MAZARRÓN FC 2 v CD ALBERCA 1
I think that we have all been to football games where there is one side trying to play football and the others answer to this is to hack there way through the game and hope for a luck break, well this was one of those games.
Alberca lacked any football skill whatsoever and try to bully, hack and foul their way throughout the 90 minutes and it almost worked, but justice was done in the end.
What a wonderful day to watch a football game, sat in the sun with temperatures in the mid 20's and the pitch in reasonable condition. We all looked forward to an afternoons entertainment.
For the first 25 minutes of the game Alberca held Mazarron at bay although all the pressure came from the home side no significant goal mouth incidents happened at all. But you could tell that Mazarron had the beating of the visitors but just couldn't string the sequences of passes/crosses to test the Alberca goal. It was at that time the first real opportunity presented itself to Mazarron and it was Alcaraz who delivered the ball on a sixpence for Jose Ruben but his miss hit shot was easily collected by the visitors keeper.
The next point of interest happened shortly afterwards and it involved a free kick for Alberca and I for one am uncertain about the rules on free kicks and this one confused not only me but most of the home supporters. As the Alberca player was about the take the kick Tico stood in front of the ball to prevent it being taken to allow time for the Mazarron defence to get organised. Now this happens all the time in Spanish football but this time the Alberca player kicked the ball straight at Tico who was promptly booked for, I suppose, not retreating 10 yards/metres. Now I've seen this happen before but with the kicker of the ball being booked, like today the defender being booked and usually no one getting booked. The lack of consistency is very frustrating to both players and supporters. Anyway Tico received a yellow for his troubles.
As we were all settling down ready for our halftime beverage and with 49 minutes on the clock, Fergie time or should that be the 'chosen ones' time? Alberca gained their first corner of the game. It was a well delivered corner causing a bit of a scramble with the ball being cleared off the line and hacked away only for a wayward shot cum pass going wide. As the ball passed Alcaraz it kicked up of the rutted goal mouth area and clearly hit Alcaraz on the arm. Ball to arm? Arm to ball? Anyway the result was a penalty to Alberca on their first attack on the Mazarron goal which was duly dispatched with Marcos going the wrong way. If it wasn't for bad luck Mazarron wouldn't have any luck at all.
Mazarron FC 0 Alberca 1 and HALF TIME
The second half had only just started when Mazarron thought that they had drawn level. After 49 minutes a great through ball from Moha found Tolo in space, he rounded the keeper and slotted home only to see that the linesman had his flag up for offside, a very narrow decision if correct, but at least he was in line off play.
Mazarron shortly made a double substitution bringing on crowd favourite Cecillio who has been recovering from a strained neck and young Chema to give a bit more speed on the wing, they replaced Randry who by this time was limping quite badly and Adrian who had had a quiet game. Cecillio proceeded to dominate the mid field by his sheer presence alone and 50/50 tackles that he was involved in always finished with Cecillio with the ball at his feet.
On 56 minutes and following yet another cynical foul by the visitors out on the left wing Mazarron brought the scores level. A Tico free kick caused all sorts of problems in the Alberca goalmouth with players hacking at the ball and in the scramble Dani forced the ball over the line for the equalising goal, (although the federation site has Tolo as the scorer) much disputed by the visiting team and a flurry of yellow cards followed including the Alberca number 4 and this would have consequences late for the visitors.
Mazarron FC 1 Alberca 1
Mazarron completely took over the game from this point with the Alberca defence under constant pressure from lads in red shirts. on 70 minutes the ball dropped kindly to Cecillio well out side of the penalty area and he hit it first time on the volley and this screamer just cleared the crossbar with the Alberca keeper just a spectator, pity, it deserved better.
But we only had to wait another two minutes for the home side to take a deserved lead. A sublime through ball by Cecillio found Tolo just inside Alberca's penalty area he then proceeded to beat two covering defenders and unselfishly slipped the ball through to Jose Ruben who had his back to goal. He span with the ball at his feet and buried it into the back of the net to give Mazarron the lead for the first time in the game.
Mazarron FC 2 Alberca 1
The only way that the visiting defenders could stop the twin attacking strike force of Tolo and Jose Ruben was by fouling them and a blatant stamping on Tolo's foot brought his game to an early end. He was replaced by the flying winger known as Juanillio and Tolo received a great round of applause as he passed the home supporters on the way to the dressing room, I wish that he would smile now and again.
Most of the attacks now came down the left wing with Juanillio beating the defenders time and time again and in the end they had to put two and sometimes three defender on him to stop him from crossing the ball. For example on 80 minutes and following yet another Mazarron free kick following a foul the ball came to Juanillio, he chipped the ball over the first defender ran passed him collected the ball avoided a lunging tackle and placed the ball at the feet of Jose Ruben who's goal bound shot was prevented by a great save from the visiting keeper, a delight to watch.
It was then Chema's turn on the right wing to float a cross to Juanillio and it took both the keeper and a defender to smother the shot and prevent Mazarron increasing their lead. Cecillio then got in on the act beating the left back and with Juanillio waiting in space a last minute lunge from a defender prevented to cross finding the left winger for a certain goal.
One of the last incidents of the game and it was something that I thought that I would ever see in Spanish football occurred. A very rare Alberca venture into the Mazarron half ended with them being awarded a free kick some 10 metres from the Mazarron penalty box. The ball was floated in and an Alberca player went down as though hit by John H Stracy screaming and rolling on the ground in agony obviously looking for a second penalty, but the official saw straight through this Oscar award winning dive AND BOOKED HIM FOR SIMULATION, yep that's what I said, BOOKED HIM FOR SIMULATION. And to rub salt into the wounds it was our old friend number 4 who had already seen one yellow so it was off for an early shower.
The final whistle soon followed with the final score being:
Mazarron FC 2 Alberca 1
Team
Marcos, Gilbert, Tico, Tolo, Jose Ruben, Juan Andreo (Sam) Randry, Alcaraz, Dani, Moha, Adrian
Subs used,
Juanillio, Cecillio, Chema
Subs not used.
Salvi, Rubens (GK)
MOTM Juan Andreo (Sam) A commanding performance at the back, marshaling his defence and always kept the ball going forward.
