At 2-1 down to Valladolid at home and with Luna sent off it was looking bleak for CD Tenerife, we knew relegation would come this weekend but please not like this. But there is always Nino, how can such a little man be so full of passion and energy, he inspired a second half fightback that stirred the memories and voices of the sparse 6,150 crowd.

There was no hiding place in this game, players were left knowing exactly how the fans felt about them, captain Marc Bertran was roundly booed when his name was announced and abused throughout the game along with several other players. Valladolid had an early shot over the bar from Oscar but Tenerife were playing some great passing football and Nino was unlucky to see a rebound from his shot just elude Iriome. Dubarbier grabbed the lead after 16 minutes with a well taken lob from the left but then within a few minutes it all went wrong, Bertrans poor play was inviting raids down the right and Jofre set up Guerra to level. Then Luna got a harsh red card for a robust tackle on Sisi, Kitoko fell back into central defence but Bertran didn’t know what he was doing and Iriome had to keep back tracking to mop up behind him.

Oscar had Kitoko easily beaten but put his shot into the side netting, there was no let off though from a free kick for a hand ball on Bertran, another bad refereeing call. Sisi took the free kick well and beat Sergio to his left to give the visitors the lead. Another head shaking, hand wringing half time but changes for the restart sparked a recovery. Omar and Josmar trotted on for Alvarez and Dubarbier and added pace and spirit. Nino didn’t need much prompting, he seized the game and charged at Valladolid, when the ball broke to him he lashed it into the net with venom and defiance. A goal bound run stopped by an offside just made Nino more determined and when German came on for Iriome the pieces were in place.

The crowd sensed that a turnaround was on and roared the players forward, the winning goal was a taste of what might be to come for CDT. German turned on the style in front of goal and with an eye for the opening slipped the ball back to Nino to score his 15th of the season. For the remainder of the game it was like a dark cloud had been lifted, this was like the old days, Tenerife on top and looking good. The final whistle was greeted with the release of supressed joy, at last something to be proud of, just a moment in an awful season but one to savour.

And it came to pass that on Sunday morning watching the Tenerife B team lose at CD Marino, Nastic won their game to condemm us to the drop. These noon kick offs will become regular events next season in Segunda B but at least the emerging young players offer some hope. Sadly Nino may leave as his wages are too pricey for a semi pro team but he proved once again that he is priceless.