Archive for January 25th, 2010
CD Tenerife shackle Valencia for 0-0 draw

This was much better, a tighter defence, lots of width and creativity in attack, and a 90 minute performance. It could well have been a home win if it wasn’t for the inevitable poor finishing and some great saves from former Spurs keeper Cesar Sanchez. Captain Marc Bertran returned at right back last week but looked a little rusty, here he was at his inspiring best, Manolo Martinez had one of his best games dominating central defence, Luna had David Silva in his pocket most of the game, and Sicilia looked much more composed in the left back role.

It was a frantic start, a Juanlu free kick found Sicilia whose shot was well saved by Sanchez and Nino just failed to convert a rebound from a Kome effort. David Silva had a clear chance after 6 minutes, his shot nearly eluded Sergio in the Tenerife g0al, but he held it at the second attempt. Alfaro found himself through 2 defenders and bearing down on the visiting keeper, he was a bit hesitiant with his shot and Sanchez mopped it up with ease.

The initial pace slowed a little but Tenerife kept on probing forward looking for chances. Ricardo sat this one out on suspension, his replacement Roman again looked poor and failed to control the ball when it mattered. Tenerife were the better side but couldn’t make the advantage pay off. Valencia had a rare but strong chance after 34 minutes when Mata unleashed a rasping shot, but Sergio made a magnificent save to turn the ball away.

There was nearly a perfect start to the second half, Alfaro thought he had scored but a Valencia defender managed to scramble the ball off the goal line. Hernandez revived the visitors interests 10 minutes into play with a shot that shaved the crossbar but Tenerife were still looking good. Silva wasted a good chance, passing to David Villa who could only manage a tame shot that hardly troubled Sergio. Manolo was a towering prescence in the home defence and made a strong clearance from Silva when he went for goal but it was a brief respite for Valencia as Nino had another chance but couldn’t neat Sanchez.

Coach Oltra could see the game was up for grabs and brought on Ayoze for his 150th game in CDT colours, replacing Kome. Angel came on a few minutes later for Sicilia to boost the attacking options, and both sides had further chances to take the 3 points. Sergio reacted well under pressure to turn a goal chance into a corner, and Angel saw his late shot hit the post. The final whistle heralded a well deserved draw for Tenerife, hopefully a good boost for next Sundays must win home game versus Zaragoza.