Games in hand have to be turned into points and that’s just what CD Marino did with a first half demolition of SD Tenisca in a 2-1 home win on Wednesday afternoon. The blues left the door ajar in the second half and the La Palma visitors made things uncomfortable for them but now two points clear in their Tercera group Marino have plenty to be pleased about.

Tenisca looked a strong, skilful team in the opening minutes, Eslava had to stand firm to stop an early break and Sergio saved well from Miguel after a neat back header by Riki. Marino stirred into life and Nestor tested the Tenisca goalie with a crisp shot that he turned aside. A dipping strike from Chema kept Sergio busy as the action switched from end to end but with Kevin Castro in the starting line up Marino had plenty of their own skills to offer, the nippy young player burst down the right and put in a defence splitting cross that Balduino hammered into the net for a 1-0 lead with just 15 minutes gone.

Tenisca struggled to contain Kevin, for a slight player he showed lots of power and they resorted to hacking him down. Nestor had his eye on the goal as he carved his way through, Marcos made a clumsy tackle on him and he got up to convert a clear penalty. Marino were purring and should have buried Tenisca, Balduino spurned a couple of good positions, the second rising high over the bar. Nestor blasted wide, Kevin had the away defence in a panic and could have got his first senior goal, and a Nestor header missed the target.

A two goal lead at half time against genuine promotion rivals promised much for the second half but the visitors must have thought they had rode their luck and came back out determined to have their say. Spreading the ball wide on the right they found acres of room but the ball launched towards the Marino goal should have been cut out by Sergio, instead Marco was able to nip in and bulge the net to put the game back in the balance.
The more experienced Marchena came on for Kevin and tried his luck on the left flank with some success. Marino tightened up at the back but were still missing too many chances up front. Both sides had half hearted penalty appeals that didn’t trouble the ref.

Marino brought on another youth product, Jose Carlos and he showed a great appetite for the game and created havoc with his speed and skill, he fed a cracking pass across the goalmouth but Balduino at full stretch couldn’t quite get his boot to it. A trio of misses came in one late charge for Marino but it was a good three points and just reward for their earlier dominance.