When your star striker Nino is out injured, your bottom of the division, and your 2-0 down away, coming back to draw 2-2 your entitled to greet the result like a win. CD Tenerife showed great character and coach Mandia was rewarded for brave substitutions in hopefully the turning point of the season. Nino’s leg injury is a big blow and may keep him out again next week, Mandia went with Iriome in the main forward role but the big experiment was putting Melli just in front of the central defensive pairing of Luna and Prieto.
The move seemed to work in the first half and Beranger even looked better, putting in some strong winning tackles. Omar went close after 5 minutes and Juanlu (above) had a good run on goal before being bundled over. Sergio was strong as ever in goal, he made a great 2 handed punch clear as he was fouled by a Cordoba player. Their first touch let Tenerife down several times but they created a few good opportunities and Iriome did a decent job of leading the forward line. Melli showed his worth winning a couple of aerial clashes and at half time 0-0 was a fair reflection.
The referee turned the game 5 minutes into the second half awarding the home side a weak penalty, the ball was headed clear after an attack when he blew his whistle and pointed to the spot. It took me three replays to spot some holding, the only possible reason for the call but very harsh. Luque scored at the second attempt, maybe the sign of a guilty conscience as the ref ordered the first scoring shot to be retaken. The second goal came 5 minutes later, poor marking maybe but brilliantly taken by Charles with an overhead bicycle kick.
That second goal went in as Mandia was about to bring on Natalio and Kome for Omar and extra defender Melli. Natalio finally looked the impressive player we had been promised when he joined in the summer, his first touch went just wide of the goal. It could have been 3-0 though as the defence opened up and Cordoba scored with a free header but the alert linesman flagged for offside. Kome got in on the act and set the ball up for Mikel Alonso, the midfielder curled a sweet shot past the home keeper to spark the revival. Tenerife were dominating the possesion and hungry for another goal, Josmar came on after 83 minutes and again showed what a bag of tricks he is. Natalio capped a much improved personal display by riding 2 tackles before placing the ball wide of former Tenerife keeper Navas. Despite keeping the pressure on, a win was just beyond Tenerife but a well deserved point.
Next Sunday CD Tenerife are at home to Elche at 5pm but in the morning Nikki and Chris will be welcoming all to the opening of the new shop Soy Del Tete selling CD Tenerife kits and merchandise plus Armada Sur shirts. It’s in the CC Fañabe Plaza and will be open from 11am to 2pm, see you there.