This will go down as one of the classic nights in the Heliodoro, CD Tenerife full of confidence and passion seeing off fourth placed Mallorca 1-o, and the Carnaval crowd full of song (and beer) roaring them on to a much needed win. A late injury to Manolo meant changes to the defence, Culebras came in for a rare appearance and had a fine game.

The Armada Sur pre match Doradas went down well as we watched the colourful, crazy and downright strange costumes that fans were wearing, The Morons came as Batman and a Wicked Queen (you can guess which was which) and Twat Hat looked spooky in a Scream mask – well he does serve spirirts. Onto the game, there were some great outfits around the terracing, very camp looking security guards lent over the top tier but I was more taken by the police chicks, adds a new meaning to “will you come quietly Sir?”.

Mallorca are red hot at home but don’t travel well, Tenerife tested them from the start and soon got their reward. Alfaro  picked out Nino with a perfect ball and amid the hesitation for a possible offside call, Nino slotted it into the net for a 1-0 lead. A couple of minutes later he nearly added another but Nunes blocked his effort. The visitors only looked good in patches, Suarez unleashed a 25 yard rocket but Sergio pulled off a great save. Marti tried to squeeze the ball past Sergio at the post soon after but the keeper was again equal to the attempt.

Tenerife came out the stronger for the second half, lifted by the fantastic Carnaval atmosphere among the 18,000 crowd. Israel keeper Aouate had to be at his best to deny Omars top corner shot and a low effort from Nino. For once it was Tenerife looking the confident side, but Mallorca had their moments, Suarez tested Sergio again and lively sub Webo came close with a diving header. Nothing was going to spoil this party, not even 5 minutes of injury time conjured up by the ref, Tenerife held their ground to milk a deserved ovation at the final whistle. Any of the players going down to the all night Carnaval celebrations would be assured of a queue of free drinks, they earned it. More pics and coverage on www.tenerifemagazine.com