RAFA STRIKE SEALS WIN AS TORRY GO DOWN TO TEN

CD TORREVIEJA 1 CF LA NUCIA 0
Yesterday, Torry faced lowly La Nucia at the Nelson Mandela Stadium, in the last league match of the year, having gained a well earned point at Crevillente last Weds and still only 5 pts below the play off places.

La Nucia, meanwhile, had lost their last 5 games, having drawn the previous 5 before that, a run which has seen them plummet down the table and part company with manager Alejandro Esteve. But the visitors were clearly hoping that last week’s appointment of former Villajoyosa player, Toni Martinez, would halt their slide going into a 2 week seasonal break until Sun 4 Jan.

On that day Torry will travel to play off contenders Alzira.

On Sunday however a Rafa Gomez strike was enough to give Torry a valuable win despite having to play the entire 2nd period with ten men. For the 3rd time this season the Cameroon forward Steve Thibaut saw straight red after kicking out ‘a la Beckham’ just prior to the interval having been fouled moments earlier by La Nucia’s Navarro.

The big defender immediately ran howling to referee González Péris who needed no encouragement to issue the Torry forward with his marching orders.
But no sooner had the striker trundled off than we were jumping for joy as Rafa Gomez hit the back of the net after connecting with a Cesar cross. La Nucia had little time to respond as the interval came seconds later.

However with earlier first half opportunities falling to Jorge, Ruben, and Rafa the home side’s superiority should have forged a rather better lead than the single goal margin they trooped off with at the half time whistle.

Despite their inferior numbers Torry maintained their dominance in the 2nd period but once again they were unable to turn their chances into goals.
With La Nucia players going to ground at the first sign of a challenge the Torry players had to be careful that they weren’t reduced even further.

However following a quiet start to the second period, Cesar saw his shot tipped over the crossbar following some neat interplay from the homeside, who passed up a golden opportunity to extend their lead.

Moments later the same player was pulled back when though on goal with the offender fortunate to get away with a yellow but the real talking point was the La Nucia lunge on Sergi who was carried off following Edu’s two footed tackle.

Again the perpetrator saw only yellow when red should surely have been the outcome.

Torry manager Galiana said after the game "Going down to ten men we’ve had to dig in again. I thought in the first half, up to the point that we lost Steve, we played very well and maybe surprised them a little bit. In the second half, as we tired, they managed to grow into the game and we had to keep our resilience, shape and mentality to get the win.

Next years council grant of only 17,000 euros is way down on previous years, but hopefully is sufficient enough to persuade a prolific goal scoring striker to join the club

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/45968/

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