It’s extremely doubtful that referee Ramon Arias Madrid had to send a Fathers Day card on Sunday, well that was the popular opinion among CD Tenerife fans and players. The jolly joker gave Alaves the softest of penalties and then booked one of their players twice without sending him straight off. The away goal in the 2-1 home win meant that Alaves got the Segunda B trophy after their 2-0 home win last week. Tenerife huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow down the visitors door despite having a two man advantage for the last 30 minutes.

We needed a whirlwind start to get back into the tie and that’s just what we got, Aridane went close from a first minute Cristo cross and Guillem Marti came out second best from a duel with the Alaves keeper a minute later. The team showed changes again, Guillem had a rare start and looked keen to mark the coach’s card for next season, he was floored as he put a ball into the box but Aridane saw a gap and nipped in to rob a defender and put the ball in the net for a 1-0 lead after 6 minutes – the chase was on.

Sendoa tested Roberto in the home goal, he was equal to the weak shot and Sergio Rodriguez was in good defensive form, this week in the left back slot. Alaves got away with some theatrical dives and rolls and the refs inaction just encouraged them. Aridane was brought down on the edge of the penalty area without even a free kick as consolation. Loro added fuel to the cause by sending in a well floated corner that Aridane’s head powered into the net (top pic) from the edge of the box – that’s 27 goals for the season but strangely some fans still seem unconcerned with him possibly leaving in the summer.

Alaves were quick on the break, they should have reduced the arrears quickly but skied a shot high over the bar. Never mind the ref was about to lend a hand, Juanma brushed past Sergio and went down and a booking and a joke penalty award followed, Viqueira slotted it past Roberto (above) and suddenly the task looked mammoth. Sergio made a good run at the other end and was floored trying to put in a goal line cross, then mayhem broke out as the ref booked Juanma a second time. He showed the yellow and just went on with the game, Tenerife tried to point out that the player should be off but he wouldn’t have it and the arguments raged as the teams went off for half time.

Someone must have shoved a rule book in the refs face as Alaves came back out for the second half without Junma. Tenerife had trouble settling but were handed a get out of jail card when Manu Garcia got his second booking – and the red after 59 minutes. Anything was possible now but Tenerife tried to be too subtle in front of goal instead of blasting from all angles. A triple substitution brought Carlos, Medina, and Ayoze on for Alberto, Bruno, and Sergio and although the pace of Carlos helped down the right flank, the finishing was still wayward. Urtzi in goal made some fine saves including one stunner from Ayoze but the game fizzled out with Alaves content to soak up the pressure.

It was a bit of an anti climax and with some younger fans running on to the pitch at the end the club cancelled a lap of honour from the players, a great shame as not all of them will return next season, they deserved the full praise of the 10,142 crowd for giving us back a higher level of football.