LAST NIGHT!

Tony Jarvis's Match report follows:-

MAZARRON FC 0 SFC MINERVA 2

And so it was for the second time in 24 hours the streets of Mazarron were deserted as the ’futbol aficionados’ found themselves watching the beautiful game.

On Saturday it was the mesmerising runs of Messi or the pirouetting turns of Ronaldo in the El Clasico that were being watched by the thousands in the bars and cafes of Mazarron. On Sunday all roads led to the Stadio Municipal to watch local heroes Mazarron take on SFC Minerva with the silky skills of Tolo, Alfonso et al.

Minerva play at Alumbres down Cartagena way and feature two of our old boys in Tico and Moha. Tico did play in the number 10 shirt and provided some good balls from midfield, something Mazarron currently lack.

The early pre-match speculation from the local supporters was how long it would take a Mazarron player to accumulate two yellow cards or even a straight red; with those early forecasters believing it would somehow benefit the team, as it had done on the two previous occasions. Thankfully, they were to be proved wrong and Mazarron played the whole of the 90 minutes without anyone being shown a red card; not that it made any difference to the way they played!

The Mazarron team lined up with Dani, Antonio Jose, Enrique and Mateo lined up at the back with Alfonso, Liders, Damien and Manu in midfield and Tolo just in front of Diego. Conejo was the goal minder.

Minerva gave a very early warning of why they are second in the league because within two minutes they had shot twice on the Mazarron goal, with both a shot and a header just over the bar. Mazarron did manage to get a corner in the fourth minute with the resultant shot just over the Minerva bar, but this turned out to be a fairly rare incident.

In the 12th and 13th minutes Minerva had three corners in quick succession and always seemed to be able to place the ball into areas of danger for Mazarron. This was to be a feature of their play throughout the match – their dead ball/free kick placement was far superior to that of Mazarron, who still seem to fail to clear the first line of defence or manage to put the ball over the heads of everyone.

In the 20th minute Conejo pulled off an excellent save from an incisive Minerva attack, and this clearly helped him on his way to the Man of the Match award, as he had to come to Mazarron’s assistance on a number of occasions later on.

On 23 minutes a head injury to Enrique robbed Mazarron of a stalwart defender, as he was taken to a local clinic to have his wound treated – although he did return to the match near the end of the second half. Israel replaced him and a re-shuffle of the back four was completed with Alfonso dropping back from midfield.

Mazarron’s first meaningful attack came in the 35th minute from a free kick which came in low and Manu nearly found the net. However, this was followed by some sustained Minerva attacks and in the 38th minute the Mazarron defence was breached by a header from a Minerva attacker which Conejo was unable to reach.

0-1

Just before half-time, during a ‘time-out’ whilst the referee was adjudicating on a free-kick situation in the Minerva area, some sort of scuffle ensued on the near touchline between Minerva and Mazarron officials/substitutes which also involved the nearside linesman – however, the referee managed to calm things down; but this was to have a rather bizarre consequence later on in the second half.

The referee blew for half-time having only added 2 minutes, when the injury to Enrique took at least 5 minutes whilst he was taken off for treatment – perhaps the referee felt that Mazarron had suffered enough already! On the whole I thought that the referee had a good game, and on most occasions got the call right.

Half-time 0-1

From the kick-off Mazarron mounted an attack and Israel was quite clearly fouled either just outside or on the Minerva penalty area boundary; it wasn’t given – this was one where the referee got it wrong!

There followed a number of Minerva attacks resulting in a number of corners but thankfully none that threatened to add to their one goal lead. This scenario continued for the next 15 minutes or so with Minerva attacks interspersed with the occasional Mazarron attack.
Then in the 60th minute came the next controversial incident. A cross from the right wing on a Minerva attack was intercepted by a Mazarron defender only for it to bounce off his body and be caught by Conejo. The referee after a couple of seconds thought – along with the Minerva attack that this constituted a back pass and blew his whistle accordingly.

Now if that had been me and the referee thought that I had that much skill with the ball to bring it under control in such a fashion I’d have been quite flattered! Needless to say Mazarron disputed the decision because the incident took place between the penalty spot and the Mazarron goal-line. It took some 2 minutes or more to calm the situation – with all eleven Mazarron players (and one Minerva player) lined up along the goal-line. As it happened the free-kick was cleared, but only to the edge of the Mazarron penalty area; and as the Mazarron defenders were rushing out of their goal area a Minerva attacker struck the ball cleanly and it passed Conejo (and everyone else) without stopping!

At some point just before the restart Israel was booked, presumably for making it clear to the referee that his decision making need further training, or that he might require directions to the nearest Spanish equivalent of Specsavers.

0-2

Mazarron made a couple of substitutions just after the second Minerva goal with Juanillo coming on for Liders; and Mateo coming off for Martin. In between these two substitutions Tolo did have a shot on target but it was safely gathered in by the Minerva goalkeeper.

With about ten minutes to go there were a couple of further attempts by Tolo and Alfonso on the Minerva goal, but they were either saved or went wide.

In the 85th minute the referee’s attention was drawn by the nearside linesman, this subsequently led to Pedro being sent to the stands. Pedro, who is the Mazarron ball man left the Mazarron dug-out as requested, but took his balls with him! This became apparent when following a well-timed tackle by a Minerva defender on the Mazarron left wing the ball went out of play and over the adjoining wall. It was sometime before it was realised that in order for the game to continue they would have to go and fetch that ball as there was none forthcoming from the dug-out area!!

Much hilarity ensued amongst the Mazarron supporters around your reporter when it was realised what Pedro had done – I mean you have to get your entertainment from somewhere, ‘cause it wasn’t going to come via Mazarron football!

After this the match petered out with only the last substitution of Javi for Diego, and a booking for Martin who managed to welcome Tico back to Mazarron with an extremely clumsy foul on him.

The referee added three minutes to Mazarron’s agony, but called it a day at that point.

Full-time 0-2

Summary
The style of football that Mazarron play does nothing to excite its supporters, plenty of enthusiasm, determination and huff and puff, but very little subtlety, skill or measured football. This seems in stark contrast to the first few games after the change in coach where we saw some good football played on the ground that was pleasing to the eye and quite effective.

I fear that if Mazarron continue to use Tolo as the only target man we will not find any change in style nor results; which will only result in dwindling numbers of spectators.

A word or two about the Minerva coach – he was quite literally ‘a heart attack waiting to happen’. He barked out “advice” to his players non-stop throughout the whole of the match, attracting ire and expletive comment from the Mazarron supporters in equal measure. To say he got on everyone’s wires is the understatement of week. He regularly exceeded the boundaries of his technical area (albeit unmarked), but was only once brought up by the linesman. If any of the substitutes had taken the same liberty he did they’d have ended up in the referee’s book.

Team: Conejo, Mateo (Martin), Dani, Antonio Jose, Enrique (Israel), Alfonso (c), Damien, Manu, Liders (Juanillio), Diego (Javi) and Tolo.

Man of the Match: Conejo

Finally, Barbara would like it to be known that there was plenty of beer left in the Supporters Lounge at the end of the game.